A Place to call my own (part 2).

Matthew 8:20 (New American Standard Bible)

20 Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
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A Place to call my own (part 2).

So now that I had a job I needed a place to live that I could afford. My first step was to ask both of my parents, individually, if they were ok with my moving out. I asked them separately because they had recently gotten divorced (2 years perhaps) and I wanted an honest answer from each. Each one had a few pointed questions and advice to go along with their blessing. So I excitedly considered my next step.

Wanting to handle things wisely I set about figuring out what I could afford to pay for rent each month and came up with a slightly depressing figure. This got me to wondering if I should seek a roommate to make it easier to afford and also got me to worrying about the whole thing once more. The local paper didn’t have any promising apartments in my price range and I had no real candidates for a roommate. My worry and insecurity promptly drove the memory of how I got my job out of my head. Thankfully it was very soon afterwords that the Sunday morning message included comments about respecting your parents and their God ordained position in your life. So I approached my dad about the situation and asked him if he thought I should get a "roomie" or try to go it alone.

My dad told me outright that he thought I would do best on my own, adding that it would teach me some things as well. I told him the papers just didn’t have anything in my range and the time was getting close for my mom, brother, and sister to move. I was worried and knew he didn’t have any space for me. His advice to me was the same advice he’d given me several times before; I’d just forgotten.

"Give it to God," he said. "Just remember that if you give it to Him you need to let Him work on it. Don’t take it back, leave it with Him...just trust Him. If you don’t trust Him He can’t work with it."

I sputtered a half-hearted "yeah, I know." With my head lowered.

"Just trust Him," he continued. "And remember when He gives it back to you it will be because either He has solved it for you or because He has changed it somehow and wants you to do something about it also."

Character and Integrity. My dad’s favorite one-two punch when giving advice. It usually hurt...and was always totally correct!

So armed with this new/old advice I prayed and asked God to take this issue from me because it was too big for me and I had no idea what to do. I slept well that night and got up THE NEXT DAY with the thought in my head "Today the local paper (printed weekly) comes out and I should get one." Ever have one of those nagging thoughts that keeps at you like an itch you couldn’t reach? Yeah that’s what it was like. So I went out at lunch time and got the paper.

I repeated my prayer before looking at the classifieds and was amazed to see an ad for an apartment in my price range and not too far from where I was currently living! I called the number to make an appointment to see it and was met with confusion by the landlord. She told me that apartment wasn’t ready yet and that the ad I had seen was not supposed to be published for two weeks yet. I said "please" in my neediest but respectful voice and she agreed to let me see it.

The next day I saw the apartment and was told that an older woman had also called to see it. This news worried me a bit because the landlord told me she was "mature" and had a long established job while I had only had mine for about three months and was twenty-three. I prayed again that night thanking God for the hope this apartment gave me and honestly asking Him for His Will in the situation...slept great again.

The following afternoon the landlord called me and said she had decided to let me have the apartment. We talked briefly about the rent and when it would be due and I agreed to stop by the next day to sign a lease. Hanging up the phone I was both overjoyed and amazed...the rent she agreed on was exactly, to the penny, the amount I had worked out I could afford to live on!

God had answered my prayer again! Not only that; but this time He had arranged for the ad to be placed, then printed early BEFORE I had even prayed! (Trivia: what verse speaks to this very thing?) Then He turned the heart of a single mother with two kids to rent to me instead of an older, mature, woman with a long work history and great credit record!

God IS Good !!

A Place to call my own.

Matthew 8:20 (new American Standard Bible)

Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
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In March 1989 I was in a pickle. Several weeks earlier my family had announced that they were leaving New York City and moving to Pittsburgh (where our roots were and practically everyone in the family lived). I had planned to finish college and find a job while still living at home. This would make things easier on me and allow me to help my mom out with some of the bills. I didn’t want to move. 

I had good friends in New York (including a girlfriend). I had a great church that I was excited about and in which I was growing. The schools I wanted to attend were in New York. I felt that I needed to stay put.

Staying put meant I had to do four things in rapid succession. 1) I had to get my Mom’s OK to get my own place.   2) I had to get my Dad’s OK too.   3) I had to get a job that paid enough to handle my own place.   4) I had to find a place.

The first two didn’t seem to big an issue for me. My parents knew I felt ready and I believed they agreed with me. The second two, however, were cause for lost sleep. I hadn’t finished my degree and couldn’t really expect a good paying job without it, and without such a job an apartment was out of the question.

So I prayed for a job…Oh, I went to several job agencies and a few interviews “on my own” as it were. No good.

So, as I said, I prayed (meaning I realized it was NOT going to work without God’s help).

Here is what happened:

The DAY after I committed my job search to God I visited the three agencies I had been working with…no go. Later while talking with a friend she mentioned that the agency that had found her a job might be able to help me. They placed mostly, but not exclusively, women. I was a bit dubious to be honest, but I had asked God to help, and this was definitely not something I would think of myself, so I called for an appointment.

Walking into the agency all eyes were on me…I was the only non-female in the room and I felt like I had snuck into the wrong locker room. I went through the process: filled out forms, sat through a quick interview, handed over my resume, and left with the agent’s eyes stuck in my memory…eyes that said “what am I going to do with him?”

When I got home my phone was ringing and I grabbed it thinking it was my friend calling to ask how things had gone and offer encouragement. To my surprise it was the agent I had just left! She told me that another agent had remembered seeing me and had called a company she dealt with to inquire after open positions; and could I go for an interview in the morning? I said “sure.”

The day after the interview I was offered a job with that company, at a modest but sufficient salary. Cross one item off the list. I began work and turned my thoughts to the other big need….an apartment.

Needless to say I was psyched! In less than 72 hours after praying I had been directed to an agency, gotten an interview, and been offered the job! I figured an apartment would be a cinch…..

2B Continued...

 

"In the Beginning..."

One Step at a time is the only way to really get anywhere. Whether in a career, relationship, hobby, or other endeavor we must first start if there is ever to be the hope of arrival. Even after taking that first step we must continue to be willing to take another...and so on. In this way it is easy to make progress.
The trick is in starting out in the right direction;
The challenge is in not turning back.

This blog will, hopefully, be used to chronicle some of the steps on my path with God. There will be no particular order since there is much to tell of past, present, and whatever He has for me tomorrow. I pray the stories, anecdotes, tales, and failures recorded here may encourage another along the same path.

As Beethoven used to write in the margins of his music:
Soli Deo Gloria