Dry Bones

Well, I thought I was done writing about Diane being born, but apparently I'm not!  When I finished the last one, Jeremy was already asleep in bed.  When I climbed into bed he drowsily said, "What did you write about this time?"  I told him, "Diane" and we both started laughing.  This blog is not just about Diane, but nonetheless here is a story definitely worth sharing.  I had almost forgotten all about it until just a few minutes ago.

Now, as soon as Diane was born, I became a stay-at-home mom.  She was born on a Wednesday, and I worked the Sunday before she was born (the one when I decided I wasn't going to wear maternity clothes to church...Yeah, that one!).  My usual days off were Monday and Tuesday, and then she was born on Wednesday.  So, I truly worked right up until the day she was born.

I thought I would be going back to work, until I was about six months pregnant and the Lord began speaking something different to Jeremy and my hearts.  Not that I really wanted to work, but we used every penny we had as it was, and our expenses would increase with a new baby.  So, I thought I would be going back to work, but the Lord began dealing with us that I was supposed to stay home with Diane and Jeremy would work.  Jeremy was also attending his first year at Rhema Bible Training Center, so he had a lot on his plate.

But, we knew that we knew that we knew that I was supposed to stay home, so even though we didn't know how that was going to work financially, I let them know at work that I wouldn't be returning after Diane was born.  And, that was pretty much that.

I think I mentioned that fact that Diane was eight days late being born.  Well, something amazing happened during those eight days.  Jeremy got called into the office at work and his boss gave him a raise!  Can you believe that the raise he got per month was EXACTLY what I made per month minus $40?  Now, that had to be the Lord!!!  We were so excited that we actually went out to Pizza Hut to celebrate, and we rarely went out to eat at this point in our lives, because we didn't have one extra dollar to spare!  But, nonetheless, we splurged and laughed and celebrated the wonderful thing that the Lord had done while we ate hot, delicious Pizza Hut pan pizza!

Something else extraordinary happened.  At my job I had gotten paid daily, and Jeremy got paid every other week.  So, we used the money from my job to buy gas and groceries and the money from his job to pay our bills and rent.  That had pretty much been our system since getting married, and so once I had Diane, the daily income ceased and it was still a little while until Jeremy got paid.  And, our groceries were at an all-time low.  We hardly had anything in our cupboards or our refrigerator.  We didn't really talk about it, and I don't think I was even really thinking about it.  I was busy just taking care of Diane!

But, Jeremy was thinking about it!  And, he had just heard a message about the story in Ezekiel 37 where Ezekiel spoke to some actual dry bones and told them to live again.  And, amazingly enough, in that true story in the Bible those dry bones came back to life, and they did live again!  If you have never read that story, you ought to look it up and read it some time.  It is really something!  Anyway, the message he heard was all about speaking to the dry bones in your own life, and telling them to live again, and watching God make that happen.

It was about 11:00 at night, and I was asleep and he was awake.  It seems abnormal for us now, because I am such a night owl and he is not, but at that time in our lives, I pretty much fell asleep as soon as Diane was down for the night.  And, he had just gotten home from work.  So, he was up alone at 11:00 at night, and I think he had just fed Diane a bottle.  So anyway, he said he walked right out to our kitchen, laid his hands on one of our kitchen cabinets (that didn't have much food in it) and said, "Dry bones, live again!"  He said it fairly loud and very firm.  Then he said he put his hand on the next cabinet and boldly said, "Dry bones, live again!"  Then he said he walked over to our refrigerator and freezer, put his hand on it, and spoke out these words, "Dry bones, live again!"  Then he went to bed.

Now, he didn't mention a word about this to me or anyone else.  But, the next day was Wednesday.  He had that day off work and we got to go to church together on Wednesday evenings.  So, we went to church that evening like usual, and when we got home, guess what we found?  Lots of bags of groceries setting on our kitchen counters!  And, when we opened our freezer, guess what was in there?  All kinds of frozen food and a couple cans of juice.  And, when we opened our refrigerator, guess what was in there?  Yep, more food.

It was lots and lots of food, and not the food we usually bought (which consisted of nothing fun or extra, because we were on such a tight budget).  No, there was all kinds of fun foods like chicken nuggets, frozen ravioli, noodle packets, cookies, etc.  I can't even remember all the different food, but it was at least a week's worth of meals and food, probably more!  We had locked the front door when we left for church, and we had no idea where all this food had come from!  It was as if an angel from Heaven had put all that food in our kitchen while we were gone at church!

And, that's when Jeremy told me what he had done just the night before!  He told me the whole story about Ezekiel (because I had never heard it).  Then he explained how he had laid hands on our kitchen cabinets and refrigerator and boldly commanded those dry bones to live again.  And, look what God had done!  We were stunned and amazed once again at the goodness of our God!

The phone rang soon after that, or we had a message on our answering machine.  I can't quite remember.  But, come to find out, my dad, step-mom, Maggie, and little sister, Meagan, had been our angels that evening!  They had a key to our apartment, and they had gone out grocery shopping and "bought whatever looked good to them" and brought it by our apartment to surprise us.  Maggie said they just left the food that didn't need to be kept cold on our counter, and had put the refrigerator and freezer food away so that it wouldn't spoil.  They had never done anything like that before, and they never did it again after that.  It was a one time thing!  God had moved on their hearts, and He used them to cause our dry bones live again!  It truly was amazing!