Contrary to most people, I love Monday's. For the past nine months, I have worked primarily Fridays and Saturdays (and one Sunday a month...) so to me, Monday is like my Friday. Tuesday through Thursday is busy with house upkeep, home schooling, Co-Op, errands, etc. and then it's back to work on Friday morning by 7 a.m.
It's just such a nice day. Especially if its alittle rainy, I feel justified in keeping my lounge pants and slippers on. I like to take it easy in the morning - drink an extra cup of coffee, do some reading, catch up on my mail, etc.
A few months ago, I had the bright idea that I would sleep in on Monday. Bad idea. I had no more turned over to go back to sleep, than the phone rang. Was it a friend? An emergency? No, it was the never ending barage of a bill collector. Once awake from the ring, I couldn't go back to sleep again. As I came downstairs and sat on the couch, trying to awake my mind to get going for the day, I realized how much my heart hurt.
An occasional phone call from a bill collector is a common occurance for most people...you know...you misplaced the bill, forgot to mail it, etc. But for our family, that common occurance turned completely around a few months after 9/11.
It's a long story, but the Readers Digest version is this: Before this time, we had impeccable credit. We worked long and hard to build our home, completely out of debt. We made alot of sacrifices, learned to be patient and waited for our dream to unfold. We even lived for a total of almost 4 years in a little house on Dan's parents property - with no indoor plumbing, running water or conventional heat! Many people helped us in a variety of ways - because Dan had to deal with being legally blind as of 1984. He has an amazingly resilient spirit! He learned to deal with it, and keep working. But it was so worth the wait. We finished our home slowly as we had the money available.
Since we had great credit, we loaned a business money - with our home as collateral. Little did we know what a huge lack of judgement this was on our part. The business subsequently declared bankrupcy a few years later, and we were written off for thousands of dollars in court. That was bad enough - but there were interpersonal relationships involved, and life was all of a sudden constantly strained.
The dream had unraveled - but God was there in the midst of it all.
Almost instantly, we began having upwards of 40-50 phone calls a day - mostly from bill collectors. I kid you not. I even have witnesses. One time my Dad came down for a visit, and as we were sitting at the table trying to visit - we heard the phone ring almost constantly. We were evening receiving phone calls late into the evenings, and sometimes early on Sunday mornings. It was relentless. There were days I was in tears, frustrated beyond words, as I tried to keep our home life together, keep my part time work up, keep home schooling, keep the meals on the table. Because Dan was often at work, away from the phone - it became almost a breaking point for me. Often he would return their calls after he arrived home, doing the best he could to give every bill collector alittle piece of the financial pie coming in. One of the best gifts he ever bought me was an answering machine, with caller ID - so I could gain some assemlance of order in our day again. This was, I was still available if there was an emergency with one of our parents, or the kids - and we could still receive messages from friends and family. But now we were able to return the phone calls when we were more prepared - with the specific bill folder in front of me - ready to make some type of offer or consideration.
Few people truly understand the stress that is put upon a marriage when financial disaster hits. It's so easy for tempers to flare and blame to fly everywhere. But I want to offer one word of encouragement to those that find themselves in a situation such as ours - persevere! I of all people, understand what it is like to go from being an upstanding good citizen, paying your bills on time, to the scum of the earth - often overnight.
Last time I looked, the year is now 2008, which means that we've been dealing with this financial pressure for about 7 years now. Even this week, I had two interesting things happen. Monday morning - again!!! I had a sales person call wanting to renew our subscription to a publication. When I told him that money was tight, plus the fact that my husband was legally blind, and often unable to keep up with the publications anyway - he resonded: "Well, can't you read it to him?" Read it to him? Is he nuts? I had to laugh as I wished him a great day. Just two paragraphs ago, the U.P.S. truck stopped, and I was handed a large "URGENT" envelope. Another creditor - needing to hear from us - now! now! now!!!
I have no idea if anyone will ever read this blog. I write, just to write. To clear my head. To journal, to hopefully, some day - compile these testimonies as an offering to my Lord. He has been so real to me in the midst of all this! But if you're reading this, amazed that someone else out there - perhaps someone you've never met somehow can understand what you're going through, then I say please, hang in there friend. I still have no idea how this is all going to pan out for our family. We could still lose our home. We may never recover from this loss. But in the meantime, I take a great deal of comfort in the Apostle Paul's words:
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfot we ourselves have received from God." II Cor. 1:3-5
This passage has become my life's purpose! So please receive the comfort that can only come from God. He, thankfully, doesn't try to reach you by phone on early Sunday mornings. He is always there, only a prayer away...and His Word is living and powerful, and can meet you exactly where you are today.
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