Hey! I missed you
guys! It has been a hot minute since we
talked…
So much has changed.
I have been a tad busy. I haven’t had time to write or share here… but I
am finally back. 😊
Can we back up a bit here and catch up?
God called us to move, to Florida this year. Yes, I said that correctly. These next few weeks I will get deeper into
our story, but for now I want to share a small God-reminder that has been with
us during and throughout this journey that I quaintly call quarters in the
couch.
You remember when you were little and were excited to find
coins in the couch from your parents pockets and could get something at the
local store? (Yes I am dating myself, I
know lol) It was like a piggy bank of joy each time you reached down into the couch
or between the cushions in the car. Now
I know a quarter doesn’t buy a lot today, but each one adds up when you save
them. As a kid these quarters were like
dollars to us back in the day!
When we finally understood where God was
taking Carl and myself on this new journey in the spring, the financial
implications were massive. We were
about to shut a 39-year-old business down, sell everything, and have no income
coming in to pay the bills. This was
going to be one major leap of faith for both of us. So much so - that I spent two days number
crunching to see how we were going to survive on no income for five
months till the end of the year. God told
me we would make it, but I wanted to see it on paper.
I still remember looking over that spreadsheet wondering how this was going to happen. It didn’t make sense, but I knew HE
was going to do it.
So, we stepped out in faith.
We went to our last K-Love Fan Awards event in May. I asked God for a word. He gave us the word, Surrender ALL. Carl and I wept and walked away from the
event in agreement. We would not be Jonah. We would obey. No matter how painful.
We shut the business down.
We sold everything. What we didn’t
sell, we gave away. We were going to
downsize massively. There was no other
way. Then the rubber hit the road. How would we pay for everything?
God knew.
The first one came out of the blue. I was working with vendors as we shut the
business down. We needed to pay off our
debts. We had a zoom meeting with one
vendor as we closed our account to review everything and receive our final
bill. When the call was wrapping up they
announced to me that they were wiping away our final bill to help us out since
they knew we were just closing the doors to our business and not selling. Just because.
Thousands… Their comment to me at
our last meeting was, “This should help you as you end your business.” They were trying to help. They didn’t know us personally, but wanted to
help. All I could do was weep on the call.
Quarters in the couch.
Another week went by and another vendor did the same
thing. This one was much bigger. The debt was much larger and the
vendor is a billion dollar company. We
were a small company compared to the others they worked with on a daily
basis. They had no reason to give us the grace they
did, but God. The debt they erased took
my breath away… Again, all I could do
was cry.
Quarters in the couch.
Each week something would happen just like these stories
above. I would shout from my office to
Carl, QUARTERS IN THE COUCH!
I shared the stories with everyone that would listen to me!
We had an estate/business sale. It helped us keep afloat for a little
longer. Each sale, each bonus, each gift… quarters in the couch.
I sold a bunch of
items at the estate sale and shared the story with a couple. They came back to me later that day and
handed me a handful of change they found in a purse I sold them. She called it my quarters in the couch moment… I told her to keep the change, remember me
and my story, and share it with others. 😊
God instances are everywhere in our daily lives, even in
quarters in the couch.
I am still receiving quarters in the couch sitting here in our
new home in Florida. The dust hasn’t quite
settled here, and we have more to do before we are ready for HIS next steps. Maybe that is why the quarters are still
coming?
Or, just maybe, He wants to use the quarters as a quiet
reminder that HE is still our provider every day.
Either way, I will never look at quarters in the couch the
same way again…
I hope this story helps you to look at it differently too 😊
Love you!
Philippians 4:19
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
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