A Series of Unfortunate Events At The Grant Homestead

As I stated yesterday, we appear to be on a ride through unfortunate financial events. Since I blogged about Trusting God Without Borders two weeks ago the following has happened:

• My car needed to be inspected, and due to a corroded catalytic converter wouldn't pass said inspection until blah, blah, blah... $620.


• Our mortgage company was way off on their estimate for our escrow account and are now either asking us for $2,200 by June or an increase of $400 a month on our mortgage to cover this shortage and also meet the amount needed for next year.


• We received a $620 oil bill, which is unusual for this time of year because our provider had delivered oil just the month before. Thanks March for breaking record lows!


• My debit card number was stolen and multiple purchases were made on it, including a $720 purchase from Walmart, some glassware in Massachusetts, and an escort service. (To hear about all that awesomeness, check out my post from yesterday: Swiper, no Swiping.)


• Finally on Sunday morning I discovered we had no hot water, which led us to discover that our basement was flooded and our furnace was about 6 inches deep in water :-/ Turns out the sump pump had tipped over and couldn't kick on, but, thankfully, after setting it back up it drained the basement in about six hours. The hubby's father, Mike—a whiz when it comes to mechanical and home repair issues—came over and got the furnace running again. No major damage, but it should probably be cleaned and services.

Sigh.

What do all of the above have in common, besides being financial burdens? To me they are trials. I am a saver through and through. It kills me to spend money at all, but especially on unexpected expenses, so when each of these situations occurred I wanted to just stomp my feet and cry! Somewhere in the back of my mind, though, the words to "Ocean" by Hillsong United kept rolling in my mind.

I will call upon Your Name

Keep my eyes above the waves

My soul will rest in Your embrace

I am Yours and You are mine

I knew that each of these circumstances presented me with the opportunity to trust that God is good, that He has good plans for me, and that He already knew about each of these circumstances before they even happened. Was I going to cry "uncle" or was I going to rest in His embrace? Though I haven't enjoyed this little ride of financial delights, I think I'm learning, and I guess in the end that is all that matters. When I invited Him to take me deeper than I would ever choose to go I didn't know that this might be the direction He would take, but I will continue to follow along wherever He chooses to lead.

Keep pinchin'