Weekend Update

Here’s a recap of last weekend, it was very full and very exciting.

It started off Friday night. After dropping DS off at his youth group. I dropped in at our local Christian bookstore. I wanted to pick up a copy of “Power of a Praying Parent”. Our church was selling this as an accompaniment to their prayer series. I felt led to pick it up then, but wasn’t at church the days they were selling it, so I figured I’d get it at the bookstore. I just love that store, the atmosphere is so calming and peaceful. I always sense God’s presence strongly there. Anyway, I picked up my book, but then stayed and lingered, taking in the ambiance and checking out other books. I came across a book “Becoming a Millionaire God’s Way” I think was the title. It was buried a bit, but the title jumped out at me. Just the thing DH would pick up, and I would be skeptical about. Anyway, I picked it up and looked at it. It was the last copy and was a bit banged up, so it had been marked down. All the earmarks of a great book for DH. But, as always I wrestled with myself about it. After all, if I bought it and gave it to him, then in a sense I’m endorsing it. And “what if the teaching is wrong”, I protested. Then what? But still I felt led to pick it up. So, in my usual wisdom, I opened the book to a random page and read. Ok, so that page was ok, so of course I had to try a couple more pages. Each time, what I was reading either reflected things I know to be true or resonated in some way with recent devotionals. Ok God, you finally convinced me, so I picked up the book. I also found a good book on prayer for DS. One of those that has prayers to get you started, listed by topic. This one was designed for teens and their issues. I think of all the times that I encourage him to pray about things, but often wonder if he really knows where to start. So, it seemed like a good book. I didn’t find anything for DD, but I know she has a couple of her own books on the go right now, so it just wasn’t meant to be.

I received the copy of my credit report that I’d requested and by the look of things everything will be cleared in a couple of months. The proposal will still show up, but it’s showing as settled and no issues. DH thinks there may be some things showing up on his that aren’t on mine. I’ve given him the forms to request a copy, so we’ll see. But I was very, very encouraged. I feel like this is our year of Jubilee – our 7th year. Which makes sense, because everything really fell apart in 2000, and that was when I turned to the Lord in desperation to help us out of the pit we’d dug ourselves into. Now, we’re into our 7th year, and it’s like God is giving us a clean slate and a chance to start over.

Financially, many things are scheduled to happen this year. First the credit clearing up, then there’s DH’s job. He had very good news about that this week, and it seems like it should be resolved relatively soon. When that happens, there is a possibility that we’ll come into a substantial sum of money, well substantial for us, anyway. I strongly feel that this is our testing period. How we handle this coming year and the added responsibility & freedom, will impact greatly on our future.
I told DH on Saturday that I wanted to sit down and talk to him about a couple of things. One was the finances, and how I’ve been feeling about everything lately. I wanted to talk to him about checking out a couple of financial advisors for guidance on the best way to handle any large influx of funds, and put our money to work the best we can.

The other thing that I wanted to discuss was him, was the whole Jabez thing and that I thought it would be good if we would both commit to it, so that we’re both on the same page. He was in agreement to both, and has started reading the Jabez book. All in all, it was a very relaxed and productive weekend. I spent a lot of time contemplating my Christian walk and listening for God’s voice.