The Story Unfolds

A friend told me tonight that I needed to update my blog that my readers were hanging (all 3 of them :). I am so amazed at how God works. I was really amazed earlier today but I just got off the phone with John and after that conversation I am speechless. (Well I guess that is not true since I am writing - overwhelmed and humbled are probably better descriptions of how I feel right now). So for those of you interested here is the story.
In January, John's boss told him that work was slowing down and he freed him up to start looking for other jobs. He had a contact in the industry that sent his resume to this company at the end of February. We didn't hear anything from them until late march and starting April 1st John was unemployed. John has had probably 5 different interviews with this company since then. We really didn't think it was going to happen. He sent out over 70 resumes in the last 2 months. Tons of interviews but no job. So last week he flew to Spokane, Washington and was sure he had the job. He came home and we started making plans to move across the continent. We were amazed at this job opportunity. In our eyes it was perfect. The pay was amazing and the cost of living was really really cheap. We were so excited that we were going to make some serious headway with our debt quickly. John got an email from the president of the company (which usually doesn't happen) saying they were really impressed with him but the next day they interviewed someone who had some specific experience that they were looking for. We were truly devastated and had to question God. We longed for His will and could not understand why He did not give us this job. It was a hard week but God taught each of us sooo much (my last 2 post were a result of that week of struggle). So he gets a call on Wednesday from Round Arch (the company he is now working for) saying they wanted to do one more phone interview and it happened on Thursday and then they ask him to come to NY. He interviewed with them and as he was about to get on the plan they called and offered him the job. They needed him to start Wednesday so he just stayed and worked this week. So the sheer fact that God provided him with a job in this economy is amazing but it goes so much beyond that. For this 3 month contract the company is renting us a furnished apt (with utilities) in Manhattan, they pay him 50/day to eat on, and they will fly him home when he wants to come home. And the pay is way more than we could have ever imagined. So essentially we will have zero cost of living this summer - except paying off our debt and what we do in the city. ABOVE AND BEYOND but it still gets better.
I called John earlier and he was at dinner with some of the guys he works with. Two of the guys he had interviewed with. They were discussing another guy that they had interviewed from Birmingham that John knew. They told John they didn't hire him because he was not up to their companies standard. John was shocked because he knew this guy knows more in the field than John does. So John ask what things did he not know. When they answered John said he just thanked God. John didn't know those same things in his interview. Before tonight, I would feel safe saying that one of the stones of remembrance that John has taken hold of during this process is that it is truly "at His discretion that men are made great and given power." But hearing that tonight drove the stake even deeper in both of our hearts.
So we are off to the Big Apple!!!! We don't know what God has in store for us there but we trust with even more surety than ever before that He will meet us there. He loves us and He is committed to us and as hard as this struggle has been (very hard) we are so thankful God gave us the grace to walk through it and to see Him in a deeper way and to watch Him shine. We give Him all the glory for all of this. This job was the first of over 70 applications that John sent out. God could have opened the door months ago but He knew we would miss out on so much learning and experiencing Him if He had. He truly works all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to His purpose. Thank you all for your prayers. We shall see what is in store for the next chapter in our book :)