Unemployed? But God....

We all know life is a journey with lots of twists and turns.

We all know we can plan for our future, but in reality have minimal control over the outcome of said future.

I love the saying, "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans."

As I'm coming to the end of my unemployment benefits with no job in sight, not for the lack of trying, I find myself saying, "I know God has a plan for me" with tears welling up in my eyes. I find myself pulling those words up from somewhere deep inside me almost chocking on them. Not just a surface, glib "Christianese" speak that we all are so familiar with, but a "speaking through the fear" declaration.

When I was first laid off I was excited, I couldn't wait to see what God was going to do with me. I just knew it was going to be amazing!!

Women's Bible Studies in my home, a patent on my day planner idea, ministering to abused and hurting women, the possibilities were endless!

Two years later, after many failed attempts to do odd jobs, thousands of applications, hours of networking and still no job, the excitement has worn off!

Oh, I still believe God has a plan for me and in His time it will be revealed. There is no question in my mind that those words are fact, but I have to be like David and work constantly to encourage myself.

We won't even go into the embarrassment factor here. I know everyone that looks at me is thinking what a loser! Well maybe not everyone, but that's how I can let myself feel at times.

I had a plan for my life and trust me I am no where near where I had planned on being at this point in my life!

Lately, I've been asking God for just a little sign that He really did know I was still here and what my situation was and this morning I read Prov. 3: 5&6.

"Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."

I thought I was trusting Him, but I can recount many attempts to manipulate situations to get a job. If I do this or that and speak to so and so and then this will happen, on and on and on.

As long as this nagging spirit of fear is tugging at my innards I know I'm not fully trusting in Him.

His word promises if I put ALL my trust in Him, and stop trying to analyze why I'm still out of work, acknowledge Him in every area of my life with everything that I do everyday, He will make my path straight.

He may not show me every little step, but my path will level out and His plan for me will be able to materialize.

This is not an easy task. We are taught to be self reliant, to make it happen, to be independent, etc., etc. so there's a lot of junk in the mind that has to be eliminated before we can truly say we trust the Lord at ALL times.

I'm not saying sit on the couch and do nothing. Work on eliminating fear by building total trust in the Lord through reading, studying, believing and acting on His word, and if "things" are stripped away your trust level will be increased. Realize that your gifts and talents are for Him to choreograph, not for your good pleasure but for His.

He doesn't want us poor and destitute, but He does want us to fully realize His ability to provide everything. He wants us to KNOW what we have is because HE has given it to us and what He allows to be taken away is to teach us total dependence on Him.

This may sound like whining to some, but I shared all this in hopes of encouraging anyone out there who is in a situation where they have little control.

Our job in all this is to learn to trust Him completely with everything and everyone in our lives, acknowledge He is who He says He is, and know He all ready has everything worked out for our benefit and His glory.

He does love us so and He will take care of us.

I know He who created the universe is well able to put me in the right job at the right time as long as I acknowledge Him with each job application, and tell everyone I know He is my provider, protector, strong tower.

Blessings,

Wendy, Princess Daughter of the King of Kings

Mother of Princesses and Princes

Grandmother of Royalty

What Defines Me?

I've been job hunting since March 09, YIKES!! Seeing it actually written down is a bit depressing and yet what a time of God showing off on my behalf!!

Yesterday I received a response to a prayer request that was put out by a dear friend of mine, Marsha of Marsha's Musings. His question was quite different from the normal questions you receive from people who are interested in helping in your job quest or current living situation.

He asked me to forward my resume to him so he could see where my giftings are.

Giftings, job?? Not even in close proximity as far as I'm concerned.

I explained to him my career path was the result of regular moves due to my ex husbands corporate advancement and had nothing to do with what I am "gifted" in.

Thinking back on all the jobs I've held over the past __ years there have only been a couple where I loved what I was doing and I felt good about myself while I was at work. Both of them were jobs where I was helping others.

The first was when I was in Mary Kay Cosmetics. As a Sales Director I found I liked nothing more that my Monday night "Sales Meetings". I had center stage and always managed to turn them into a time of motivation and encouragement.

Nothing thrilled me more that seeing women dig down deep and realize their self worth and inner beauty. Not because they were selling skin care but because I could somehow convey to them they were priceless jewels in God's eyes. I did everything but have an alter call and I loved it.

On the down side, I admit sometimes the drive to keep the pink car overshadowed my family life. And there were times when I chose career over family all the while telling myself I was doing it for them, realizing now what color car I drove was more for me than them!

But what I learned was I love speaking to groups, the larger the better, and if I could encourage someone to feel good about themselves, change their attitudes and draw closer to God I knew I was doing something positive for the Kingdom.

My second favorite job was with FEMA. After Katrina hit I was hired, as so many were, to go to Houston and help people with their claims, finding housing, medical care,etc. We could even do searches to help find lost loved ones. Everyday I was part of a group of people who were truly making a difference. I hated the circumstances, but loved what I was doing.

My resume shows me as a retail manager. That piece of paper that I forward on to, or upload to a company site tells them nothing of me. Quite frankly I don't care what label you wear or what "color story" a particular vendor is trying to tell with their merchandising requirements. I do it because I can and because it pays or rather paid the bills.

So why have I said all this?

