Christmas this year was one of trials and difficulty, surprises and blessings. As I look back over how it all played out, I couldn’t help titling this piece, “The Christmas Miracle”. Read on to discover 5 that occurred over the Christmas season of 2014:
Christmas Miracles #1
The Grocery List
Those following my blog will know that income was incredibly lacking in the Fall of 2014. What had begun as merely a major health setback in my healing from adrenal fatigue, had stretched into most clients going quiet and/or extremely sporadic. To compensate, I divvied up my kids’ room and board allotments so that most of rent would still be covered and each month’s groceries would still be covered. That was, until my daughter changed jobs.
All her previous contract jobs had paid her weekly and we’d fallen into the habit of going once or twice a week to the store instead of maintaining the usual trip every two weeks. Her new job as of November 1st, had stated originally that they’d only pay once per month, but eventually decided they’d pay twice per month instead. By the time this decision had been made, our one-week supply of most staples was running dangerously low. Ashley had other bills to pay, so we bought what groceries we could and carried on. The end of the month approached and we were again running dangerously low on food.
A community gospel choir I am part of was to have its first performance of the Christmas season as part of the entertainment at a local major fundraising craft fair. We were both hoping and praying Ashley would get paid that day, so I told her to bring the grocery list with her as she waited for me to do the two stints on stage. The idea was that if she got the email transfer of her cheque, we’d go shopping immediately afterward and then go home.
As the choir was singing in the first set, a lady from the worship flagging group Ashley used to be part of, stopped to talk and gave her a financial gift, saying she’d meant to offer it sooner but kept forgetting. The amount was enough to get most of what was on our shopping list that day!
Christmas Miracle #2
The Christmas Cards
If I’d thought income was bad earlier in the Fall, December saw it almost disappear to nothing as the days rolled toward Christmas. It it weren’t for the kids pitching in for gas and discovering that a gift card could also go in the tank, the car would have been parked most of the month. Even the Christmas decorating had to wait because I didn’t have enough BBQ-grade tinfoil to wrap the Christmas Cross this year! I began praying for a Christmas miracle. When Ashley’s mid-month cheque came in, we got the tinfoil and did a massive 3-week grocery run. She had forgotten what that looked like and we both thanked God for going shopping with us as that week had amazing sales at the store! But that wasn’t going to be the blessing that knocked my socks off!
The Sunday before Christmas, we were given a total of four different Christmas cards. We were taking advantage of a free photo shoot at Walmart right after church, so we didn’t open the cards till we got home. As I opened each card, God had placed on each giver’s heart to bless us financially! Four cards opened with varying amounts of cash that I took to the bank as soon as I could! Funds had been provided to handle the remaining bills that had not yet been paid or bounced. Even at that, a small bill turned into a larger one as it bounced Saturday night ahead of this amazing Sunday morning.
Christmas Miracle #3
- The Christmas Guest
The same weekend as the Christmas cards, we discovered God placing a guest at our table and a song on Ashley’s heart. The song had come first and we were researching it and doing our due diligence when the phone call came in from the person God wanted at our table this year.
Ashley began figuring out the song, I put together our grocery list for Christmas Day, and we began what to me had been incredibly late planning for that special meal. We did what shopping we could for Christmas Day using a gift card that had come into our hand early. Then the Monday saw us end up with a Christmas hamper from our church, containing more gift cards and allowing us to finish putting together a Christmas dinner that our guest very much enjoyed!
Ashley was able to share the song she had only JUST finished arranging, for our guest, and our home became a safe zone for them as they fought with lingering negative influences from their childhood that used to come around every Christmas. It was a blessing to us, to be a conduit of blessing to our guest as they went home with gifts God put together for them in our manger.
Christmas Miracle #4
- My Son’s Job
As if my own financial struggles and my daughter’s adjustment to a new payment schedule weren’t enough, the week before Christmas my son got word that he was going back on call at work. This wasn’t a good scenario and he quickly did the math to ensure he could pay January’s room and board before deciding that if work couldn’t come up with a certain minimum number of hours, he’d start job hunting again.
Just a few days after Christmas, work called him in for almost a full week, the first full week of January 2015!
Christmas Miracle #5
The Gift That Looked Like Work
The last Christmas miracle was that of God bringing work to me on either side of Christmas Day. Two events and two laptops needed to be looked at, and all of them were paying jobs as opposed to volunteer tasks. I was never so happy to see work surrounding Christmas before as this year! Those tasks felt like a Christmas gift all by themselves!
*****
It’s been tough. A baking session to use what little flour we had to bless others resulted in the enemy breaking our toilet handle and the handle on the oven door. Lack of income could have easily scuttled any Christmas plans and made it harder to manage what little we could have done. BUT GOD!!! Oh how I love that phrase! Even Christmas Eve, the car tires began having problems that I had to get looked at in the middle of rushing around ahead of the Christmas Eve service! If the enemy had had their way, Christmas would not have been what it became this year! God is still in the business of doing miracles! They won’t always look like what we expect, but when we learn to see God’s hand in everyday life, those miracles become more readily apparent. I don’t know what 2015 has in store for this family, but I do know God is in control even as I have little idea how things on my own end of the scale will proceed into January.