After all the temptation to fret, once again, the Lord provided for all our needs.
In regards to my last post, my husband remembered another friend who used to attend our church who is an electrician. We found his office number and my husband had a nice conversation with the man. He is still attending church and came out to assess the situation the same day.
He needed to bury a new wire and told my husband that if he could dig a trench out, he could come back and hook up the new wire. Well, this accomplished two good things. One) It saved us money on having someone else do the digging and Two) we have old rotten deck boards that needed to be taken out anyway. So, my husband has gotten rid of those rotten boards in the process of getting our electrical repair sorted out. Blessings!
As of last week, the electrical issue with the sump pump is fixed. The yard is a mess and we need to put sod or new decking where all the digging was done, but the fearful fretting is over.
In the middle of all of this, before my husband had finished the trench and before the electrical work was done, our BSF (see https://www.bsfinternational.org/ for more information) study handout had this important reminder that jumped off the page at me:
Often, God uses times of waiting to teach His children that His presence is more precious than any answer or desired outcome.
BSF notes Lesson 11 People of the Promised Land
I thought, “Am I valuing God’s presence more than getting these home repairs done?” Maybe for the first time ever, I could honestly answer “Yes!” I want things to work properly, I want my husband to figure things out, I want folks to respond as they should, etc, etc, but my relationship to God is supremely important. More important than all of those other (good) desires.
I finally understood what people are talking about when they describe peace and happiness with the LORD even when their circumstances are less than ideal.
There are still little things that need done around the house. I wish all of them were completed and that the bank account could support hiring repairmen to complete them all. But, my emotional and spiritual health need not be wrecked by unfulfilled wishes. I can have a solid, settled peace whether or not these are done, all because my eternal soul is safe and I have a great future with the Savior of the world.
My newfound peace was tested again a couple of days ago, when I found that our homeowner’s insurance had quietly billed our mortgage company again, after more than doubling our premium. We’d received an email regarding a change in rating, but nothing else alerting us to a rate change. Again, the temptation to fret and carry a sinking feeling around with me threatened to rock my peace. But instead of giving in to fretting, I prayed and remembered the promises of God to sustain me and care for me.
In less than two days, after a quick quote from our auto policy provider that also offers homeowners insurance, I got a better policy with similar coverage. I’m hoping my mortgage escrow account can be readjusted soon as the former homeowner insurance double billing was now requiring over $200 more each month for our mortgage payments, starting next February. But, guess who’s not fretting as she waits for the mortgage company to sort all that out? Haha, you’re right if you guessed it’s me– THIS GIRL!