God provided a job for my husband! Wow! I am so in shock! It seems so surreal that he actually will go to work in a few weeks and all. Let me give you the update as of how this came to be.
3-4 Weeks ago Josh applied for this position with the City of Winter Park working full time.
1 Week ago they emailed Josh to set up an interview that week. He goes to the interview and feels great about the actual interview, but a little disappointed about the computer test they gave him. You see he was asked to complete a list of things in 1 hour. Mind you, these items were super easy for Josh, but he wasn't familiar with their system so he only completed 2. They say they'll call in 2 weeks. I ride this one off as a lost cause.
1 Week later (this week) they email again for a 2nd interview to which I am completely shocked! They explain to him their system and allow him to retake the computer test (he completes it) and the interview was great! They commented on how good his answers were and proceeded to create a "mock" schedule of his hours. This is a split position between 2 areas (IT tech and web design). They decide the schedule works great and tell him they'll call next week to let him know if he gets the job or not.
This morning they call (1 day later) to offer him the position!!!! He calls me at 8:40 am while I've just ushered my very excited 2nd graders into the room and try to hold back tears while he tells me the good news! The rest of the day has been a whirlwind!
Everyone keeps telling us to go out to celebrate, but we'll have to postpone until we have extra money lol! We are so thankful to God for providing this job and enabling us to persevere through the trial! We are not upset about it, but thankful! We serve one awesome, sovereign God!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
A Bogus Invitation
So my women's group at church is reading Hard to Believe by John Macarthur. We're reading chapter 5 this week and I felt compelled to share an excerpt from the chapter. The books is eye-opening..I recommend it to everyone!
"I know this shocks some people, because we hear all the time that getting saved is easy. "Just sign this little card!" "Just raise your hand!" "Just walk down that aisle while the choir sings one more stanza!" "Just recite this prayer." "Just ask Jesus into your heart." It all sounds simple. The only problem is that none of those actions has anything to do with real salvation and getting through the narrow gate (a reference to the Sermon on the Mount). That sort of invitational-ism implies that Jesus is some poor pitiful Savior, waiting for us to make the first move to allow Him His way. It implies that salvation hinges on a human decision, as if the power that saves us were the power of human "free will."
This emphasis is a peculiarly American phenomenon that started in the nineteenth century with a New York lawyer-turned-evangelist named Charles Finney. He was the most formidable American anti-Calvinist, and he insisted that people get saved by an act of sheer willpower. Therefore, whatever is necessary in order to manipulate their wills is an essential method, because whatever it takes to convince them to decide to be saved is legitimate. The end justifies the means. And so the manipulative "altar call" became a major focus of his evangelism.
Up to that time, American evangelists were, for the most part, Calvinistic, that is, they believed that sinners are saved by hearing the message of the gospel while God the Holy Spirit awakens them from sinful deadness. But Finney took a different path. He made emotional appeals and taught that salvation required no sovereign regeneration by God, but only the act of the human will. The people came streaming down the aisle under the force of his cleverness. The vast majority of these weren't real conversions; in fact, Finney later admitted that his ministry had produced mostly half-hearted and temporary "converts." But the spectacle of crowds surging forward was very convincing.
Dwight L. Moody picked up the technique from Finney, and he passed it along to a generation of stadium evangelists and ministry leaders who still stage sometimes enormous public events and manipulate people to come to the stage. Most of that activity is fruitless. No doubt I believe that, in spite of the manipulation and not because of it, some people who take a pledge, sign a card, or come down front at those services are brokenhearted, aware of their sinfulness, and ready to follow Jesus as Lord by bearing their crosses with total self-denial. Those are the people who will be taken in at the narrow gate by the power of God through the truth, who will find themselves on the highway to heaven. The rest will not, but may be deceived.
According to Jesus, it's very, very difficult to be saved. At the end of Matthew 7:14, He said of the narrow gate, "There are few who find it." I don't believe anyone has every slipped and fell into the kingdom of God. That's cheap grace, easy-believism, Christianity Lite, a shallow, emotional revivalist approach: "I believe in Jesus!" "Fine, you're part of the family, come on in!" NO. The few who find the narrow gate have to search hard for it, then come through it alone. It's hard to find a church or preacher-or a Christian-who can direct you to it. The kingdom is for those who agonize to enter it, whose hearts are shattered over their sinfulness, who mourn in meekness, who hunger and thirst and long for god to change their lives. It's hard because you've got all hell against you. One of Satan's pervasive lies in the world today is that it's easy to become a Christian. It's not easy at all. It's a very narrow gate that you must find and go through alone, anguished over your sinfulness and longing for forgiveness.
Somebody might say this sounds like the religion of human achievement. Not so. When you come to brokenness, the recognition that you, of yourself, cannot make it through the narrow gate, then Christ pours into you grace upon grace to strengthen you for that entrance. In your brokenness, His power becomes your resource. Our part is to admit our sin and inability and plead for mercy and power from on high."
What do you think? Have a great evening!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
I guess..
it's about time I post some sort of update on this thing. Why not now, since I have a long weekend :)
Life has been good. Definitely trying to persevere through the trial at hand: Josh out of work. I am so extremely thankful to God to have a stable job right now in teaching. It was such a huge blessing to be given my professional teaching contract at the end of last year. Josh has been working very hard to find a job. Every road feels like a dead end, but I know that God has a job out there for him somewhere. God's word is clear that the husband is to provide for his family and I know that God, then, is going to provide a way for Josh to do that. It's been tough living off my income only.
