The Spudwick Papers -- Feeling a Little Discouraged

It has been a while since we gave our loyal readers (all two of them) an update on us. (I'm pretty sure only our mothers read this...but that's okay...we know they love us!)

To be honest, it has been a trying few weeks. Jeff has been trying to find a rhythm with his new job that works for him and allows him to get a normal amount of sleep and accomplish what his job requires of him. For a while it seemed like what was being asked of him was almost to the point of being impossible, both physically and legally but the company was recently audited and has been required to make some changes. These changes should bode well for both Jeff and the company. Unlike his previous job, Jeff is now home most nights for which he is grateful but there's a drawback...there's no consistency to his paychecks. This job is much more dependent on the weather than his last and the organizational structure is much looser. We have found that his paychecks are rather on the shy side of things which has added to our overall sense of discouragement.

The older of our two vehicles, usually a reliable car, has had some major repairs on it that have dug into our financial bottom line. Just as soon as we fix one problem another pops up right away. It has been like this for about 2 weeks. It's not that we can't afford to have the repairs done; we can, but we're having to take it out of the savings for other purposes. We had thought that we might be able to consider buying a house within the next year or so but that idea has been pushed to a very, very back burner. Cutting other expenses has become the name of the game but you can only cut back so far. We have already cut back on a lot of expenses since Jeff is not driving long haul anymore but the car repairs are eating up much more than we've been able to cut back. Short of Jeff finding another new job that pays a consistent wage to meet our needs, we may have to just stick it out until I can get finished with school (my finishing date is still two years away).

We know that it is ultimately God who provides for us. He has also promised to prosper and not harm us but he also promised that as followers of Christ, we will face hardships. It really is no surprise that all this "not so fun" stuff is happening but it sure is not very comfortable either. In the bigger picture, these events are rather small and in comparison to the trials that some other folks in our church are having, our issues are pretty small. It's all about our perspective. Are we viewing our difficulties from our eyes or from God's eyes? And are we focusing on the truly eternal things; the things that matter the most, like how we react in the midst of our troubles? Are we still worshiping our Creator and giving him the glory his deserves? Kinda makes our troubles seem so much smaller when I think of it that way.

For now, it's one day at a time and deal each issue as it comes up but more importantly, praising our God in the midst of it all. I always feel better when I worship...here's one of our favorites for you to enjoy.