How is God taking care of me? Let me count the ways.

I've been remiss in writing this blog. I think it had me stymied. I didn't know what to write. For whom am I writing? For me? For you? If you're reading, what do you want to know?

I'm not sure whether or not to go back a month and try to fill in the blanks or just start fresh. I'll just start writing and see what we get.

I am very conscious of being unemployed since last November and the various ways that God has taken care of me. Sometimes His care is through His people. Let me list the ways and please forgive me if I inadvertently forget to mention you:

• Diane is my hair stylist. She has colored my hair, uncolored my hair, washed my hair, cut my hair, and made sure that I was beautiful when I walked out the door of her home. I saw her this morning and yet again she refused to take my money. Cutting my hair (and the hair of others in similar circumstances) is her ministry. God bless you, Diane.
• My next-door-neighbor, Joe had been cutting my grass and shoveling snow from my driveway (in the appropriate season) for a couple of years now. When he learned that I had been laid off, he refused to take my money. He and Kay always ask how I'm doing and tell me that they're still praying. Their house is on the market because they want to move to Arizona!!!! I will miss them enormously when their house sells. Jeremy, the cook extraordinaire of the family, often makes something yummy and eagerly shares with them.
• My friend, Cathy. Wow! What do I say about Cathy? She calls, prays, counsels, takes me out for meals, makes sure that my and Jeremy's! birthdays are celebrated, and when COBRA became available at a reduced rate she announced "I'll take care of that for you." I told her that I wasn't comfortable with her paying for my insurance and she replied, "I'm not comfortable with you not having insurance! Done!" She has faithfully sent a check to my former employer each month.
• When my former employer told me last November that they had to lay me off, we both cried. We had become friends as well as her being my supervisor. We started meeting for lunch and she always paid. We still keep in touch by phone and email and will have lunch again soon. She has been in crisis herself a lot during the summer so I have tried to encourage her and pray for the situations.
• Mary. Mary is sister to my friend, Cathy, and has become my friend, too. She is full of support and encouragement by word and deed. She moved to Texas in March and gave me a bunch of clothes. She treated me to meals. She bought me things I wouldn't have purchased for myself.
• I had my car's oil changed in June and was told that I needed to get four new tires IMMEDIATELY. I didn't know what to get, so I put out an email to my friends. One friend, Sherie, who lives in Nevada and was planning her own wedding, sent me a check for $500. I wondered why on earth she sent me that amount and she told me that "our Dad" told her to send that amount. Duh. I also needed brakes. Tires and brakes were totally covered by Lil B. Don't ask. That's a private nickname for her.
• Oh yeah. Vicki and David were instrumental in helping me get the tires. He went tire shopping with me and we got quite a deal. Thank you, David.
• It's hard not to get depressed when you're not working and there aren't jobs available. One day I was feeling especially sorry for myself and I got a package in the mail. My cousin, Sherry, had sent me a book of encouragement and my spirits were lifted pronto.
• As long as I have COBRA, I thought I might has well use it. So I made an appointment with a dermatologist because I suffer... and I mean suffer... with severe placque psoriasis. I won't go into all the gory details, but the derm basically said that yep, I have it bad. She recommended biologic therapy, injections of Enbrel. We thought my insurance carrier would make us jump through hoops, so we took pictures, I began a regimen of three ointments and a couple of weeks later I got a call from a "specialty" pharmacy. The voice on the other end said that I'd been approved for Enbrel... when could they send it... and my co-pay would be $30. Wow! $30 didn't seem so bad. Then I was told that there was also a "co-pay assistance program" and that my part would be absolutely ZERO! I put this off for quite a while because I thought it would be VERY EXPENSIVE. Jesus to my rescue.

So you see? Big and little things are taken care of. I miss working and I miss being out with people because I'm such an extrovert. But all this time has given me long hours to work on my books and other writing projects. God has the right job for me and it will come along at just the right time.