I guess it's because I want you to know your job resume doesn't define you. We are so obsessed by what do you do rather than who you are that we can totally miss the being God created because we are looking at or for the skills that create money to define you.

Next time you meet someone, rather than asking what do you do to get to know them ask them who are you, or ask if you could do anything at all with out limitations what is it you would be doing.

A job description doesn't define a person, their hopes and dreams buried deep within is what will tell you what kind of person you are facing.

After all Jesus was a carpenter, or was He?

Who is your Daddy?

Come near to God and He will come near to you. James 4:8

Sounds simple enough. So why do we always think we have to have an action plan and a scheme or a list of things we have to do or become?

In March the unemployment office celebrated my one year of unemployment by stopping my benefits!

Previously I had received a letter stating I was approved for a 13 week extension. Now, me being me, I assumed that meant my benefits would be automatically extended 13 weeks since the letter didn't have any fine print telling me otherwise.

On the day my check is normally in my bank account I checked my account and discovered a negative $400 balance. I quickly realized something was wrong, duh!! I must have misunderstood what was going on. After a very quick call to unemployment I was told my benefits had come to an end regardless of what the letter had said and I needed to reapply.

The nice lady on the phone took my info. and submitted my claim again assuring me I was all ready approved for more weeks, but since everything was first come first serve my application was at the bottom of a very large pile to be reviewed, and she had no idea how long it would take to get my checks started again. Reassuring me I would get all the back weeks I missed didn't make me feel better considering the current state of my checking account and the fact that in 2 weeks my rent was going to be due.

Unlike how I used to react to this type of situation, I just said," OK, God this isn't a surprise to you so what do you have planned?"

After calling the bank and a few other places I had done all I could do, the rest was up to God.

I was nudged by the Holy Spirit to Fast. I pulled out my book, "Fasting" by Jentezen Franklin, grabbed my Daniel Fast information from it's folder and started to prepare myself. I knew I was to fast from Monday-Sat before Easter.

On Monday I claimed my unemployment weeks as instructed by the nice lady on the phone, knowing it would probably be at least 6 weeks till I started getting my checks again, that's what I was told the wait was.

Knowing there was no other immediate source of income for me I reminded God He was my provider and rent was coming due, just in case He forgot.

I proceeded with my fast Monday and Tuesday knowing God had a plan, trusting Him to fulfill His plan. I was feeling very much like a little girl trusting her Daddy was going to provide somehow. I didn't know how and I really didn't care how I just knew He was up to something.

Wednesday came and I thought I'd take a peek at my negative balanced bank account just for kicks. I almost fell off my chair when rather than a negative balance I was back in the black!!

Not only did God move on the State of Florida to get me to the top of that long list, but the first week that's normally held back was in there too!!

What could I do but praise and thank Him! There was some serious happy dancing going on in my home that morning!!!

Along with all that, as if that wasn't enough, God, my Daddy, decided to bless me with some groceries just to put a little icing on the cake.

He is such a good Dad, if we would just let Him what He wants to be to us. He doesn't need our instructions, our lists, our plans. All He needs is for us, His beloved Children to draw close to Him.

If we take one tiny, feeble, infant step toward Him, the creator of the Universe runs to us to fill in the pot holes, level the mountains, fill up our bank accounts and throw in a few groceries for good measure!

How can we not love and praise Him? How can we not trust Him to take care of us? He has chosen to have a loving family relationship with us, He's not going to hurt us, He wants to be our Daddy.

Even if there was no loving family relationship in our life to draw on for an example, even if there wasn't a Daddy figure in our childhood, He wants to fill in that loss. He wants to be your Daddy. He will never leave us or forsake us and He's not a man that he would lie to us. You can trust Him when maybe your earthly father wasn't so trustworthy or loving.

Having what the world would call crazy faith in God is not politically correct or socially acceptable, but I'll continue strive to raise my level of crazy faith in my Father.

In the end, He's the only one who will take care of His own by lavishing us with all the blessings He has stored up for us.

He's waiting on us to take that step toward Him in love and obedience so He can start overwhelming us with His love, comfort, healing, and provision.

Let Him be your Daddy.

Blessings,

Princess, Daughter of the King of Kings

Mother of Princesses and Princes

Grandmother of Royalty

Fasting and Prayer

I've been unemployed since March. To me, getting through each

month has been a miracle.

God has provided for me in ways I would have never imagined.

I'm in my second day of fasting and prayer. And God has all

ready shown up!

I have insurance on my credit cards to cover my balances in case

of job loss. All went well except for two of my accounts.

My claims for these two were turned down . I made all the necessary phone calls, faxes, tears, prayers etc. to turn their decision around.

Nothing, they weren't going to budge. I kept praying....

Today "something"(wink wink) told me to check my balances on these two accounts.

Less than 24hrs. into my fast, God had BOTH accounts paid off!!

I could barely believe my eyes while looking at those 0 balances.

How can we ever out do our Father?

As I proceed with my time of fasting and prayer I so look forward to drawing closer to

Him.

I know He has a purpose and a plan for me and this time will be well spent.

His love knows no bounds. All we have to do is take one step in His direction and He, the Creator

of the Universe, opens His arms wide and says "I've been waiting for you"

Blessings and Love,

Princess, Daughter of the King of Kings

Mother of Princesses and Princes

Grandmother of Royalty