Legacies: Part 3-"Still Juicy"

        Now for the final & REST of the story!  I’m not going to give a big review.  It would be very helpful if you would read Legacies: Part 1 & 2 to fully appreciate Part 3.  This is the continuation of my Legacy of Tithing based on Mal 3:8-12, bringing the whole  tithe into the storehouse (God’s church).  God says to test Him in doing this.  Again, I believe that due to Dave’s & my tithing throughout our lives & especially during the hardest times of our lives when we didn’t have any money, God has been very true to His promises & blessing.

        Well, I left off around December of Dave’s fourth year in medical school.  In Legacy Part 2:”Juicy Part”, I wrote about the miraculous provisions that God provided for us by (1) me becoming the resident manger in our students housing complex, (2) & the extraordinary Conference Week, ending with us finding out that we were NOT deferred as we wished in Dave’s coming up residency program.

When February rolled around Amy was over 3 1/2 yrs old, & Ben was about 20 mons old.  Dave had doubled up his course load & had finished up early.  The negative aspect in doing this was no more money came in from the Air Force.  Dave was still working odd jobs at the hospital.  Through-out these medical school years we babysat children for a weekend or up to 10 days while their parents were on vacation or gone to conferences.  This was great money for us!

Looking back on it, this babysitting again was only from the Lord, because I didn’t have a clue to what I was doing when I signed up for this.  I had Amy at the time, so I guess I thought I could keep another child during the day, off & on, not for continual days at a time.  All this happened because I was a member of the Medical Wives Club which was a support group for the wives of medical students.  This Club had many functions you could sign-up for, so I signed-up for babysitting.  When I got my first weekend babysitting call, I must say I was a little shocked.  Again, this turned out to be an awesome blessing because, one family with three young boys fell in love with us, & especially with Amy.  We gave them a lot of attention, & because of this, the parents called on us a lot.  When Ben came along, it became a little much, so reluctantly we had to give it up.

Back to February, Dave finally had a little time off.  This sweet family who we sat often for, offered us their house in Sugar Mt so we could go snow skiing.  I hadn’t snow skied much, so I definitely wasn’t good at it.  It was fun having Dave’s middle brother & wife go along on the trip with us.  We always had fun with them, & many belly laugh stories.  One in particular came out of this trip.  I’ll have to write about that another day.  

         

             Anyway, about a little over 24 hrs after being there, we got a call to let us know that Ben had fractured his leg.  My parents were keeping the children while we were on the ski trip.  Mother & Daddy always did special things with the children like playing one on one with them, going to the park, etc....   Daddy was playing with Ben by throwing Ben up in the air & catching him around Ben's ankles/legs.  Ben loved this game.  Anyway, this is how Ben got his fracture, & Daddy dreaded making that call to us.  We left Dave’s brother & wife, & turned all the way around to get the kids.  That leg cast looked about as big as Ben was-poor thing!  All of February became a most difficult month due to this situation.  Lesson: even though you tithe, life is not always easy.

May finally got here with graduation.  Hallelujah!!!  Graduation was a lot of fun, and full of different emotions, like: telling all our close friends good-bye, and packing for the big move to Biloxi, MS.  Many of us student families had our own furniture, and the apartments came fully furnished.  It all worked out to pick & choose from our furniture & the Married Housing furniture, & put either one in storage.  When it came time to leave, we went & got out all the furniture.  To our horrors, we found out that someone had gone through the storage unit, & stole furniture.  They picked and chose a little here & there from every one's furniture.  This way, they knew they would get away with it, because we would all have to come together for small claims court.  Naturally, none of us did, & they did get away with it.  I was sick that we lost our antique legal table that we use to use as a kitchen table.  They also stole some of the Married Housing furniture which went into our apartment.  The Married Housing Office was strongly requesting for us to pay for their missing furniture.  I didn't blame them, but we didn't have the money!  PTL, again it was a God thing, when all was said & done, we didn't have to reimburse them.

             Biloxi or Bust!!!

             We made it to Biloxi in fine shape.  I couldn't believe the house the military put us in!  Since Dave was a Captain, we got a very large three bedroom home.  I was in love.

             Now, since we didn't have a kitchen table & chairs, we were eating on a card table.  I began praying for three things that were desires of my heart during the last couple of months of medical school.  They were:

1. Kitchen table & chairs, also matching China cabinet.

2. Microwave oven

3. Piano

            I felt the kitchen table & chairs was a need, but they also could be put in the category of desires.  I just didn't know how the Lord would see this one.  Anyway, I had met a sweet friend quickly after our Biloxi move who had one little boy at the time.  A friend of theirs asked if they would like to buy a dining room table & chairs for $200, & a matching China cabinet for $200.  She said that they were not interested, but she might have a friend who could be interested!  Duh!!!  Since it was us, their friends would have charged much higher.  Well, God supplied us with a very nice diningroom table (not kitchen table), chairs, & matching china cabinet for $400.  Mother was so ready to get all our wedding China, etc... out of their attic, & so was I!  It was like Christmas all over again as I unwrapped our fine belongings, and put them into the China cabinet.  PRAYER DESIRE REQUEST 1-ANSWERED

          As soon as we walked into the Biloxi house, PRAYER DESIRE REQUEST 2  was answered yes.  There was a microwave built into the kitchen.  Y'all might think that this is a no brainier, but microwaves were not super common in every home back then.  The first time I had ever heard of a microwave oven was when my Mother-in-law was all excited & brought one for their home.

          Finally, how God answered yes concerning PRAYER DESIRE REQUEST 3, about seven months down the road after moving in, Dave's Grandmother sent us some money out of the blue.  After tithing, Dave wanted me to use some of the money to buy a good used piano.  We were blown away, on how God had used his Grandmother to meet some of our needs & my desire.

Notice all these desires were answered in about seven months!!!

Pass it on!

           Through our testimony of tithing, God gave us the privilege to share with our new best friends in Biloxi, who I mentioned in DESIRE PRAYER REQUEST 1.  They were not tithing at the time.  After seeing how God met our needs & desires, through the passage Mal. 3:8-12, they began to tithe.  PTL!!

            I love this verse, because it has a condition and a promise.  
And, God is true to His promises.

Psalm 37:4 Take delight in the Lord, 

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

What legacies are you passing on?

ann :)