We've made many sacrifices over the last 11 months of him being out of work. The biggest change for me has been giving up my publix groceries, and even walmart, for Aldi's. Aldi's has saved us quite a bit of money and the food doesn't taste bad at all! The Lord has graciously provided a new place for us to live which is cheaper in rent, closer to my job (which saves much gas), and much bigger! We have had to give up going to the movies for the most part. I am becoming more content just waiting for them to come out on DVD. Redbox is cheap, right?
I guess I just feel we're in this rut of what to do next. It's been a struggle to be optimistic about any possible job opportunity. Though, I know that God will provide one. It's hard to face the reality that I am not in control of anything. Yes, I am finally starting to realize that I am not in control of what job he gets, how much money we earn, or just about anything on this subject for that matter. It has put us in a place of complete and utter dependency on the Lord to provide for our needs. That's not a bad place to be. It's taken a while to get there, it seems, and I'm thankful for learning that God is sovereign and not me. It's a huge weight off my shoulders knowing that I am not responsible for providing the job/money for our family. I do work for a check, but I just focus on doing my work as unto the Lord.
Other than the obvious issues, we have seriously missed having a weekend every few months to get away together. Not to mention, just a date night that's not spent watching a dvd on our couch and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which we've grown very fond of in recent months. Maybe it's because it's a cheap meal...or maybe it's just a comfort food. Back to the getaways....I miss having them with my husband. It was so nice to just go away to a hotel (even if in Orlando) and spend the evening with him and a garden tub. I'm really praying that by Christmas we'll be able to get away for a few days!
Josh and I have had to humble ourselves this past year as well. You never realize how truly prideful and arrogant you are, until people offer to help you. I'm not kidding. What a blessing, it is, though, to have people helping to meet your needs. We're very blessed to have some help from family and church family. We truly do not deserve it!
School has been going well and I am very happy to be teaching 2nd grade. Not to mention having the same kids, and only 16 I might add, is such a relief. I've started to adjust to my tiny room and the kids have as well. I'm very content where I am and have not been as stressed out as I thought I would. I think I'll keep myself parked right here in 2nd grade for as long as I can! It's such an easy grade to teach, compared to 1st. Not to mention I do not want to switch classrooms again. I'd much rather have the tiny room than switch classrooms again.
Well, I guess that's about all I can think of that's been going on. Please keep Josh in prayer about a job. He had an interview on Thursday and we have to wait 2 weeks to find out about it. Hopefully this post has made some sort of sense, as I feel like ever since school started this year I've been slowly losing my mind :p I'll try to update more often...even if it's not about what I'm reading.
Life has been good. Definitely trying to persevere through the trial at hand: Josh out of work. I am so extremely thankful to God to have a stable job right now in teaching. It was such a huge blessing to be given my professional teaching contract at the end of last year. Josh has been working very hard to find a job. Every road feels like a dead end, but I know that God has a job out there for him somewhere. God's word is clear that the husband is to provide for his family and I know that God, then, is going to provide a way for Josh to do that. It's been tough living off my income only.
We've made many sacrifices over the last 11 months of him being out of work. The biggest change for me has been giving up my publix groceries, and even walmart, for Aldi's. Aldi's has saved us quite a bit of money and the food doesn't taste bad at all! The Lord has graciously provided a new place for us to live which is cheaper in rent, closer to my job (which saves much gas), and much bigger! We have had to give up going to the movies for the most part. I am becoming more content just waiting for them to come out on DVD. Redbox is cheap, right?
I guess I just feel we're in this rut of what to do next. It's been a struggle to be optimistic about any possible job opportunity. Though, I know that God will provide one. It's hard to face the reality that I am not in control of anything. Yes, I am finally starting to realize that I am not in control of what job he gets, how much money we earn, or just about anything on this subject for that matter. It has put us in a place of complete and utter dependency on the Lord to provide for our needs. That's not a bad place to be. It's taken a while to get there, it seems, and I'm thankful for learning that God is sovereign and not me. It's a huge weight off my shoulders knowing that I am not responsible for providing the job/money for our family. I do work for a check, but I just focus on doing my work as unto the Lord.
Other than the obvious issues, we have seriously missed having a weekend every few months to get away together. Not to mention, just a date night that's not spent watching a dvd on our couch and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which we've grown very fond of in recent months. Maybe it's because it's a cheap meal...or maybe it's just a comfort food. Back to the getaways....I miss having them with my husband. It was so nice to just go away to a hotel (even if in Orlando) and spend the evening with him and a garden tub. I'm really praying that by Christmas we'll be able to get away for a few days!
Josh and I have had to humble ourselves this past year as well. You never realize how truly prideful and arrogant you are, until people offer to help you. I'm not kidding. What a blessing, it is, though, to have people helping to meet your needs. We're very blessed to have some help from family and church family. We truly do not deserve it!
School has been going well and I am very happy to be teaching 2nd grade. Not to mention having the same kids, and only 16 I might add, is such a relief. I've started to adjust to my tiny room and the kids have as well. I'm very content where I am and have not been as stressed out as I thought I would. I think I'll keep myself parked right here in 2nd grade for as long as I can! It's such an easy grade to teach, compared to 1st. Not to mention I do not want to switch classrooms again. I'd much rather have the tiny room than switch classrooms again.
Well, I guess that's about all I can think of that's been going on. Please keep Josh in prayer about a job. He had an interview on Thursday and we have to wait 2 weeks to find out about it. Hopefully this post has made some sort of sense, as I feel like ever since school started this year I've been slowly losing my mind :p I'll try to update more often...even if it's not about what I'm reading.
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