The Struggle is Real...Why Hide It?

My friend Tami Rumfelt from www.tamiwithani.com and WBFJ radio shared the following post to her Facebook page yesterday. I love when transparency, vulnerability, honesty, and real life are able to be shared on a public stage without fear of rejection or judgment. Wouldn't it be great if more Christian leaders in the public spotlight were as open as Tami? 

“Yesterday, I was thinking about how difficult last year was for family. It was just one struggle after another, many of which were financial in nature. I became very discouraged and even depressed at times. But, now having a little distance from it all, I could see that we made it through. We never went hungry. BOTH mortgages were paid every month. We celebrated a beautiful and abundant Christmas with our three healthy children. By the grace of God, we made it. How much stress and worry was wasted on things that would eventually work themselves out?

As I continued to think about this, I wondered what it would be like if, this year, no matter what were to happen, I simply trusted God to work it all out. What if I didn't stew, stress or worry and instead really and truly allowed God to have my back? I mean, I've been saying that I trusted God to take care of me for years. But, maybe I've been faking it all this time. Hmmm....interesting thought.

This afternoon, my car broke down on the way home from picking Laura up from school. In the middle of Piney Grove Rd. it just completely died. I was able to push into the shoulder until it was mostly off the road. Andrew was on his way home from school and saw me on the side of the road so he was immediately there to help me. Unfortunately, the car's front end was in a slight embankment so we were unable to get it off the road any further. Thankfully, one of Andrew's friends saw us and stopped to help . He had a jeep and a tow rope (!) and was able to get the car completely out of the road.

Now I just had to figure out what to do to get this car somewhere where it could be fixed. Andrew remembered that our next door neighbor, John, is a mechanic who just so happens to also have a trailer for towing cars. Sweet Andrew even said he'd offer to do yardwork for John to help pay our bill. So, I called John and explained the situation. He said he would be happy to pick it up on his way home from work, take it to his shop tomorrow to work on it, and maybe even put it back on the trailer and bring it home to us tomorrow when he has it fixed.

Now, all I had to figure out was how we would pay the repair bill. When I got home after this little ordeal, I went out to get the mail. In the mailbox was a card from a family member who lives out of state. Inside the card was a check for $200! Here's part of what she said in the card:

"January has a way of sending costs, unexpected or expected, on a spiral. Holidays are over...credit cards come due; heating costs rise; the car needs to be registered, inspected, filled with gas or REPAIRED (emphasis mine). Here's a little breathing space or a step along the way."

I don't know what God may be preparing me for. Only He knows if this year will be less or more of a struggle than the last. But, today He showed me for, like, the gazillonth time, that He really can be trusted with everything. So often, it's in the times with broken cars, broken kids, bats in the attic and bills up to my eyeballs that I can see Him at work so clearly. But, when I become hyper-focused on the bad thing that is happening at that moment, and worried about what I am going to do to fix it, I totally miss God doing his best work!"