This is a picture of
Choochie's new supply of cat food that arrived in the mail today: 4 cans of wet food and one bag of dry food. It wouldn't
otherwise be a big deal, except that this is the first time either of my cats
have ever had food shipped to them (the event added quite a bit of excitement
to our afternoon). Also, a few weeks ago, I randomly got an email from my vet's
office explaining that they were going to mail us this supply of free food, for free. The
last time I purchased a bag of this brand of Choochie's special thyroid food,
it cost $48. Historically, Choochie has snubbed wet food, but perhaps I can try
to change her mind. Meanwhile, she has definitely been wolfing down the dry
food, which will probably last her a few more months. For free! Truly a big
deal!
Yes, it's just cat food.
But it's also a reminder that my God is a good Daddy who takes extraordinarily
good care of me (and my cats). He always has, and He always will. That's a good
thing, especially since money doesn't grow on trees. It never has, and it never
will, especially during unemployment.
"Behold, the eye of
the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver
their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine." (Psalm 33:18-19)
"The Lord knows the
days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be
ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied."
(Psalm 37:18-19)
I noticed recently that
Psalm 33:19 and Psalm 37:19 are almost identical. I thought that was extremely
cool. I'm not sure if both psalms were written by the same guy (I know that
David wrote 37, but I'm not sure about 33). But I do know that the Holy Spirit
inspired the Bible, so in that sense both psalms definitely have the same
Author.
I've heard that
sometimes God repeats Himself throughout scripture because the verses that He
repeats are REALLY important to Him. I think to a degree that's true, and yet
there are some major treasures hidden inside the Bible that are only mentioned
once, and I don't think that makes those particular verses any less important.
What I do know for sure is that I'm a kinesthetic learner. That means I learn
by doing (as opposed to being a visual or audio learner). My learning style
requires a tremendous amount of trial and error and repetition, and I must be
allowed to ask questions during the learning process. Of course, God my Father
knows all about this, so I don't think it's an accident that He repeated
Himself in Psalm 33:19 and Psalm 37:19 and made sure that it caught my
attention.
Since I'm a kinesthetic
learner, you can give me all the audio-visual aids you want, but the
information isn't going to mean anything to me until I roll up my sleeves and
try it out myself. Of course, God my Father knows all about this, so I think
this is one reason why He teaches me stuff by allowing me to go through trials.
You can preach to me for hours about how God will keep me alive during a
"famine" (e.g., unemployment), and I'll believe you, but it won't be
etched permanently inside me unless I get to roll up my sleeves and try out
this "famine" phenomenon myself.
(I'm 38 years old, so
I've definitely been unemployed before, but this is the first time I've ever
been unemployed while I was psychblogging. This is why you're getting an
earful/eyeful. Thank you again for reading.)
I've been officially out
of work for about 2 months now, so I've entered a somewhat more desperate stage
in the unemployment process. I realize that 2 months is probably a very short amount of time for unemployment. But by "desperate," I mean that it's sort of gotten to the point where I'm almost
starting to run out of ideas of where/how to look for work. This is definitely
an awkward season. Do you remember me mentioning that I had a job interview
several weeks ago? Long story short, that was a very unpleasant experience. I
found out that a former coworker got hired instead of me. I'm glad she found
work, especially since I didn't know that she had also been unemployed for a
while. I'm sure she'll do a good job for them. But I hope they treat her well.
I think this stage in
the unemployment process is a bit of a maverick one. Today while I was stuffing
envelopes with my resume, I noticed that I had addressed one of them to a
company that I had interviewed at years ago, twice, and twice they did not hire
me. Eh, what the heck. I sent them an updated resume, anyway. I'm curious if
they'll remember me. Heh. I can do this maverick thing, no problem.
What was strange was
when I was double-checking addresses on Google and discovered that I had almost
mailed my resume to companies that are based out of people's homes. There's
nothing wrong with doing business in your house or apartment, of course... but I
hope you understand how weird it would feel for me to mail my information to
somebody's home, especially if the company is so small that it more than likely
wouldn't want to hire anyone from the outside.
Weirdness was definitely
a motif at my previous job, and weirdness has definitely seeped into my current
job search. I remember weirdness. I'm thankful for the weirdness.
I wonder if Joseph in
the Bible (in Genesis) was thankful for weirdness, too. One interesting thing about Joseph
is that he had an extremely important government job during a nationwide
famine. I wonder if he learned about storing and distributing food right before
he got that job -- when he was stuck in a pit or in a prison. Hmm.
God is the Ruler of the
Universe. He can do whatever He wants. He's in charge. He's the One who I've
put in charge of my life. I honestly don't know exactly what the deal is with
this particular season of unemployment, but God doesn't seem worried. Honestly,
whenever I try to talk to Him about it lately, He's said, "Do you have a problem
with waiting?" No, Sir, definitely not.
So, Choochie is set for her
specialized cat food. (She recently got a good report from the vet, who
confirmed that the special food is helping to bring Choochie's adorable little
thyroid to where it needs to be.) Macho is set for his cat food. I am set for
breakfast, lunch, and dinner. All is well here in Tirzah's home. There's also plenty
of weirdness to go around for everybody, plenty of uncertainly looming
overhead, and plenty of awkwardness to tiptoe around. But God has also carved
out plenty of maverickness inside me that I hope will come in very handy in the
near future.
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