Ok, I know I am a sucker for the journey of faith Fridays posts- but I really enjoy sharing these stories! Looking back at the times the Lord has come through for me in the past encourages me to not lose hope when facing trials today. I hope this story will be of encouraging for someone out there, as encouraging as it is for me to look back and reflect on this.
The theme this week is to share ‘about a time you surrendered something/someone to the Lord’. I am excited to share this week’s story with my husband’s permission...
In Sept of 2007 Steve purchased an Allstate insurance agency. We had been praying about this decision for a long time and were very excited it was finally happening. We were also nervous as this was a step in faith for both of us! Steve would be his own boss for the first time, but he would also have the weight of running a business on his shoulders.
For the first three months he was required to write $20,000 worth of insurance premium. If he didn't I thought he would be forced to sell the agency or it'd be taken away in some form.
I was anxious about Steve meeting his goal and would often volunteer my advice on what I thought he should do.
Come the end of the first month= $0 in premium.
In the second month I started to become more nagging and controlling.I would sometimes call Steve at his office to tell him how he must not be doing something right. It was a very frustrating and stressful time for both of us.
Towards the end of the second month, I remember a day in which Steve told me he did not appreciate the way I had been acting towards him and to please let it go. I apologized to him for the first time and as soon as he hung up the phone I started crying. I had done everything in my power to try to make things happen, but obviously things weren’t working out as I wanted them to. It was almost the end of the second month and he had barely written $1,000 in premium.
As I sat there crying there that afternoon in the international mall parking lot, I remember asking the Lord to please take charge of his business and change my nagging attitude.
Now I don't know what was so different about that day. I had prayed every day for the past two months for God to help him with his business, but nothing had changed before then. The only thing that was different about that day was my cry. Literally tears flowing down.
I cried out to the LORD in my great trouble, and he answered me. Jonah 2:2
When I was in trouble, I cried out to the LORD, and he answered me Psalm 120:1
Maybe the bible is straightforward about the 'crying' part. Or maybe the tears where just an outward symptom of my brokeness inside. Whatever it was, I was finally able to surrender his business that day.
Over the next month I respected Steve’s business decisions and stopped telling him what to do. There were many times when I bit my tongue and kept asking God for help to continue to leave it at his feet (believe me there were times when I wanted to take it back!)
Well low and behold Steve not only met the $20,000 premium that last month but he exceeded it. It only took him one month! Truly it was nothing short of a miracle.
Steve did not do anything radically different- the Lord just really came through for us.
I am always amazed at God’s faithfulness when I finally surrender things to him.
