Do you have an umbrella for a rainy day?

Our family has officially joined life in the unemployment line. Hubby lost his job about 2 1/2 weeks ago. Since I am a stay-at-home mom who works only 15 hours a week, I'm sure you can tell that this situation is an unwelcome one at the very least. Because we live on less than two full-time incomes, a job loss is always in the back of your mind. You never think it will happen to you, and then it does.

I will probably remember that day for the rest of my life. Not as in, "It was the worst day ever." But because it was one of those few times when fear genuinely gripped my heart and dictated my body. I literally burst into tears and physically shook when hubby came home with the news...not exactly the most supportive reaction known to man. After calming down, I apologized to him because I knew that my initial reaction would be the one that stuck with him. Honestly, he has enough stress and pressure on his shoulders to worry about how I'm going to react to unpleasant news.

Nonetheless, losing a job in this questionable economy is a concern. As Christians, our first and constant reaction is to pray. I realize that not everyone shares my spiritual convictions and beliefs. But I do honestly believe that as a child of God, He wants what is best for me. He wants what is best for hubby, and He wants what is best for our girls. I honestly believe that no matter what He will be with us through it all. And I honestly believe that He will provide.

Maybe that sounds a little foreign and foo-foo for your taste, and that's okay. Maybe you haven't experienced the life-changing power of an Almighty God in the way that hubby and I have. This isn't our first crisis as a couple, and it certainly won't be the last. And through every single one, we can see God's fingerprints. We see Him in the midst of our current struggles, and we can see His presence in past struggles.

Obviously my first question was: Why? Why us? Why now? We work our tails off to do right by our family. We don't have things handed to us on a silver platter. We don't have parents with deep pockets. And then I realized, those things really don't matter because every day this exact same thing happens to families who are much worse off than we are.

Hubby & I got our financial house in order nearly three years ago, which is what enabled me to quit full-time work. In the process of paying off all our debt (approximately $65,000 in about 3 1/2 years time), we also shoved my last few paychecks into the savings account to establish a decent rainy day fund. Guess what? It's R-A-I-N-I-N-G!

After scrutinizing our financial position (and after lots of prayer by us and others), he & I calmed down to the point of being at peace. Between the emergency fund and unemployment, we can sustain things for anywhere from 6 months to 1 year providing our cars keep running and we experience no further major emergencies. If hubby can't find employment by then, that means the entire country is going downhill fast. So we won't be starving alone. :)

While this situation is not a welcome one, we also realize that God may be trying to teach us something and/or trying to teach others through us. Even though we're concerned, we are at peace. That peace can be attributed to lots of different things in our lives....the first of which is that we have Numero Uno in our corner, and the second is that we handled the blessings (which were given to us by Him) in a responsible manner so that when life hit us hard, we could hit back.

If you are reading this, I would say that I covet (yes, that's an old word to be sure) your prayers. We obviously want hubby to get back into the working world as quickly as possible! I plan to blog through this situation. I told hubby that maybe this can be an adventure to see just how little we can live on, so I will definitely chronicle those tips as well. But because I want others to learn from what we're going through, I'm also going to end each blog with a question.

Question: Do you have an umbrella for a rainy day? If you don't and your financial house needs an extreme makeover like ours did, I strongly urge you to check out the Financial Peace plan authored by Dave Ramsey. Between him & God, my initial wave of fear passed very, very quickly.