Life Nearly Whooped My Ass!

When the housing bubble burst...so did my finances!

I was broke and I was going through the lowest point of my adult life about 4 years ago. I was down to $.78 in my bank account. That's right -- 78 cents, not 78 dollars. And there was no hope in sight for nearly a year.

Here's what happened:

I'd taken a risk and gone into real estate, selling houses. The problem came a year later when the housing  bubble BURST! And my bank accounts exploded right along with it. Closings weren't taking the usual 21 days; it was taking as many as 65 days to close a transaction...and those were the deals that were going through. Some weren't closing at all. And don't forget, the bills come every 30 days and ON TIME!

I'll spare you the details of how I sat in my apartment with all the damned lights out, sweating because I didn't dare turn on my air conditioning. What can I say? Hell, it was hot and dark! To make matters worse, I had to skip my usual diet of fresh food so I could dine on crap like Ramen noodles! Can we say "personal plumbing problems?!?!" And I won't tell you how I became a hermit because my broke ass didn't want to burn up any of my precious gasoline. If you invited me somewhere and you weren't picking me up...I just wasn't going.

Again, my bottom line was $.78 in the bank. Hell, why even HAVE a damned bank account? It cost more to print and mail me my monthly statement than I had in the bank!

So, I prayed. 

And I went to church. It was the only place I was bothering to drive to. Honey, I was in there every Wednesday and Sunday, shouting for the Lord and thanking Him that my lights weren't cut off YET and that I still had Ramen noodles to eat (not exactly a queen's meal, but whadyagonnado?). 

But I'm not a perfect Christian and I'll admit there were times when I wondered if God was even listening to me. 

So, I prayed some more. (P.S. -- I know now that God hears me the first time, but I was a lil' hard headed back then.)

And as I sat in church one Wednesday evening in bible study, about 9 months into my pain and after all my bank accounts were properly drained, I got a Word. God said to me as clear as a bell, "You're coming out. This is over." And when the call for testimony came, I got up and told the congregation about the Word I'd gotten just moments ago. As I spoke, I was sobbing and snotting and hot tears were streaming down my face. But I had to tell these people who had listened to my sad story unfold for 9 months that this was finally going to be OVER! 

And boy was it ever OVER. Money began flowing to me in the form of closings and eventually a job offer with full benefits, including profit sharing.

Then I had a REVELATION!      Life is trouble. 

We are born into this world causing and experiencing all kind of trouble for momma and for our infant selves. With birth comes labor pains, spreading cervices/cervixes, C-sections, forceps, cords wrapped around necks, breech positions, stuck in the birth canal and we can't forget about that idiot in the scrubs slapping a baby's booty! 

But the revelation I had was that the pain and trouble of birth is but a mere moment compared to the comfort of the little baby being in mom's belly all those months. While tucked away in there, someone's singing to the baby and talking to it. It's warm in there and baby gets fed and naps all day. The baby has nothing to do but to rest and chill and grow. 

Then there's birth. 

One minute we're chillin. Then WHAMMO! We turn upside down. (Sounds a little bit like life, right?)

And we go THROUGH the birth canal upside down. (Aren't ya kind of UPSIDE DOWN when you're GOING THROUGH something in life?) 

Sure, birth is troublesome. But it only lasts for a little while. And so, too, do our problems. Ironically, my troubles lasted 9 months, which is what led me to this revelation in the first place.

I guess what I'm saying is this: My life is nice most of the time. And then I go through some troubles. But compared to the entire span of my life, trouble is short-lived. Soon enough, life will settle back down. And I'm happy again.

Now when I go through my troubles, I try not to ask God to get me out of it. I'm learning to ask Him for the strength to endure it and learn from it.

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