The summers of our lives

It's summertime so, of course, I would be struggling with the same things I've struggled with for the last four summers in a row.  Summers are the bleakest time of the year for us financially.  Rob and I teach and so when school is out, we are not getting paid.  Rob has taught at four different colleges and been a research assistant or grad assistant for 3 different projects over the last four years.  While all those experiences look great on his resume, they don't allow for a stability that I expected at this stage in life.  After all, in my plan, by now Rob was going to be done and hold a respectable position so we could be part of the rat race with a mortgage, car payments, braces on the kids, you get the idea. 

Instead, once again, we are minus paychecks over the summer and waiting to see what will happen this fall. Not only that, but our 2nd car is requiring monthly mechanical visits.  It's old and we just keep it limping along because we are not in a position to be able to replace it.  Last week I started back to teaching and right away there were issues.  What I thought I was going to be teaching/earning was suddenly jeopardized and I went into an emotional tailspin.

I received the copy of my dad's book recently "Trusting God with the Rest of Your Life" in which he retells the tale of Abraham's journey of faith making applicable the lessons he learned through his failures and mistakes.  When God called us to Nebraska, he used Gen. 12:1-3 (God called Abraham) to confirm in my heart that we were supposed to move.  Chapter 5 was exactly what I needed to read this past weekend.  He talked about how we often don't trust God because of how we will look to other people if He doesn't follow through on His promises.  I realized that is exactly what my fear is right now.  I am afraid that Rob will have no job and we will not be able to afford the necessities for our family that He gave us.  Except that God gave us Zac as a reminder of his promise.  In fact, we named him Zacariah because it means "God keeps his promises."   It is not my reputation on the line if He doesn't work this out, it's His.

God brought us to Lincoln for Rob to go to school.  Rob was denied admission.  Rob went to school anyway, non-degree, was accepted and received his Masters.  Rob is almost done with his Doctorate.  God did not call us here to leave us.  His name is on the line here.  He said he would take care of us and I believe Him.  I can't wait to post next about the miraculous way He provides.