If your spouse loses (or has lost) his/her job-how do you manage?

[maryskid]

I think at times people forget that they are in a special covenant with God Almighty in the form of Marriage Vows…is He not the Spirit that has brought you both together? is He not bearing witness to every moment of your marriage? Remember all the words you spoke to one another they are more valuable than gold and remember you both declared them in the eyes of God with the breath of your spirits via voice and the depth of soul in hearts for God and all to hear and see…and you were declared Husband and Wife…through sickness and health…richer or poorer…etc…

Well, my point is…when God is in the covenant He is the one that you need to turn towards in the hardships…especially if you or your spouse is finding it difficult to carry a burden, you are to help share the load, the crosses. It they are too heavy recall the words of Our Lord " my burden is (light)" is that weightless or darkless light??? ask for His assistance. i.e. while giving birth I clearly recall screaming out whole heartedly “DEAR GOD!!!” and that was from the heart and not blasphemous…I needed Him right then and there and He was!!

Please, I say this all not to be arrogant or anything, but my experience has been that during all or any difficulties I need to remind myself that I am the Lord’s and He is mine. I am a single mom that has seen and endured much, but, for all the hardships I have experienced Miracle upon Miracle…He never lets me down, he has been faithful to me and my kids…I fear many times I let Him down, especially during the hard times then I pass through it and I can see the purpose for the testing. It is always after the storms that the world seems fresher and cleaner…testing is the fire that draws us away from the impurities and refines us to the pureness required. Lifts our heart to His, unites us with Him.

We must not pretend that troubles are nothing, they are real they are part of life, we need to face them straight on with Our Lord and ask Him what He wants us to do. Cry, scream, shout, be truthful and real…He already knows our thoughts and what is in our hearts, think of a little child when they are frustrated or troubled, it is when they have exhausted themselves that they are ready to come to the parent as a last resort for help in the matter. How can we describe our feelings that they tried so hard on their own to solve their problem and how proud we are of them and then the love we feel for them that they come to us their parent…for help, how wonderful to help our children.

I have had many times when I thought the phone and hydro would be cut off…that the cupboards were getting low…but each time, every time My Lord has helped, when I set aside my worry and turned my worry into trust and faith. Even if it meant my saying aloud “you Promised to take care of me and I don’t know what to do! You can’t be lying to me or I must be sinning and if you can’t show me my sin how can I repent???” well, lets remember, lack of faith is a sin … at least in this home…

As for me and my house we shall serve the Lord…I don’t recall it ever being “as for me and my house the Lord shall serve us…”

How many times do people ask our Lord…
Father, do you want me to do anything for you today?
Sometimes, He just likes us to share a bit of His sufferings, then I know He loves me…I realized that when I suffer, He is right here with me, he lets us feel His pain but most of us don’t like pain, we rather have all the good stuff…hmmm…reminds me of someone that is spoken of in the bible that sort of entangles us to want the things of this world…the tempter?

God can open a door in a blink…he can provide work and he can take it away…He sometimes slams doors shut that if we were to walk through would be more devestating than if we didn’t. Sometimes it takes awhile to see why he took the job away or allowed a situation, but it will always serve a purpose…Pray for His Divine Providence and His Divine Provision…pour out your heart, but most of all … please remember to Love your Spouse, you have been given the most beautiful gift to have a spouse…it is a gift of Love and there is no price to put upon it, cherish your marriage and your mate. Be kind to one another in good and bad and recall the day of your wedding or the best times in your lives together and remind one another that good always comes. I say this with the utmost compassion for all of you that are going through these hardships…

I remember a hard time I was going through and I asked Mother Mary…what am I to do…she replied “be the Mother you are to your children and I will be that Mother for you”…she kept her word as I did as she said…my fears were comforted, my heart was strengthened, my days in the storm around, help was sent in little ways and big ways…but most of all I had to trust Her and let her know when I was beginning to become weary or that doubt was trying to enter…it was NOT easy. I was fighting evil on every side, but I had My Mother Mary holding me tight and clearing the darknes with all the saints, angels and holy souls. We need to realize that as Elijah, and Elisha, there is the army of God around us we may not always see it - but there are more of us than of the darkness, we have all the help of the souls that have gone before us…call upon them but also pray for them. As we help them with prayer they are helping us making intercession to assist all of us, the living here, for the Will of God on this earth to be done.

well, now I will sign off, it was not my intention to be longwinded, this is where I will say oops…“oops”…

 

[sheilathebard]

The PP is right … God does take care of his little ones who depend on him.

My parents were married in college. They each worked more than one job around their classes, when my older brother was born. My mom ended up nannying for other college students, because that way she didn’t have to leave the baby.

Then my dad was in the military, and money got very tight for awhile. My mom fed us on ship’s biscuits which she made every day or two, and we got by.

