My Miracle….

I cannot stop singing ( be thankful you cannot hear me! ) and shouting praises to God for His mercies are new every morning!!!

I have to shout to the world of the miracle God performed for me just yesterday.  A miracle! For me!!  I am still reeling with awe and wonder that the Lion of Judah loves me and cares so much for me that He would bring about a miracle in my life.

I will do my best to contain my words to only a few hundred but the joy cannot be contained so please bear with me as I do my best to share with you the mightiness of our God.

To keep things as brief as possible I will just outline a few of the "majors" that our family has been dealing with as of late so that you might comprehend the scope of emotions that have been rioting for attention as well as the depth of mercy God showered upon me yesterday.

• Praise God my husband returned physically well from Afghanistan in October of 2013.  He is now retired but unable to draw his retirement pay for 5 years.  He is currently unemployed and battling PTSD and life as it is here in the States versus what he had come to view as "normal" for 18 months.  So, a drastic unexpected reduction in income for our family.
• Loss of income = loss of opportunity to purchase a home of our own.  Our leased property frequently leaves us with no heat and frozen pipes.
• Health issues.

That is enough to give a general idea of the pressures we have been shouldering.  Don't feel sorry for us!  We are BLESSED!!!  Yes, it is tough, but God is merciful and faithful to us always!

In June of this year, God brought me to the place of my current employment.  He used a fellow believer who is a member of our church to bring about a blessing to me.  Michele chose to hire me to work with one of the agents, Tommy, in the real estate office where she is the Operations Manager.  (And she does a phenomenal job!!)  Little did I know that this job would be God's way of providing for us when my husband returned home!  But God knew.  He knew the future and true to His word in Jeremiah 29:11 (For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope) God provided for our family long before we even knew we would need that provision.

God has chosen to bless my efforts in my job and is expanding the scope of our business relationships!  What an awesome blessing.  Not long after I started here in the spring, it was mentioned that I should pursue my real estate license so that I could be of further benefit not only to Tommy but also, to be able to assist the tremendous team we have at John Jones!  

For a while, I have been studying before and after hours as well as on the weekends.  Putting in some long hours but looking forward to being able to expand the reach of my position.  You see, when God blessed me through Michele, He brought to me a joy in my job that I have only had once before in regards to a professional position.  My heart and nature is to love and serve people, so God knew that nothing would suit me more than where I currently am.  Working with a group of fellow believers who love God as I do.

Soooo…. along comes Sunday.  Sunday is the day before my scheduled state and national exams.  I am nervous and excited about the up coming test.  Feeling apprehensive because I take on pressures that I should leave to God.  I knew with the license would come the opportunity to bless my family with an increased opportunity to be able to have our own home as well as meet medical needs.

Tommy is so very wonderful and provided me with an opportunity to stay within 3 miles of the testing center so that I could spend Sunday in study and preparation.  Around noon Sunday I needed a brain break so I walked downstairs to the hotel restaurant and had lunch.  Turns out that the fish I consumed was so very NOT good.  Within 30 minutes I had a great case of food poisoning going on.  So basically the rest of that day and night was spent in misery.  In addition, it seemed that I was not to have any rest as several hotel guests spent the majority of the night running up and down hallways laughing / shouting.  

In comes Monday morning and I am exhausted, dehydrated, and weak.  I knew that first thing I needed to do was STOP everything and spend time in God's word and in prayer listening to His direction. While I was getting prepared to check out and leave the hotel, I wrestled with re-scheduling my testing. I never had peace about that so I proceeded on to the testing site.  Not sure how I was going to make it through the two exams without being sick in front of everyone, I sat in my truck in front of the building.  

I told God this….. "God… I have no faith in my ability to go in there and remember my own name much less the depth of materials that I am required to know.  I do have FAITH in You, Your confidence, and Your mercy.  So I lean fully on You to perform this."

I walked in the building at 7:45 and I walked out at 8:45.  Testing time allotted is a little over 3 hours with a time limit of 4.  Twice during the exam I had to get up to be sick.  After 30 minutes I had finished both exams with absolutely zero recollection of what I had done.  I walked out of the room knowing that I would need to reschedule the tests since I had not passed them.

When I walked to the table where the exam proctors were seated they asked me to come have a seat.  I sat down and they informed me that were printing my paperwork and needed a photo.  I had passed both exams!!  I began crying so hard that they were literally shocked into silence.  They told me "you did good to pass and pass so quickly."  I had to correct them immediately.  "This was none of me and all God!!"

I am still stunned, amazed, and over whelmed that He brought this about!!  Words fail when I try to express my praise to Him.  I cried all the way back to Murfreesboro knowing that God had brought about a miracle just for me.  

As if the food poisoning was not enough, the lack of sleep, and other factors combined to make me pretty much of little use that morning.  I firmly believe that God allowed all those things to occur so that I would see His hand moving on my behalf and know well the Glory of God shown on my behalf.  

All I can say…. is praise Him!  Praise His holy name!  Praise the great I Am!  Over and over my heart continues to praise….

I invite you to join me as I praise God for His boundless mercies…..