Wow, it has been a while since we have posted anything! What have we been doing? Our family has been in the midst of transition.
On May 23rd, Don finished his 15-year long career at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. When he started his first position there, Caleb was almost 1-year-old. I was working to support us while Don went to school. The Lord so blessed us with an easy financial transition from my salary to Don's (almost exactly the same!) so that I could stay home with Caleb. It was a hard transition emotionally because I was giving up my "career". The temptation of 2 salaries was great but we put our faith and trust in Jesus as our Provider. We knew that this was the Lord's path.
Don quit this first position in August of 2008 so that we could move to Guatemala for 7 months. We tried for a "leave of absence" because we wanted the security of a job when we returned. This was refused so we raised enough funds, sold enough stuff and cleared out our savings so that we would have enough to follow the Lord's call to the highlands of Guatemala. He was so faithful and again, we trusted in Him as our Provider.
Many people asked Don "why did you come back?". I have heard him answer so many times "because we ran out of money!". This is really true. We had just enough to live and pay our mortgage for the time that we were there and a couple months once we returned. When we returned to the States we felt the burden and weight of our mortgage. We were so convicted that we had to get out from under this debt. We truly thought that we would sell our house, reduce our belongings and head back to Guatemala after a year or so. This was not the Lord's plan for us.
Don returned to the Med Center in a different position. He returned as if he hadn't left. Same vacation, similar salary - once again, we could see the Lord providing for us. Then his mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and we needed to walk her through that time. One year turned into more as the Lord continued to show us that, for now, we were to be in the States. We began a very aggressive plan to pay off our house. We wanted to be ready when the Lord moved and told us it was time to return.
We walked with my parents as they dealt with health issues and then the death of my dad. Over and over, the Lord confirmed that this was where he had us.
At the beginning of this year, the Lord began to open doors that were leading to a change for Don. There was an opening at a clinic in South Omaha. This area of Omaha is primarily Spanish-speaking. The clinic reaches out to those who have limited or no access to healthcare because of health insurance issues, language barriers etc. He would spend his days speaking Spanish and doing family medicine. Very, very different from anything that he had done at the Med Center, but, yet again, we knew that this was the Lord's plan for us.
His first day was Monday, June 3rd. This job also came with a significant pay-cut, but the Lord had prepared us. We had been sticking to our "mortgage reduction" plan since we returned in 2009. Again and again, the Lord was faithful and when the transition to this new job came so did the funds that we needed to make our final payment.
This happened yesterday. As of this morning, our mortgage balance is $0. We won't receive a full paycheck from Don's new job until the end of the month. I think the impact of not having a house payment will be felt then. Yet, we are debt-free, a weight has been lifted from our shoulders. Ten years since we built our house and four years since we returned from Guatemala, the burden of our mortgage is gone.
The Lord has been so faithful. This new job is a huge transition for Don - and for the rest of us! In fifteen years, we have never had a M-F work schedule. Having Don gone for 5 days straight has been a new experience. Don has been coming home with the familiar "Spanish headache". Yet he usually has a smile on his face!
If that were the end of the story, it would be an awesome testimony to the Lord's faithfulness and provision. However, as we look back over the past 4 years, we can see so much more. During those four years, we had car issues, returned annually to Guatemala and were able to pay many large expenses beyond the mortgage. We just shake our heads at the wonder of His abundance to us. And not just financially, but in so many other areas of our life as well.
Where do we go from here? We know that He has a plan and because of His faithfulness, we are ready!
"And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21