When my dad left the military, we moved to another state. The month we bought our first home, before the first mortgage had been paid, my dad lost his new job. The house was falling apart around us, but we called up family for repair advice and dealt with what we couldn’t fix.

The unemployment stretched on and my parents didn’t know what to do. They still were getting unemployment checks, which weren’t enough. But they made the decision to tithe from those checks. My mother said, “We’ll take care of God’s business, and He will take care of ours.” But I remember seeing her crying over the checkbook, and trying to explain to me what “less than no money” means.

Every time the bank account went empty (which was several times) we would get a phone call from someone, “Oh, I just remembered I owe you money from years back – can I pay it back now?” Or, “I didn’t have time to buy Christmas presents, so I’m just sending a check.” It would always be the amount needed. Once we got an anonymous letter in the mail signed “Santa Claus” with a grocery store gift card inside.

The month the unemployment ran out, my dad was hired.

So all was well for awhile, until the bank my dad worked for was bought out by a bigger bank – Washington Mutual, whose motto was, at that time, “The Friend of the Family.” We didn’t consider them a friend at all, because they told my dad he would be laid off in June. When June came, they said they would keep him till August. In August, they said they would keep him till October, for “help with the transition.” In October they hired him permanently. He worked there for fifteen years.

Now Washington Mutual has folded, and my dad has received notice once again. But again, he has been blessed not to be laid off right away, but asked to help with transition. My mom was pregnant when the buy-out happened, and the extended work time saw her through the new baby’s birth.

Right now, my dad has been told he will be let go for good in April. Much of his savings, and a third of his retirement fund, was in WaMu stock, which is now worthless. But my parents are still smiling, even though my dad’s six-month-long job search has turned up nothing. My mom says, “It has been much worse than this, and God provided. Why should we be concerned now?”

Yes, you should have a “safety net” fund – my parents do, and even I do, a little one. You should prepare for the worst, and work as hard as you can to stay employed. Even a lower-level job than you’re used to – a security guard, retail, whatever – could be enough to make a difference. But in the midst of all of this is the confidence that God is not going to let us starve. He really does provide.

 

[whatevergirl]

maryskid? what can I say? That post of yours was nothing short of AWESOME. And so true. I think that as humans we have a tendency to start scrambling in a panic when the carpet is yanked out from under us. The FIRST thing we must do, is pray. Ask God for His guidance and help. I used to not do that, but over the years, I learned that is the best way. Now, this doesn’t mean we sit idle and do nothing…but as long as we are praying to God, asking Him to comfort us, we will weather the storm. I agree! Thanks for your heartfelt post…not longwinded.

 

[maryskid]

How wonderful it is when we can reflect on the daily miracles we are part of with Our Lord. If all of us were able to recall times where we have witnessed (as the diciples did over and over again) all the good and the miracles… just as sheilathebard recalled in her post/response…well…here is a really broad question…if we could all recall even just one event we have experienced with our own eyes, then we are Glorifying Our Lord and calling upon His Goodness and Blessings, we are then bearing in Faith His Power.

Can we comprehend what types of Miracles we could see as a whole of God’s People if we do what He says and “Remember” Him? We may see His Glory lift us and His Mercy will be upon all that remember Him. It is this remembering that removes the doubts, the remembering that increases our faith and the remembering that unites us with our loved ones, whether dead or alive. I think sometimes it is difficult for people to “believe” in the invisible Lord, but, if we think of Him as a relative that we know Loves us beyond doubt through good and bad and that if we knew they were just down the road we wouldn’t doubt their existance…so if we think of our Lord as right here amongst us we may be able to see that Love has no bounds, is timeless (as when your heart feels the pangs of lost love or distant love or of a deceased loved one upon a thought) and Love never dies. When we see a loved one suffering, we want to do all we can to comfort them, but, sometimes we get mixed signals as to whether or not that person wants to be left alone or held/helped, God wants to give us that comfort let us embrace His love by recalling all the Good He has shown.

There is a sadness when you love someone with all your heart and you really don’t know if they love you back…it is a horrible kind of relationship… no matter how you try to show them or tell them if a person doesn’t believe your loving them it just won’t happen…but, when God Loves He Loves with Power and certainty, let us Love Him the same in return with all our hearts all our souls and all our minds.

I should go now otherwise I will be singing How Great Thou Art and none of yous would want to hear that~ lol

remember…perfect Love casts out all fear…fear is really doubt and doubt is a not having the mustard seed…go get some mustard and see some mountains move…

k I’m outta here…

 

[puzzleannie]

one other thing to add we have always tithed our income, even when the income was an unemployment check and our time to serve the Church and God’s poor, even when working two jobs and going to school. When we did that, we never were in real dire need, even though we have gone through extremely tough times and challenges. I will go so far to give the opinion, not as fact since I do not have statistics to back it up, that tithing spirituality is essential to getting out of debt specifically because it does lead to right relationship with God and right attitude about material things and their use.