A Fast

Last night Hubby and I had to evict the tenant who is living in our rental property. This property is for sale because we decided a few months ago that we are not in the right financial state to own a rent house at this time in our lives. So we put it on the market in April. The tenant was going to live there until it sold.
Well, tenant hasn't paid rent, so he has to move out. This puts a huge burden on us financially. The whole reason we are selling it is to avoid having to pay the mortgage while it sits empty. So we have just added several hundred dollars to our monthly expenses. I have been very upset about all of this, and have spent hours looking over my budget trying to figure out how to make ends meet.

The reason I am telling you all of this is so you will understand what is going on in our lives.

I go very quickly from normal to stressed out. It seems like life with 7 children can take you from Happy Mom to Nutty Mom in about an hour, sometimes less. The house can go from cleaned and pretty to disaster area in very little time, because if all of us make a little mess here and there, pretty soon it is chaos. Not doing the dishes one night after dinner can off set my entire next day. Not doing the laundry for a day or so can mean a week's worth of catch-up. So, this financial crisis plus a couple of days of mess have shut me down.

I shut down when I reach a certain level of stress. I can only handle so much and then I just go numb. I can't think clearly. My mind is foggy and I am tired. I have prayed and prayed and asked God to take care of this mess. He is the wealthiest Father out there, so I know He can handle this. My logic tells me that my Super Daddy will take care of it and everything will be fine. But I also know that when He takes care of us, He does what He knows is best, not what we think is best. I don't always like that. It is usually uncomfortable and makes me stretch my faith. I don't necessarily want to stretch my faith right now.

Right now I want to buy 11 acres and build a pretty yellow house with a wrap around porch. I want to close on the loan on July 6 like we have planned. I don't want to have to let that dream go. I want my children to grown up in that house and I want my grandkids to come stay with us there, in this town, on that piece of property. I don't want God to say, "That isn't what I have planned for you."

I am taking a week long fast from the Internet. I tend to zone out on the computer, especially the Internet, and let other things go. This week has been one of those weeks. You have probably noticed the multiple blog posts each day. Needless to say, I have let other, more important thing go. I have ignored my children and my home. I have ignored the mountain of laundry that is growing (Mt. Never Rest). I have eaten out and spent too much money (okay, that has nothing to do with too much time on the Internet...). The list could go on.

Now it is time for me to refocus, stop crying, and let God put me back together and show me what to do. I know He can and will take care of us. He gave us these 7 kids; they are each a gift from Him. He wasn't surprised by any of them, even if we were. : )
I know that He will not give us gifts and then not equip us to take care of them. I know He will not let us starve or be homeless. We are loved and well cared for by our Daddy, who owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

Please pray for us this week.
Pray that we will hear His voice, that He will speak to us.
Pray that He will give Hubby and me peace in the midst of this small storm in our lives.
Pray that our rent house will sell.
Pray that our financial issues will be resolved.
Pray that we will learn from this and not make the same mistakes in the future.
Pray that we will honor God with the money He gives us.
Pray that our children will understand. We are going to have to make some sacrifices that they will not like. Pray that they will be understanding of this.