A New Twist on the Great Pumpkin

Posted Tuesday, October 28, 2008, at 1:43 PM

I made a huge mistake. This huge mistake caused my family great financial distress. I made a purchase and didn't realize that it was recurring on our account and it caused the domino effect and lets just say our bank just made a nice bonus for an employee off the overdraft charges (roughly $500). After crying for three days and not even sleeping in bed with my husband due to shame and guilt, I finally realized we had to face facts; things were going to be REALLY rough for about a month.

I had decided over the summer months to have the gas shut off because we were paying for a minimum charge when the only thing in our home that runs on gas is the furnace. I saw no reason for that expenditure when we could just shut it off and then turn back on once the weather warranted it. Well, had I known Vectren would be asking for $250 deposit to turn it back on, I would have thought better about doing that.

Anyway, due to my financial irresponsibility, my family went cold for three weeks. We survived and even a member of the Family Worship Center Church gave us an electric heater to have in the home and we worked with it the best we could and are so grateful to her for that precious loan. Regardless, we made it through and our gas was turned on yesterday and as the first freeze of the year came through, we were warm and cozy in our home and beds.

When this mistake I made was revealed, I was more devastated by, what, some would consider being a miniscule detail. I had promised my little boy that we would get a pumpkin to carve together and roast the seeds. He has never done that before and he was so excited about it. Everywhere we went for two weeks he would point at pumpkins and get so excited that he would have one of his very own to "make da faces on" all by himself. Unfortunately, the finances would not allow for that frivolity and that was what killed me most. We were late on our rent due to this, all of our utilities and food was scarce, but having to tell my little boy that we couldn't get a pumpkin was just the worse. To say he was crestfallen doesn't even scratch the surface of the hurt and disappointment he felt.

In the midst of my embarrassment and shame, my landlady calls. The couple who own the home we rent are natives and wonderful people and they have been so loving and good to us that words cannot describe to you how much we care for and adore them. She called me to ask me how I was doing and I just poured out to her what had happened and even mentioned the pumpkin thing but assured her that we would be caught up very soon.

Sunday afternoon we were in our home going about our daily routine when I happened to pass the front door and something caught my eye. Out sitting on the concrete pillar of my porch was..you guessed it…a pumpkin!

A single pumpkin with a white sticker on it from Emmert GMAC Realty Co. No one came to our door and handed it to us, they just simply placed it on our porch and left. As I opened the door, my little boy's eyes spied that pumpkin and such a sound of glee came from him that I was immediately in tears. Already overwhelmed by the kindness that had been extended us (as in my husband and I) this was the final thing that just shook me to my core.

My son's pumpkin that he so proudly drew "da face on" now stands proudly in our kitchen waiting to be lit tonight at sundown for the first time. He has chowed down on the seeds already.

Also, on Saturday, we received a check in the mail for an investment my husband had forgotten about that covered all of our expenses plus a little extra.

I had prayed so hard to the Lord for forgiveness and in my shame, never asked for help. I just had the faith that he would take care of us.

Hope springs eternal, but faith is everlasting.

I wanted to share this with you and not sure why, but I hope this will help you lift your eyes and hearts to the Lord today and be thankful that just as the Bible says, "He has his eye on the sparrow", He keeps his eyes on us all.

Stay Tuned….

Comments
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I just want to publically say how proud I am of this family.

-- Posted by spiritcreations@hotmail.com on Wed, Oct 29, 2008, at 6:10 PM

Karen, as I have said, God takes care of us. But most of the time He does it covertly, using people to deliver His promise. Wouldn't have been a miricle to find on your porch a potted tree growing solid gold balls instead of a golden pumpkin? All things are possible with God, but he stays in the background....lol. We must recognize His handiwork.

Your story was meant to be shared, as is mine. If someone feels that I am foolish for sharing, I cannot help that nor do I care. Never be discouraged, God is on your side. Things aren't always going to work out the way we plan them. They WILL work out the way God planned them.

-- Posted by FlyinLion on Wed, Oct 29, 2008, at 2:16 PM

Thanks so much your comments and I want you all to know that my foolish pride almost blocked me from writing about this. It is embarrassing to admit that I was in error and due to that error, my family suffered.

However, I felt compelled to write this after prayer to show the miracles (the check) and the mercy , grace and forgiveness shown so obviously to me as a new Christian in this situation. I was just so awestruck by it, I felt the need to swallow that foolish, sinful pride that comes so naturally to me and tell you all about the mercy and grace of our Lord.

