There have been several times in our history as
a family and ministry, that due to circumstances beyond our control, we have found ourselves in the position of facing the
loss of our home, being out on the street, and suddenly heavily in debt and yet I would have a ticket to take me on a missiontrip.
It has become one of our inside jokes that we may be
out on the street, but I still had a ticket to go do a job.
But that NEVER happened. God has ALWAYS kept our home
and provided for us, and yes, I did go on those trips.
The period of time that this took place was between 2002 and 2005
and again in 2009. We had just built our house in 2002, and had just moved in August 8.
My husband came home to tell me that he had been illegally fired
from his job of over 9 years. Actually, 1/4 of the store got illegally fired, and some of them could afford to take the company
to court over it.
The company didn't just fire him, they lied to the labor board
and the government. They lied about the circimstances of his firing, to deny his unemployment benefits and about the dispersal
of his pension fund.
They said that he already had the pension, when in fact we weren't
due to get it until the following January. We were deemed ineligible for any public assistance or for unemployment.
It took a while to get 2 parttime, minimum wage jobs that didn't
even add up to 40 hours, and yet I had 2 tickets to go on a domestic mission trip, for both myself and our son.
We discussed whether I ought to just cancel the trip. We prayed
about it and just kept hearing-"Go." So we went.
After 6 months, both jobs fired both of their work crews and hired
students at a lesser wage.
It took longer for him to get another job. It was a good paying
job and he was told that after 90 days he would be permanent. 90 days came and went, and they kept giving explanations as
to why he wasn't yet permanent.
In the meantime I had gotten 2 tickets for a European mission trip.
Just before Christmas, he was 'laid off' and they told him that
they would call him back when they had work. They did, in February, for one day, then a week later for 2 days, then 1 1/2
weeks later 3 days.
My husband got unemployment this time and got a temporary
job, refusing to work for them until they had more steady work.
Then they called him back fulltime put him on permanently and we
went on the missiontrip.
That was 2004. We still have the house.
He lost the job in early 2009 when the plant closed down, firing
as many employees beforehand and depriving them of their unemployment benefits and pensions. They fired as many with seniority
as possible and all who were using their medical or disability benefits.
Again, I already had tickets for trips. We prayed about it and
I went. In 2009 we did 30 trips, six by plane and the rest, mainly, by train and car.
He applied for disability, due to workplace and traffic
accident related injuries, in November 2009 and was approved in February 2010 with the disability being counted from
when he was fired in February 2009.
This just doesn't happen in the state of Florida. The usual is
that you're turned down a minimum of two times and get your benefits after at least two years of legal battle. In fact the
disability website assumes that the first application will be denied in their language.
The amount of the disability is also more than what he would have
gotten if he had waited until 66 instead of 62. When he becomes 62 the disability becomes retirement. I will get one
half of what he's getting now, and not what he would have gotten.
As for the house...We'd been teetering on the edge of losing our
house for a year, with our mortgage holder stalking us day and night. Then, as soon as we informed them that we would have
dependable income to pay them, they decided to foreclose on our home. No kidding. Fortunately, we informed the corporate office
as well as the local office.
The local office was counting on our not receiving the back pay
on my husband's disability for three months. They immediately moved to put us into forclosure since we wouldn't be able to
do anything for three months. We received the lump sum the first month before we received the first regular monthly check.
The day that it cleared the bank, the vice president from the coporate office called us informing us of what was happening.
He then had us give him the check which he walked into another office and stopped the forclosure proceedings as they were
being taken to the forclosure lawyer.
During that year, the local government offices did everything they
could to help us including giving us extra allocations of financial help and contacts where we might get more help. We had
help from the local churches and from family and friends. But we were still over four months behind on most of our bills when
we were able to finally pay them off.
So many people have lost their homes. God told me that we didn't
lose ours because even though we saw ourselves falling over this cliff of possible destruction, we didn't give up on His answer.
We hid from our mortgage holder who peeked into our windows and pounded on our door in the middle of the night, called us
constantly with nasty threats and even tried to serve us but we refused to sign the registered letter at the post office or
to answer the phone calls because we had no answer from God. But when we had the answer they tried to steal our home from
us. Then God used their own to save our home.
Near the end of that year God gave me...
They will build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards
and eat their fruit. They will not build and another inhabit, they will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of
a tree, so will be the days of My people, and My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands.
Isaiah 65:21-22
