The Blessing of Trusting

It’s been somewhat of a roller coaster week for me, and I am so thankful for the peace our Father has given me through all of this. There is something truly amazing about holding on to Him as I walk this path. I wasn’t even going to blog on this, but I feel that there is someone out there who needed to “hear” this post for whatever reason.

It all started with a simple FB post that I shared from Youversion on Thursday morning : Jeremiah 32:27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” While that verse stuck out to me, I really didn’t put much weight on it at that moment. A couple of hours later I got a VERY unexpected phone call about a position I had applied for months ago. I sat in awe the rest of the day, truly amazed that they even wanted to speak to me after all this time! Ever since then I have had a peace about anything surrounding it.

The next day, I find out very unexpectedly that I did not get the position that I had been hoping for. I am pretty sure the preceding days’ events have cushioned what could have been emotionally devastating for me. But yet a peace remains…

Over these past few days I have been processing all these things and conversations had with various people in leadership. It would be easy to fall into the trap so many of us working folks find ourselves in. The easy thing would for me to be angry and to lash out. It would be easy for me to shun the new person or pull away and stop serving. I could also throw a fit because maybe I thought I deserved it, that I was entitled to it. But God has not called me to an easy path. He has called me to leadership, and that means leading even when faced with the not so easy stuff. I won’t lie and say I have not felt disappointment, but I have a choice in how I handle this situation.

The fact is I have been called to ministry. This is a very difficult and emotionally draining “profession”.  I have to trust that God will put me in the positions He wants me in when He wants to. I am choosing to let Him determine when I am ready. I can claim no worldly qualifications, but I have only one qualification: What God has done and is doing in me. If He sees me fit for this other position, then I know He will open the door. If not, then I will continue to let Him prepare me even more for the work He has for me. I have even come to the place where I am praying that God will close that door, if that is not where I am supposed to be…and that is tough!

In closing, also want to say this, especially to those who are watching for my reaction to this situation: I am trusting in the process and the leadership God has placed me under. I am not angry, and am still committed to the service God has me in at my campus and my job (until He calls me elsewhere). I know God has placed the right person in the position I wanted, and He will place the right person in this other position, whether that be me or someone else. I can’t wait to see what God does through all of this, and even if it hurt a little, it was all worth it. And here I am left with the verse above…wondering what big thing He is working out 🙂

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School lunches….pain in my pocketbook

There are a couple of things I miss about staying home with my kids. I miss the time I spent in the kitchen making yummy things and expressing my creativity in my cooking. The second thing was having fun with frugality/sustainability. After my separation and divorce, I honestly didn’t want to do anything I took joy in. I wasn’t so much depressed but was mourning what had happened. Finding myself a single mom was quite traumatizing so the last thing I wanted to do was cook, clean or think about meal planning.  The kids and I ate out a lot or bought a lot of convenience foods and they were able to receive free breakfasts and lunches at school last year. Recently I have rediscovered my love for more “domestic” things and now I have to figure out how that fits in with single parenthood.

So the first thing I had to do was get a job so I could take care of my kids (I was able to go to school for a semester, until I got emotionally run down, that is for another blog lol). By doing that, I lost all assistance I was getting, like food stamps and as of this school year the free breakfasts and lunches for my kids. I could handle not getting food stamps since I wasn’t receiving much and ultimately I did not want assistance for long. Losing the breakfasts and lunches was more devastating!

Here is some quick math of our situation:

Child 1 (Elementary) breakfast $1.10 +  lunch $1.95 = $3.05 per day x 5 days = $15.25 per week  or $536.80  for entire school year (based on estimated 176 days)

Child 2 and 3 (Middle School) breakfast $1.10 ea , lunch $2.20 ea = $6.60 per day x 5 days = $33 per week  or $1161.60 for entire school year (based on estimated 176 days)

Grand total for the year = $1698.40

That’s pretty close to $200 a month, and for me that is a lot of money! (and if you add the $3.90 in fees I pay every time I use their website to fund their accounts, the figures are higher!) Looking at the numbers, there is no way I can keep on paying that much for mediocre at best lunches. The kids come home so hungry and I get an earful on what they did or didn’t eat. So I put some of my mad “googling” skills to work, and hopefully this will continue to spark my love for frugality/sustainability and kitchen fun!

Here are some links I found helpful. I tried to include ones that were more detailed, you know, beyond “take your lunch, drink water, etc”.

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/lunchboxbasics1.htm

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/lunchboxfood2.htm

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/packed-school-lunches.htm

http://www.livingonadime.com/easy-school-lunch-ideas/

http://freshbitesblog.com/2012/08/100-back-to-school-lunch-tips-by-moms.html

http://www.anotherlunch.com/

http://lifeasmom.com/2012/08/make-ahead-school-lunches-a-free-printable-for-lunch-box-love-notes.html

http://lifeatthezoo.com/2012/08/easy-lunchbox-recipes-time-saver/

 

I hope these prove helpful for others, and as time allows I may add a few other links. I want to do my best with what resources I have so I can better able take care of my kids and be a blessing to others. If you have come across some other awesome sites or articles please share!

 

 

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