Category: Uncategorized

Prior to my husband’s job loss, he wore signs of having survived a wrestling match with a bear.  My hubby, is naturally fidgety. Add stress and he becomes extra animated with running his fingers through his hair, his clothing not hanging quite right on his slender frame and his face reflecting the internal stress of the day.  Over the years, my husband’s carefree view of life would have me giggling in spite of myself. I had come to savor his ability to bring laughter into worry filled situations. He was no longer sharing his funny points of view, and the void of humor hung heavy over our days.

Where do you turn when your spouse or someone you care about is undone? Where do you go and what do you do?

I had a simple plan. Wake early while the world was still quiet and read through the Old Testament to see where God showed up and observe what he did when he arrived on scene. (Side note…forgive the following generalization: I know God is ever present. It seems in the Old Testament, God exits stage left, people get sidetracked between what is wrong and right and he needs to show back up to readjust the scene.) I wanted to find specific examples that I could pray about for my husband. What I unearthed was a way to pray for a community.

Here are a couple of the answers I found.

Was David born brave? Or did God provide his courage? I invite you to give it a read if it has been a while or it is new to you, 1 Samuel 17.  Could I pray for my husband to have the bravery of David when he fought Goliath? Surely Greg needed courage to face each day, searching for a job.

Yes! I could pray for him to have the faith and confidence in God that David had.

How did God comfort Sarai’s maid, Hagar, who was pregnant with Abram’s child? Hagar had run away due to the tension between herself and Sarai. Deep in despair and what we are shown a low point in her life, an angel of the Lord showed up and provided her with comfort and direction!  Could we hope for comfort and direction in our circumstances?

“She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”” (Genesis 16:13, NIV)

Yes! God did comfort us as we walked through this new landscape of our lives. His comfort was new every day! We were daily consumed with the reality of bills that were coming due and food that was running low. He never let us go and revealed his love for us many times in many ways. It came through a friend dropping by with grocery bags of food, others gave too, and it helped us get through and know that God could see us in our situation.

We can not see the regrowth that is happening until we see a new life start to spring up.

As I continued to read the Old Testament, day after day, and peek through the New Testament, God began to impress upon my heart to pray for a local city. It was making the news most days if not every day, due to crime and violence. I would try to pray for the city but was overwhelmed by the stories of shootings and thefts. So I asked a community of friends to pray with me for that city. Some said yes.

The following are the verses that stirred my desire to pray in this way.

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;” (1 Timothy 2:1, KJV)

^“And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.” (Jeremiah 29:7, KJV)

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20, KJV)

“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26 KJV)

Those hours that I spent in prayer for his city, were my summit moments in our darkest time.  Greg went eleven months before he found a full time paying job. That was a long time to go with not seeing the end of the journey. The time spent with God, in prayer for his city was the best, most comforting and faith building time of each week.

God gave David strength, ability, and triumph over the giant. He gave Hagai direction and comfort in a confusing situation. Asking for his help and then follow the direction he sends us in can daunting, but it will likely be the moment you are able to sit on top of your circumstances and feel great peace and gratitude. The God who created you and me and everything around us sees you and he cares.

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7, NIV)

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®

From our kitchen window, I saw my husband drive up in his truck. He should have been at his job. I knew in my gut something was very wrong so I greeted him on the front porch. We sat at our teak table on that warm quiet summer morning, as he told me that he was let go from his job. I became brave and worried at the same time. ‘We can handle this,’ I thought.

A massive landslide changes the scenery of a mountain’s side. Over time the mountain will rejuvenate with wildflowers, grass, and trees. Although it will never become what it once was, it will remain a mountain. Circumstances alter our daily reality without prior written consent and preparation. Moments like these usually do not come along very often, but when they do arrive, rebuilding our daily life becomes necessary.  How our life fits into the world around us changes.

The mountain side will rejuvenate and our lives can be rebuilt.

The days and weeks turned into months of unemployment. In my quietest moments of fear I would cry out to God, ‘When, when will a job come?’ Courage would surface as God whispered his promise, ‘Just a little bit longer.’

 ^“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7, NIV)

Courage is a gift of peace in our minds and hearts from God! He sustains us when we feel faint within when the landscape of life. When the land looks torrid and in disrepair.

I am crazy about Him! He is my go to guy who is always waiting for me to seek him!

I heard someone say, months into my husband’s job search, ‘Maybe this is your new normal’. Ouch, that hurt my heart to hear.

It was the truth and I was in fear of.

I needed to simply shift my view from defeating thoughts. The landslide had taken place, re-growth was occurring under the ground. The old was gone.

“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:18-19, NIV)

Early on after hearing about my husband’s job loss, a friend texted me Jeremiah 29:11. Reading and re-reading that verse comforted me and gave me hope. His word is meant to lead us closer to His heart. It is his love letter to us. The bible is available almost everywhere we are with bible apps, bible websites, and the handheld pages of a bound bible.

What have your life altering events been? Maybe they occurred years or decades ago. Maybe yours is now.

What has been your strength in times of despair or discouragement?

Please know, I am praying for you in your time of re-growth. I would love to hear how God is or has guided you through a time of change.

Next week, I will share how prayer changed everything in the whole situation in Part 2…

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®