Restoring Mondays
If you’ve been around my Instagram or blog, I suppose, for any amount of time, I’m sure you’ve heard me talk about “Restoring Mondays” a time or two. If you haven’t, I’ll briefly… brief you!
Monday, July 2, 2018, I went into preterm labor at 16w6 with our expected miracle—I’m changing my mindset and language from ‘hoping’ and ‘believing’ for miracles to expecting miracles cause God is faithful and I can expect Him to be who He says He is— Zadok. I internally remembered and re-experienced the pain every Monday for a few weeks. I was not a fan of the day, not because of anything that went right or wrong on a particular Monday, but because my son died on a Monday.
But there was this one day when my Moms in the Making leader and friend told me that she was going to pray that Mondays would become special days between me and the Lord, that He would show up in sweet ways, and take back that day, reclaim it. That He would Restore my Mondays.
Lo and behold, Father started doing just that. He would show up so kindly, sweetly, and intentionally on Mondays in various ways. Behind on a major bill? Random check in the mail on Monday. Only person in a friend’s van getting coffee? Person in front of us pays for my coffee on a Monday at Starbucks for the first and only time since. COVID seems to be zapping any community-building activities from our students? The COVID-approved hall event on a Monday evening is a better turnout and more enjoyable than expected. The list goes on, y’all! Which brings me to yesterday. Monday, 1/11/21—the date is important to me, but I won’t talk about that here.
Yesterday was the first day of my last semester of graduate school that I started in August 2014 at SAGU. My last class is my practicum, then I get hooded April 30!! I could not be more excited to be coming to a close, and I FULLY plan on celebrating both in Texas AND Missouri. But back to it… Less than a week ago, I found out FAFSA was reducing my aid from about 5-times more than I needed down to $0 because I’m only enrolled part time—for graduate school that means less than 6 hours. But I only have 1 class left; I haven’t made less than a B to need to retake anything; and I don’t have time to take a “just because” class to bring me up to full-time. So, I was left with a $2165.95 bill.
I woke up yesterday morning still not knowing where the money was gonna come from. We don’t have a lot of living expenses since living on campus is part of my job, but Mason also just started a new/additional job so we haven’t seen a paycheck just yet. We’ve been working on rebuilding savings, but that wasn’t enough to cover it either. Nevertheless, I knew God didn’t take me on this 7-year journey with Him to drop me off at the end because a bill was more than [we] have. He’s shown up financially plenty before, why would this time be any different? Timing… now that was unknown for sure.
And then I checked our bank account. “What the heck is all this money doing here?!” I thought. After over a week of checking to see if the stimulus check had been deposited yet, this time it actually had. And it combined with savings was more than enough to not only pay the bill, but pay it ENTIRELY! Y’all. This will be my third higher education graduation and I have never started a semester with a balance paid in full. Clear. Zero dollars and zero cents. Well, minus when I was working for the university and 6 hours paid for was an employee benefit. I have no benefits, am not eligible for scholarships, no assistance beyond my overall balance being broken up into payments for a small fee. All that to say, this place of starting at zero with no bill countdown is new for me. But not on Mondays. Mondays are our days, me and God.
With financial struggles especially, it’s reeeally easy for our Provider-Focus to be locked in on the visible source as our provider: Our jobs. The government with stimulus checks and tax refunds. Hustling for our next gig. Selling stuff to make a buck. Depending on ourselves But, friends, I learned (and keep learning) a long time ago that God is my Provider who provides through whatever means He chooses. All of the immediate sources are just funnels. That’s not to say we don’t work OR that we’re just bowls for money to be poured into, HA! I wish! Like parents reminding us that “money doesn’t grow on trees”. Yes, please! Granted… I think humanity is often too greedy and money hungry to allow a hypothetical money tree to stay planted in the same place (not try to uproot it and move it to their own backyard) and leave money on the tree for others who may need it… but I mean, that’s not real, right? ANYWAYS. He provides. Jehovah Jireh is our provider far beyond money and it’s important to remember and remind ourselves of the source, the One who has more than enough for His kids, BUT desires we seek His face not His hand.
So this Monday. He not only showed up, He showed up in a new way for me… at the beginning of the semester, instead of the end… and He used the stimulus and savings to do it. I don’t know how you’re needing God to show up. Maybe it’s finances like us, or maybe it’s your health, or in relationships, or clarity and wisdom for tough decisions needing to be made, or your mental and emotional health. Whatever and wherever it is you are needing God to show up, I challenge you to meet Him there. Invite Him into the situation. So many times taking our cares, worries, and stressors (crises, trauma, pain, big emotions, hard questions, etc.) to the Lord is our last resort rather than our first place where we find peace, strength, and wisdom. I challenge you to rearrange your go-to order. You can trust Him, friends. Adventure on and invite Him along.