Paying for my son and daughter’s college education seemed completely impossible four years ago, but it was still the desire of my heart. Yet there I was, quitting my part-time job in October 2007 because I sensed God directing me to do so. What did God have in mind?
My husband and I had always planned to put our children through college. We knew this was the right choice for them, and we felt it was our responsibility to give them a head start in life without a burden of debt.
But by the time our daughter was a high school senior and our son was a junior, I thought our dreams of supporting their education were just that – dreams, not reality.
By that time, we had obeyed what God had wanted us to do by adopting two other children from Russia. The cost was the price of one college education. We had also spent other money in obedience to God, and had not received a large sum that was due to our business. That amount also added up to the cost of one college education. As journalists and former small business owners, we’d never been high-buck earners, so bringing in a large amount of money quickly wasn’t in the cards.
On top of that, I felt God urging me to quit the part-time job I did have, which didn’t make sense at all. But the directive was clear, so with my husband’s agreement I walked away from a paycheck. Even though I was doing this with absolutely no prospects, I knew God had a plan and I tried not to worry.
As I searched for a new job that could help pay for college, I prayed, asking the Lord for help. One day in November as I read my devotions, the Holy Spirit spoke to me through a verse in 2 Kings, Chapter 8: “Then he (the king) assigned an official to her case and said to him, “Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.” I knew God was telling me that I would get back the college education money that had been “lost,” although I couldn’t see how this would happen.
I’d been applying for other work for about a year and there still wasn’t anything promising on the horizon. Even the job I considered a good fit hadn’t resulted in an interview. It’s a good thing I didn’t know that the worst U.S.economic downtown since the Great Depression was about to officially begin in December 2007!
Despite all that, the phone rang after only a month of unemployment. I was asked to interview for the “good fit” job that I’d thought was filled long ago. In a short period of time, I was offered a full-time job with the highest salary I’d ever received.
I started my new job on Nov. 27, 2007, almost four years ago, just as the recession began to hit. By the time we needed to pay for our daughter’s first semester of college, we had the money. God’s message to me was real. He provided then, and has continued to provide throughout the past four years and throughout this recession. Our daughter will graduate from college this December and our son has just one more year to complete! God is true to his name: Jehovah-jireh, “The LORD will Provide.”
“And those who know Thy name will put their trust in Thee: For Thou, O LORD, hast not forsaken those who seek Thee.” Psalm 9:10