Abundantly Blessed

My apartment is clean. There is still a lot I have to move...but next weekend I'll have all that taken care of. Hopefully.

Yesterday, when I was visiting with the owners of the home I am moving into (my precious adopted family), I was offered a lawn mower for a really low price. I was given a bunch of Christmas lights, a living room chair, and some pictures to hang on the wall.

God is so good to me.

Let me lay this out:

I quit my job at Denny's (because I got tired of being told to make bricks while not being given the straw to do it with...so to speak. And, the bullies were annoying). I had 2 months saved up in my checking account for bills.

My friend, former classmate and distant cousin, Tracy Smith, urged me to apply for a job at Telford Prison. So, what did I have to lose? I did. And, I got accepted into the academy for training.

I had no insurance. No retirement plan. No life insurance. Nothing to leave my children. This job gives me all of that!

Then, the landlord at my apartment complex, right about this time, sold the property. My bills were being raised. I was now going to have to pay water and electric, and was told I had to ask permission to have visitors, and was not allowed certain activities of which I was accustomed to in my own home.

I was going to work at a prison. I did not want to live in one.

I was considering moving to another apartment closer to New Boston where I would be working when my friend Rosa's (who lives in Fayetteville) husband became ill, and her parents decided they wanted to move closer to her to help her out. (But, I suspect it's more like they just want to be closer to their daughter. Their son, and Rosa's brother, whom they were caring for, recently passed away and left them with an empty nest).

The Trailer they live in needs work, and I wasn't looking forward to doing the repairs...but my job certainly made it possible. God gave me a nudge and I said, why not? I asked if my mom would co-sign for me to get a loan. She refused. So, I applied for the loan to take up the payments anyway, knowing that should I be approved, it would help me out by getting me closer to my job, and it would help my friend (and extended family) out with their need to be closer to each other. It was a win win.

I waited and prayed, not really expecting to be approved. God blessed me. I was approved. And, the payments are right about what I am already paying on my apartment. Affordability is not an issue! I became more excited!

But, I now have to leave my apartment by June 1st, and I don't have the down payment to accept the loan. Then, God stepped in, again. I find out that I am to get a bonus check that is going to cover everything 30 days after graduation from the Academy! And having to wait for the check is not an issue, because the owners of the trailer are waiting for an apartment to become available where they are moving to!

My friends and classmates have been so supportive in all this. Many of them have asked if I need anything for my new home. Just as I was considering all this, God stepped in again. The owners of the trailer I am going to buy have offered to leave behind the stove, refrigerator, washer, dryer, a big dresser, a living room chair, curtains and pictures to hang on the wall, and Christmas lights for the holidays, and they even offered to sell me their lawn-mower really cheap. They said they couldn't take it with them. They wouldn't need it.

And, my dogs have a ready made dog pen complete with a dog house outside the back door, should I be able to get them back with me after having to give them up in order to have a place to live, because the apartments I live at did not allow pets.

My job offers me Health, Life, dental, vision, retirement, and disability -- long and short-term insurance, with enough pay to afford everything I have been blessed with by God.

In the meanwhile, as I said, I have to be out of my apartment by June 1st, because I refuse to sign a lease that will bind me for a year. It will probably be August before I can move into my new home. So...

The same week I quit my former job, I had helped some friends move into a new apartment, because they were living on the streets, and disabled, and needed a place to rest that they could call home and secure themselves.

When I found that I was going to be without a home of my own for about 2 months during this transition, I asked my mother if she would help me out by letting me sleep at her house for this period until I could get it squared. She refused. So, I did the only thing I could do.

I asked the owners to let me go ahead and store my stuff at the trailer in their back unused bedroom so I wouldn't lose it all. They agreed.

Then, I asked my friends if they would let me stay with them, and I would help them out with their rent in exchange until I could move into my new home. They agreed.

Finally, I asked if I could go ahead and use my new address so I could get all my accounts set up and be able to get my mail since I won't have this address to use anymore. They agreed.

I've had a few glitches, like the day when I had to bust out my window because I locked my keys and phone in the car and I didn't want to lose my job being late, or not showing up. But God has even been with me in those. He may very well have saved me from having a wreck that morning when a truck caught fire on interstate. Perhaps if I hadn't been dealing with that, I could have been right beside the truck when it blew on my way to work.

I have a great job, a new home, and really great friends now, because of the goodness and blessings of my God.

What am I going to be blessed with next? (I almost feel afraid to ask...)