Memorial Box Mondays: Just In Time

I am writing for Memorial Box Mondays, started by Linny over at A Place Called Simplicity. Read more posts or join in by going over to her blog http://www.aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com/. God is faithful and loves us beyond our imagination ~ our MBM stories are reminders of those truths. This week i am writing about a time God fed our hungry stomachs just in time.

Joel entered the Air Force soon after we married and the first place he was stationed was Rantoul Illinois where he attended electronics school. It was a small town with few opportunities for me to find a job. Joel went to school from 6am to 3pm and tried to work for a local farmer til dark. We lived on $200 a month and spent less than $15 every two weeks on groceries, but we could not make ends meet.

It was a very tough time, but I was able to get a job at a factory 15 miles away in a bigger town. I went the first day and absolutely hated it. I sat all day on a stool and put transistor radio parts together with 3 others at my table. They all smoked....all the time....and their lifestyles were completely the opposite of mine. As a very young naive woman, I felt so out of place that I went home and cried my heart out. Joel decided it was not worth the stress of it all, and told me to quit ~ we would get by! Later on I found a job doing daycare, but between those jobs we struggled to get by and more than once were digging through the seats of the car to look for change. Our staples were cooked rice with milk and cinnamon or fish sticks. I don't remember that being a problem...just the way it was for most airmen and their families at that time.

One day when we had run out of money and things were especially desperate, we got a surprise check in the mail that got us through~ A check for that one day I worked at the factory! We had forgotten all about being paid for that~ but God had it all worked out, and a month later He provided for our needs just in time.

Since I no longer have that check stub, I think I will put a quarter in my Memorial Box as a reminder of how often God provided during our days in Illinois.