Mostly Fingerprints Part 11

As we waited for God to show up in a mighty way, each day passed as a gift. A gift in the form of a paycheck, some crazy type of stability...survival. Shawn helpt those working for him to find different jobs, and continued to seek God to find His will for Shawn. The company had purchased a CNC machine to help fabricate the granite for their jobs. This is a very expensive machine...more than $200,000! Because of the business bankruptcy, Shawn was facing losing the very machine that sustained his business (beyond God). We didn't have this type of money to buy the machine, and Shawn searched daily for someone to loan the money or finance him so that he could buy the machine. Nothing. The time came for the family business to shut down, and so Shawn continued business out of his shop that he leased from another company. Reluctant at first to take on business because of the fear that the bank would repossess the CNC machine, we continued to pray for guidance. Shawn developed a business relationship with one steady customer that has been a HUGE blessing until this very day. Slowly we gained confidence that if the bank had not come to get the machine (that was in default) by now then Shawn would just continue where God was keeping him.

I must interject here that Shawn had made several payments on the machine only to find out they had held the payments due to the pending bankruptcy. (During the entire process he was very honest and forthcoming with all of those he dealt with. Shawn's name wasn't on the bankruptcy since he didn't actually own any part of the business, nor was his name on the leases for equipment either.)

Shawn and I had resolved that whatever he did, it would not be to own the world. We had struggled for so long to simply cover the bills that in the future, we simply wanted to have a healthy income that covered the necessities and if God blessed us with more than we needed then so be it! God had led us through a time that totally changed our mindset of what we needed and wanted. We started out our married life wanting to conquer the world as far as money and tangible things, and I have no doubt that God did a great job pruning us! :-) The lesson had been learned!!

Back to the story... Day by day the weeks passed. What seemed to be the scariest thing as far as careers go was shaping up to be one of the best things that ever happened to us. We were still on borrowed time as far as the machine, but we were able to pay bills on time without juggling!! Beyond finances, because I don't want you to think that is my complete focus, Shawn and I were more on the same page than we had been in a long time. The fingerprints that God had left over the past few years were oh so visible and I could see SO many times God had showed up in the day to day.

Shawn went ahead and named his company Rock Water based on Moses trusting God when he struck the rock as God had instructed that the clean water would flow for the Israelite people. Shawn was totally trusting God with his business and felt this was the perfect name. We both felt like this was where Shawn was supposed to be, if even temporarily.

Summer arrived, and since we had turned my Mercedes in at the end of the lease I had been driving I had been borrowing a pickup truck from Shawn's brother. A ford work truck with an extended cab was my new ride...and I couldn't have been happier. I was so ready to get rid of my car because of the tumultuous time that swirled around the last couple years of having it. By mid summer, we had enough cash to buy me a vehicle and I have never been so happy and proud to drive a used vehicle in my life! Thank you Jesus for bringing me to this point in my life. The road to get here was SO SO SO beyond difficult, but I am thankful for every bit of it!!

Now...what would become of that CNC machine????