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Topic: Beginnings (05/31/04)
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TITLE: Beginnings By Anita Bharanidharan 06/01/04 |
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I cooked breakfast and rushed the children through their routine of getting to school. With all my jobs done, I was waiting for my husband to get back from work. He was on the night shift. He came home a little past 10a.m and I was wondering why he was late. He sat me down at our little kitchen table. He held my hand, looked into my eyes and said, “Honey, I wont have to go to work anymore. My department has closed down. I have to find myself another job. I am sorry but I know the Lord will provide.” I had tears running down my cheeks as I held my husband’s crying face to my bosom. I also had this calm assurance creeping through and permeating the whole of me. I knew God was in control.
The months that followed were wearing down on our patience and our purse. The only thing that held up was our unshakable faith in our saviour. Our friends from church were very supportive but as the months went by visitors dwindled. Our savings were running out and my husband’s adamancy was not. He did not want me to find a job as that meant he would be a househusband. That to him was not God’s design for man. He had not managed to find a placement as the recession was killing our small town. One night when everyone was in bed I asked the Lord to help me find a way to make things better. I wanted a job that would help my family through this difficult time, without hurting my husband’s feelings.
I woke up singing, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness!” The answer from heaven came in an ad in the paper. They were seeking a cartoonist and a writer for a children’s column. This was a work-from-home job. I sat at our kitchen table with the tears running down, staining the ad and into my coffee. I looked at the date on the paper and I realized it was my birthday. It was also exactly 10 months since my husband and I had had that conversation at the kitchen table. The Lord had given us a new beginning and I had been given a new birth. A new realization of how faithful He is. I told my husband that I was going to apply for this job. He did not mind and he told me he had an interview that day. We both left after praying for each other. I came back home thanking God for helping me find employment. An hour later my husband called and asked me to meet him at the little bistro where we first met. I rushed wondering what it was. He told me that we were having coffee on the house and asked me if I wanted a brownie to go with it. I asked him if he had won a coffee ticket there. I still didn’t get it why my husband was so happy about free coffee. He broke into a chuckle and said that I was looking at the new manager of “Coffee in a Jiffy”. I realized for the first time that life was in a circle called the circle of love and God was the midpoint. I smiled and I kissed my husband. We stepped out giggling like new lovers when the first drops of rain fell on my face. I looked up at the showers of blessing after the summer heat and said aloud, “Thank you Jesus”.