Leo, Sassy, Karebabe...your support means the world to me and seeing your comments daily just mean the world to me.

BPDCOP, thanks so very much for your sweet comment, it meant so much to me! I hope you will keep reading and keep in touch!

Stay Tuned everyone...

Sincerely,

Karen.

-- Posted by karenmeister on Wed, Oct 29, 2008, at 1:54 PM

Leo

That was beautiful!

-- Posted by sassypants on Wed, Oct 29, 2008, at 1:34 PM

God has a plan, we live it but He does not reveal it all to us. If we had only good times and never made mistakes, would we ever know the compassion and kindness of others?

I had a friend, a gentle soul with a cheerful nature who passed on a couple of years ago of cancer. Buddy was in pain, but he never let it show. He was a friend to everyone and I have yet to meet someone who knew him that did not like him. Even as he lay in his casket, he had a slight smile on his face. I will always miss him and wish for more time than I had to spend with him.

My first marriage of twenty-five years ended in divorce. I prayed that God would remove one of us from Earth for the last three or four years.

My wife lost a close brother-in-law, her daughter, and her husband within eight months one year. She went into a depression where she tried to work herself to death because she didn't want to be home. She worked three jobs. She met a guy on the Internet and moved him in with her. He helped her spend her money. My ex-wife introduced us.

When I left her at eleven o'clock one night, I had intentions of going to my sister's in Plainfield. I had just enough gas to get there, but I didn't want to show up at midnight. I have friends at Bowling Green that I could have gone to, but they farm and I didn't want to bother them that late at night.

My wife, now, worked nights at the time but not that night. I drove by her house and the lights were on, but her car was gone. I called her cell phone and she told me she was at her daughter's, whom I was acquainted with also. I went over there and we talked until three or four in the morning. I told her that I was going to Plainfield and she said that she was not going to let me drive that far in the emotional state I was in. (I was angry and hurt enough at the time that I could have driven to Texas and back without sleep, but she didn't know it!) Anyway, I ended up moving in with her.

About three days later, out of the blue, she starts telling me a story about her being stranded on the road with a flat tire on her way to work one morning. She had jacked the car up and removed the tire, and then the car fell off of the jack. She was standing there wondering how she was going to get to work in Terre Haute when a car pulls up with three guys in it. They didn't have time to fix the car, but they were going to Terre Haute, just a couple of blocks from where she worked. After she got in the car, she thought about a recent incident when a girl got murdered near the same area and her three little girls. She said that she didn't speak all the way to Terre Haute and when the men stopped to let her out, she jumped out and bolted for the door.

I was in tears when she finished her story, as I am now. You don't have to believe this, but I was the driver of the car that picked her up that day in June of 1978. I had come in on leave from the Marines the day before and a buddy of mine had blown a water pump on his car. He knew I was home and wanted to see me anyway, so he called me and asked me if I could give him and his brother a ride to work the next morning.

I looked for that girl until I had to report back, but I didn't know her name or anything about her. I had grown up in Clay City, but she had only recently moved there.

She ended up marrying the man who fixed her tire and had a happy marriage until he passed on. I ended up marrying and having anything but. Looking back on my life, I have walked the length and breadth of Hades four times. I have prayed for death. I felt that if pain and suffering was all one could expect out of life, then life was not worth the living. Then, God gave me love, joy, happiness, and a reason to live. Everything to that point had been leading to that point.

Often, I will say that "the road that you have walked has led you to where you are!" We all live within God's plan and he has set our course. He never said that it would all be easy, as a matter of fact; He told us that there would be hard times but HE would help us through them.

May God be with you on your journey! I know that He has been with me on mine!

Leo L. Southworth

-- Posted by FlyinLion on Wed, Oct 29, 2008, at 12:51 AM

Wow! I usally just read the blogs and don't comment, but your story touched my heart and just reinforces to me that, we as neighbors, sometimes by the smallest acts of kindness, show evidence of how awsome our GOD really is! Thank you for your willingness to share a private moment from your family's life to comfort and encourage those of us who sometimes lose focus of what's important. Sometimes we just need a pumpkin to remind us everything will be OK! GOD Bless You!!

-- Posted by BPDCOP2008 on Tue, Oct 28, 2008, at 5:13 PM

You never cease to amaze me ~ another wonderful blog ~ Happy Halloween to your little son ~

-- Posted by karebabe on Tue, Oct 28, 2008, at 3:14 PM

Amen sister, AMEN!

-- Posted by sassypants on Tue, Oct 28, 2008, at 3:02 PM