So some super cool "God things" have happened in my life recently. :-) Most anyone who will read this knows that I have ventured out to start a small video production business with my family. Things have gone okay, but (like probably most small businesses) we haven't stumbled onto an instant money maker either. But, I've always had money to pay my bills.
That is... until this past week. I realized Thursday of last week that there was not enough money in my bank account and the company bank account combine to pay my bills on Feb. 1st. I was discouraged and downright worried about it most all day Friday and Saturday. Then while meeting with my church family Sunday morning I was reminded and encouraged in the fact that God sees me and He knows my needs financially.
I love what I do... but it's not steady work. I do a few jobs here and there and we have to sometimes get creative with stretching financially from one job to the next. There were no jobs on my horizon Sunday night when a few of my friends in my core group at church prayed for God to bring me some work. About 8:15 I listened to a voicemail of someone who wanted me to come and film a Pro Bull Riding Event (get this) the last weekend of January.
Less than 10 days away from her event a woman whom we'd met in our projects the past two summers thought, "I wondering if we could get someone to come film this Rodeo?" Then she thought, "Hmm... I've got one of the DVDs from that rodeo we went to in 2010... I wonder who did that?" And she called us!
I was so excited/encouraged/humbled/amazed. God sees me... He knows my need... and, it gets better.
We've negotiated an agreement between the bull riding company and our company and have been emailing and on the phone with her all week. Today this woman and I exchanged 6 emails in 45 mins and things were starting to look bad. We had given her the lowest price we feel like we could in order to get the business, but still pay our expenses and get a small profit. (So I could pay my Feb. 1st bills.) She had been confused on a part of the agreement and was realizing it was going to cost a little more than she had originally thought.
I got discouraged again and in my car on my way to lunch I just started asking God to help push the bid through. I hate negotiating/haggling/setting prices. I'm no good at it (Mom is the financial guru in the family) and it makes me oh so nervous. (I have no idea way, it just makes me feel inside like you felt in the 3rd grade play right before your one line that you'd worked on memorizing for months.) I finally ended my prayer as i pulled up to my dad's school (I was taking him his lunch today) by saying, "God I'm no good at this part. I need you to fight for me."
I didn't get another email during lunch. I ran to the post office and came back to my desk. No more emails. Worked on some advertising material for an hour or so until finally... "Bring" ...another email. I prepared myself that it might say they had decided to not take the bid. I prepared myself that I might be asked to drop my price a little bit lower. I prepared myself that I might not be able to pay everyone what I owed them on Feb. 1st.
Snippets from the email:
"Karen, everything looks good. Thank you for helping straighten out my confusion earlier. From this point on you will be communicating with John Smith as he is in charge of writing checks. He will be contacting you today between 3-4 PM to get the information needed for him to send you our deposit."
I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry a tiny bit inside. (Okay, maybe outside too.) My God is good and I can trust His goodness. (Psalms 34:8) He sees me and He knows my need. (Luke 12:6) He is more than able to supply it. (Phil 4:19) and... He is willing to fight for me (Exodus 14:14).
