My God is a God who provides

If this blog has taught me anything, it is that my follow through on new hobbies is very poor. I started this blog primarily for myself, as a way to chronicle the day to day at this stage of my life and marriage. I figured it would be fun to look back on as the months and years pass by. Though I never intended to post daily, I initially planned to update the blog weekly. I guess you all can see how well that has worked out, huh! So what has happened that has kept me from updating? Life. Just life. That one word basically sums it up. So much has changed, and stayed the same, over the course of the last month and a half that I hardly know where to begin.

The title of my blog this month is taken from the "Desert Song" by Hillsong United. This song has spoken to me on more than one occasion, and I feel that this lyric is especially fitting for our circumstances at this given time. I encourage those of you who are not familiar with the song to check it out, it has definitely served as an encouragement in my own life.

I feel as if Matt and I have spent the last month praising God for his provision, only to turn around and ask for him to show himself again and again in our circumstances. We have been blessed in more ways than I even know how to list, but we are continually learning what it means to completely rely on God to meet every need. While complete and total trust in God is something that all Christians strive for, for me, it has proven incredibly difficult when faced with the unknown. I have complete confidence that God will provide, but admittedly, I am a little afraid of the form that his provision could take.

For those of you who do not know, as of January 1st, Matt will be unemployed. This would not be very discouraging had I landed a teaching job in August, but a position has yet to present itself for me in this area. Since we have found out that Matt's job was in jeopardy, I have struggled to not become angry over the situation. Matt had been given every reason to believe that he would be returning in the Spring (and possibly for years to come), and we were so confident that he would return that I turned down a year-long employment offer further south. To further add insult to injury, Matt found out during a faculty meeting that he was unlikely to return. No one sat down with him in a meeting. No email was sent out to alert us of this change in the original plan. No explanation was provided as to why things had changed. In fact, had Matt not taken it upon himself to schedule a meeting with his boss, we would still not know that his job for the Spring had disappeared. While I understand that things often do not go according to planned, I am upset that we were not forewarned. We were completely blindsided. The situation was mishandled, which leaves us with very little time to pursue alternate employment. To say that I pray daily for God to put his hand over my mouth, is the understatement of the year. I get very upset when I feel like an injustice has been committed,  and this is definitely one situation where keeping my mouth shut will be to our advantage.

Though there is a small possibility that Matt could be retained, we are trying to live in preparation for the chance that he will not be returning. Both Matt and I are once again applying statewide, and even applying for jobs outside of the educational realm. Unfortunately, the chances of finding full-time employment in the middle of the school year is slim. At this point, we'll take whatever we can get. When I get angry about the situation, stressed out about finances, or frustrated about our lack of direction, I reflect on my favorite lyric from the "Desert Song". I pray daily that God will use our current situation to teach me patience and to rely on him completely. He has provided thus far, why should either of us begin doubting that he will now?

One of God's many provisions for us this month, has come in the form of reliable work for me. Though subbing does not pay well, I have been booked everyday for the last month and a half. I was even offered the opportunity to cover a month long leave of absence at a high school in the Madison County system. The teacher whose position I am filling has been wonderful. While she has given me her own lesson plans to use, she has given me complete freedom to use my own plans, ideas, or tests. It has been wonderful to feel productive and to actually be able to teach, as opposed to sitting at a desk and doling out worksheets. My leave of absence ends in mid-November, but like subbing, I hope that it could potentially open a door to long-term employment.

Despite the job setback, September and October have been fun months in the Staggs household. As I mentioned in my previous post, Matt and I had originally planned to make a few weekend trips to Tuscaloosa for Alabama home games. Once we learned that finances might soon become an issue, we scrapped the idea of frequent football trips. We had already purchased tickets to attend an away game with friends, so we decided that the trip to Oxford would be our only Alabama football experience of the season. Before we had a chance to be bummed over missing out on time with friends, tickets for two games came through. We were offered the chance to go to the Alabama/Arkansas game (for free, shout out to my awesome aunt and uncle), and we were later provided with extremely inexpensive tickets to return for homecoming versus Vanderbilt. Though the games were fun, the best part was the time that we were able to spend with friends on both trips. We consider our friends in Tuscaloosa to be family, and so any time that we are able to spend with them is wonderful. I have often struggled with homesickness (weird, since Tuscaloosa is not even my hometown), so to be able to return twice was a huge blessing. 

Laura and I at Alabama/Ole Miss

Fall has also brought about exciting events in the lives of our friends (which is also exciting news for us)! As I have mentioned previously, my best friend from high school is getting married THIS WEEKEND! I am so excited to celebrate with her as she begins the next chapter of her life with Brent. I have been looking forward to her big day for months, and I know that she is as shocked as I am that it is finally here. 

Speaking of weddings, two of our other close friends began their journey towards marriage yesterday. Whitney and James have been close friends of ours since we have been in Tuscaloosa, and we are beyond thrilled for them. Matt and I were fortunate enough to celebrate with them at their engagement party yesterday. Though the main purpose of the party was to celebrate their engagement, I think we were all just excited to have an excuse to get together! Since we all live in different cities now, we are not able to see one another as often as we would like. Every time i get the chance to spend time with these people, I hate to see our time together come to an end. How blessed we are to be surrounded by such a wonderful group of friends! I can assure you that I rarely take these lovely people for granted. God is so good, and I am so thankful for the group of people that he has placed in our lives.

With the bride and groom-to-be

My "unofficial" roommates from junior year.

While I am hoping to update this thing more regularly, I know my lack of commitment could get in the way of more frequent postings. Regardless of when I get around to updating this thing, stay tuned, who knows the direction that life will take for us in the coming months!