God's Provision

I have debated how to blog about how God has provided in our life during this season - and I hope sharing this will encourage people, and truly show how awesome God is. I don't ever want any one to read our blog and think that "Oh yeah that Mark and Brittany, they are Christians and their lives are terrible and nothing is going right - I would never want that life". Which I assure you there are parts of our lives that seem to be going terribly and I am not sure how God will work them out, but I hope this post will encourage you that God is a loving God and intensely loves His children. He is a perfect father that wants to provide for us, and here is how he has done that for us.

After Mark's car was totaled, we learned that we would get $300 from a scrap yard for it, we were really wondering what we were going to do. We are not swimming in disposable income and $300 dollars would get us a couple wheels of a car. I need a car to get to my rotations everyday, and Mark delivers pizzas each night, which he needs a car to do. We got multiple offers from people to let us borrow their cars for a while, and then Mark got a phone call. The call was from a family that we know from church, and don't even know them that well, but they offered us their car.
 Not for a season, and not for a really great deal.
 For free.
And its not a junker, its a really, really nice car. A Ford Explorer in great condition. Something we could have never, ever gotten for ourselves. And the best part? When they said "please don't ever think of this from us- think of it as a gift from God". So now, we have an awesome new (to us) car, that every time I think about or see it I get a huge smile and think about how undeserving we are and how good our God is.
That's not it either.  Just after we accepted this car, we got a call from a family member offering us their car.  We had multiple offers from people to let us burrow a car long term, but two offers from people for a gift of a car!  We literally had to turn down the gift of a car because we already accepted one!  How are supposed to even process this mentally? 
And then.
(Side note: Cancer is very expensive. I don't recommend getting it unless you have very good insurance and are a millionaire. We have terrible insurance and so all these upcoming bills and bills that we have been working on for the past year are stressful. We know in our heads that money is not something to worry about and that God will provide and getting me healthy is priceless, yadda ya. But these bills have been a huge burden. They have been to me, but to a much higher degree, to Mark. He is working so hard for us every night delivering pizzas, and still looking for a full time job, but him not being able to pay for everything is a huge burden).
And then....
We have gotten three gifts of money from people.
We have not asked for these, and people just saw a need and God provided.
Each one?
$1,000.
We were blown away.
We have shed tears of joy over each one. We literally sit and just stare at each other speechless and laugh and cry. This is huge in our pizza delivering-Doster store working-babysitting budget. Huge.
God is so good.
I hope you read this and can see how awesome God is. How following Him is hard, and painful at times (I mean Jesus, who is our savior and example, died a horrific, painful death after all his friends deserted him, so I'm not really sure why we think this life will be easy, but that's another blog for another day). But God is a perfect father, who wants us to trust him, obey him and he wants to use our weakness to show His strength. Let Him.
Love,
Brittany

R.I.P. Chariot of Doom

I know it doesn’t look bad, but it’s totaled. The wheel is moved completely out of place and locked. Everything behind it is destroyed, probably through to the motor. The driver side door is jammed shut. Best part? Just had a ton of work done behind that wheel, invested hundreds of dollars. New struts, new ball joint, and a new controller arm. All broken in the accident.


One thing I learned in the accident: I am stronger than my car! Hahaha, not really. I’m incredibly blessed to have zero injuries from the accident. God protected me. And the other driver too.

PSA- put down the cell phone. Just do it. This whole situation could have been prevented by a teenage girl just putting down the phone. That text, that call, that picture isn’t worth it. It’s not worth the damages and it’s definitely not worth injury.

I cringed as I watched my car skid onto the platform with the wheels cocked to the side and not rolling.

Sad day. Lots of good memories in this bad boy.

You might be asking yourself, “What is a Chariot of Doom?” Let me tell you. That is what I named this beautiful piece of American engineering. People kept calling it a station wagon, but I knew this little guy had more in it’s heart and soul then taking kids to and from soccer practice. You might see a station wagon. But I see a verrrrrry small truck. Picture a truck with a topper on the bed. Now shrink that to the size of a car. I hauled stuff to and from school, to and from work sites, long hauls to and from Texas loaded with cargo. You tell me how that isn’t a truck.  And why shouldn't it have a name that reflects it's personality?

I sold the car to a scrap yard. Bummer. They don’t pay very well, but my car wasn’t worth much. So I guess all is fair. However, there was a shred of poetic justice in this situation. The scrap yard is an old drive in movie theater. The massive screen still stands as a monument of a bygone era, a place where people drove their vehicles to escape from reality for an evening. Now, it’s a headstone. A headstone that marks the final resting place of these very vehicles.

R.I.P.
Chariot of Doom
2001-2011
“Beloved little truck, stuck in a dainty little body”

Stayed tuned, next post: “So His grace may abound”