The answers to our prayers do not always show up like we think they should.  I know when I pray, I tend to think those answered prayers will mean an immediate improvement for a situation or a happily-ever-after sort of ending to something that's been on my heart.  Well, what do we do when the answer creates a trial?  For quite a while I've been praying that my husband's work hours, job stress, etc. would improve.  My possible answer was for him to take an even better job at a different company even though I knew this was unlikely as he was/is very attached to some of the guys he works with.

Friday, my answer was clear.  He was laid off.  This lay-off has rocked him to his core because it was so unexpected.  Four employees total were told Friday that they were on lay-off until things picked up.  Wow.  Initially, my reaction was enter into freak-out mode.  But, after some consideration of what this really meant, I realized this was an answered prayer.  My man was working crazy hours.  Most people work a 40 hour week.  I don't think he's had a week under 60 hours in several months.  He generally worked seven days a week and spent lots of weekends out of town.  Needless to say, we never saw him.

I've been reminded of the song "Blessings" by Laura Story.  If you haven't hear it, check it out.



So, it's true. This is blessing that has shown up in our life as a raindrop -- maybe more like a thunderstorm.   It's going to take a period of adjustment to work through exactly what this means for our family -- in our finances and in our routines.  Men are so different from women when it comes to work.  Their identities are very much tied up in what they do.  I'm so very thankful for praying family and friends whose intercession has carried us through this week.  My good friend sent me home with a book on Sunday and I would urge you to read it now (even if you aren't going through a trial).  You know what they say, you're either just going into a trial, in the middle of one, or coming out of one.  This would be a great book to have in your library.  The book is showing up at the beginning of this post.  I could not get it positioned where I wanted it.  Frustrating!

If we cross your mind, remember us in your prayers.  We've done this before and come out better than we were.  We can do it again! 

In other news:  the transplant date has been changed to September 12 and we have postponed Molly's MACE surgery until March due to follow-up appointments that would have conflicted with the transplant.  I don't want to put Molly through this until we have time for it to be all about Molly for a while.