6:19 p.m. Today's project was to spend a quiet day at home with Steve, taking care of business issues while he managed the care of the garden, yards and dogs. In between these matters, I enjoyed editing this week's homework for the Bible study on I Samuel 13. King Saul's presumptuous offering of a sacrifice without waiting for the prophet Samuel cost him his kingdom!
Panic, haste, and lack of trust in God are often the ingredients that our enemy stirs around in a wicked soup that can lead to a believer's undoing! "Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass," Psalm 37:5 tells us. And what we commit to God, we are not to take back!
Last Saturday, we recieved a letter informing us that our credit union sold the RV we turned in voluntarily in July, for less than half of what it's worth, and now they want us to pay them back for the balance! I wonder if they grasp why we turned it in in the first place. I explained to them once again, that Steve's Alzheimers and my retirement to care for him has led to a drastic loss of income. We have been diligently praying as well as taking prudent steps: we put the vehicle up for sale, advertised over the last year at our very visible house, for the full amount of the loan. But no one could find credit, even though we had many who came to see it. We advertised with pictures in the Press Enterprise and Craigslist. We also applied repeatedly for a hardship modification from the credit union. Even though they solicited the application, they turned us down because we hadn't owned the RV for very long.
I went into a temporary panic mode, thinking of pulling equity from our rental property, or using up our annuity and TSA, but the Lord reminded me of the need to trust Him. (Especially after I had exhorted the women at last Thursday's study to do the same, not to fall back on a less-than- stellar record of panic and haste when a giant trial looms!) Sure didn't take long for a test to come, did it?
When I called the credit union, they were very sympathetic, but I also challenged them to "sharpen their pencils" in some aspects of the balance, mainly the amount we had made in payments over 2 1/2 years. We actually were current in our payments when I drove the RV over and gave them the keys. The gentleman said, "I know it's hard for folks now. Let us know how much you can pay until things turn around." I said, "Things won't turn around. My husband will not be going back to work, like a person who isn't working because of the economy, and I don't think I will be either. But we'll look at everything we are already trying to keep up with, and call you back. And we're praying."
I'm sure my teary call wasn't the best way to start the man's day, but truth is truth, and right now, the truthful facts are not pretty. But the Lord is greater still--like last night when we received $100 in cash in an envelope--a refund we were not expecting--just as we entered our church's sanctuary! And tomorrow, my dad will be paying Steve to trim some trees at his home in Redlands.
Jesus said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you," (Hebrews 13:5). We can expect a just resolution, "For He is faithful who promised." (Hebrews 10:23).
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