Some good news is that we may have finally found a church that we can call home. It’s called First Southern Baptist Church. The people there are all very friendly. In fact, Rachel was exhausted after the first day from so many people who wanted to know all about us. For me, though, it was pretty fun being the center of attention all the time 🙂
Please pray, however, about this decision to settle down in this church. As with all churches, there are things about it that don’t fit the ideal church we were looking for, but they might all boil down to preferences that we can get over.
Well, if nothing else, the past couple months have succeeded in getting me more focused on finances. I guess I should back up a little. Let’s start in January:
At the beginning of January, Rachel’s friends came from Michigan to spend some time with us, and celebrate Christmas, as they had been doing for the past several years. That week was an amazing time of fun and relaxation. It was good to see everyone again, and Rachel really needed the reminder that her friends were still there. But combined with all the beginning-of-the-year birthdays, this proved to be pretty hard on our well-organized budget.
Then into February, I went to the dentist who cheerily informed me that 7 of my teeth didn’t need any work. But of the other 21, I think about 7 needed crowns. This boils down to putting a lot of money where my mouth is, which was another major blow to the budget. Combine that with not getting many hours at work, and it’s a downright dilemma.
The praise in all of this (there’s always something good going on, isn’t there?) is that God is still providing for our needs. We have enough money in savings to cover the dental work, and so far, we don’t have to dip into what we’re saving for school. We may also have a nice tax return coming if that “economic stimulus” package ever went through. We haven’t even had to think about the possibility of not being able to afford rent or food. I know that God will provide for us, as He always has, I could just use some prayer about trusting Him all the time.
Rachel is still looking for a new job. We’re hoping for a job at Young Life, which has an office pretty close to our house. Rachel has had an interview, and is scheduled to hear back from them by the end of next week. We’re trying not to get our hopes up, but I’m still excited by the possibility.
In other news, Rachel bought tickets to a TobyMac concert for my birthday so that’s what we’re doing tonight! He’s one of my favorite artists, and I’m really looking forward to going.
In closing, we have several prayer requests, and would be delighted if you would join us in lifting these requests to the Lord.
- That Rachel would get the job at Young life, or that another job would come along quickly
- Our decision about this church
- That God would continue to provide work for my dad and me, and keep us both healthy
- That I would learn trust God in the area of finances.
His Truly,
-Stephen (and Rachel)