Is It Soup Yet?

My friend lost her job yesterday - along with about 15 other friends and acquaintances.  She called me to tell me before I heard from anyone else.  She ended up comforting me.  She told me she knew she would be okay because I, her friend, would make her SOUP.  I'm not sure what that had to do with anything -- except that maybe it means she reads my posts about loving soup and figures it will always be on hand around here in case she's in need of a good meal.  Also -- it made us laugh.  I told her that I would make her soup, or whatever else she asked for.

I know my friend - all of them, actually - will be fine.  They all trust in God, and will look to him for direction for the future.  But - I still had a sick feeling in my stomach all day -- the same feeling I had on a Wednesday in 2005 when my husband walked through the back door in the middle of the day.  He too, had been downsized.  We've been through it, and lived to tell.

From my perspective, there are more good memories about that jobless almost-twenty-months than bad.

1.  It stretched our faith - big time!  We were at the end of ourselves, and all we knew to do was to trust God!
2.  It made us think carefully through every reaction - because our children were watching.  It was an amazing opportunity to teach them about trust and faith.
3.  We had a lot more family time together.
4.  It made us appreciate our family and friends more.  They were there at every turn along the way encouraging us, supporting us, and sharing what they had -- or what we needed.
5.  It made us understand this phrase from The Lord's Prayer: "Give us this day our daily bread."  It doesn't mean that God lays a storehouse in front of us.  It means he gives us just what we need for each day.  Nothing less. (There was the day that I made a menu plan, and intended to go grocery shopping for the items I needed.  Before I could shop, my mom showed up with bags of groceries -- including the things that had been on my list!)
6.  It made us pay attention to the hand of God, and how He was working.

One day (when it was all over) a friend asked me, "How did you ever get through that time?"  We had been talking about monetary issues -- so I knew what she was referring to.  My answer was: by the grace of God.  We didn't have any big plan... we were scared, and clueless.  But God was not surprised by any of it.  He put people in our path providing us with the things we needed along the way.  It was as simple as that.

I will forever be grateful:
* to God - for his leading
* to our family and friends for their care
* for the lessons we learned along the way - like the TRUTH in these verses:

"I can do all things through Christ,

who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight.

(Proverbs 3:5,6)