Well, it should be to no one’s surprise that these past two weeks have marked another crazy chapter for the DuPrez family. If y’all have followed our story through this blog, you may know that we recently experienced a rough season of unemployment after moving from Texas to California. We were so humbled and grateful that the Lord provided my husband with a job in March and provided us with a home on April 1st. My husband‘s job was a blessing in that it paid $3 more per hour than he previously made, the company provided him with a work truck (a huge blessing since we are a 1 car family), and since they didn’t have company phones, his boss offered to give us $80/month toward our cell phone bill (we were really excited about this since our bill is only $60/month!). Through it all, I have been wavering between the temptation to fear that my husband would lose his job again and the desire to trust the Lord who gives us everything we need.
About 2 weeks into the new job, my husband was being sent home multiple days a week due to the company not having any work for him. Since this was becoming a pattern, he reached out to a company that had wanted to interview him after he had accepted his most recent job. After a few days passed and he didn’t receive a call back, we figured the opportunity had passed.
Come Monday, April 17th, my husband was a little discouraged as he was home again and I was having a hard time seeing him so. He decided to make the most of the time off by heading to the local library to prepare a message he would be teaching to the high school students at our church. He was gone only a few minutes before my phone rang and he told me he had received a call back from the company and the owner wanted to interview him locally at 1:00. Since the library had not yet opened, he decided to head home and prepare for the interview. He left that afternoon interested to see what the other opportunity might be and we were both a little intrigued as the owner wanted to meet him at a local sports bar.
Once the interview concluded, my husband arrived home and told me it went okay. The company definitely wanted to hire him but the pay would be less and he would be starting his shifts at 2 AM in Los Angeles. Not exactly the time and location he would prefer, but he was willing to accept the job if it meant he could provide.
Y’all, I love my husband.
A few minutes after he informed me about the interview, he received another phone call on his old cell phone which happened to still be activated AND turned on. There was another company he had applied to and interviewed with while unemployed and they also wanted to hire him.
WHAT?!
Unsure of how to proceed, we decided that we would pray together, my husband would call a few guys to seek counsel and I would call my parents to see if their home would be available for my husband during on call shifts which are a requirement of the second job opportunity (my parents live much closer to the job location than we do). Praying together was bittersweet. We thought it so timely that there were options for my husband but it was hard for him to make a decision because the company he currently worked for had been so good to him. He was conflicted with the desire to be faithful to his current company and to be faithful to his family as the provider. In tears, I went in prayer before the Lord on my husband’s behalf, asking Him to give my husband wisdom and to honor his desire to be faithful on both ends.
My husband proceeded to make his phone calls and I made mine. He was outside for about 20 minutes talking then came in to let me know how he was counseled.
Y’all, I am not exaggerating when I tell you that not even two minutes after he concluded his calls, he received another call from his current boss telling him the company would have to lay him off due to a lack of work.
WHAT?!
To say we were shocked would be a major understatement. It took a moment for the proverbial roller coaster to stop and for us to catch our breath. We were so amazed, surprised, humbled, and a little fearful about the course of events that had occurred and SO beyond grateful to see God’s provision in our lives so tangibly on display. I literally laughed out loud because really, what else was I to do? I thought of the woman described in Proverbs 31 who is so confident in the Lord that she laughs at the time to come. I figured if the Lord saw us through unemployment once before, He is more than capable of extending His faithfulness to us a second time around.
My husband decided that the second opportunity would be the best fit for our family. That company is able to match was he was making and then some. They are also able to provide health insurance for us and a matching 401k. I learned during the first bout of unemployment that the only benefits we truly need, we have in Christ and these little earthly benefits are simply a bonus.
Honestly, I did shed a few tears later that evening. I was discouraged but hopeful at what was to come. It was hard knowing that we wouldn’t have an income for almost two weeks but I was reminded of how God provided for Moses and the Israelites when they were in the desert and I know that the same God also provides for me.
The rest of the week was really rough as my husband contracted the stomach flu – bad. I totally gave him a hard time for whining about a man cold (which is what we initially thought it was), but when I took his temperature and the thermometer read 100.2, I knew we were in trouble. His fever went up and down but we eventually got it to stay down consistently. During these times of caring for my husband and my daughter, I felt alone but had to remind myself that the lens for truth is not my feelings – the way I feel does not always determine what is true.
I read Psalm 54:4 in my Bible reading plan and it was so sweet to be reminded that I am never alone because it is God who helps me:
Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.
So simple and so sweet.
My husband began his new job (I hope I can stop saying that for a while) last Thursday, a few days sooner than we expected – how great is our God?
Moving back here hasn’t been anything near what we expected, not that we really had expectations. But, in the midst of the changes I am thankful that because of Jesus, I know and am reconciled to God who is the same yesterday, today and forever and who will never leave me or forsake me.
I can laugh at the future because I know God is in control of it.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen”
