Received this testimony today from Catherine who has been a part of the Burning Bush Prayer Group for several years:

Pastor Wrather,
 
There are so many people hurting right now.   I've been through a very difficult year, and God has brought me through it, every step of the way.  I will share with you a miracle God blessed me with in the hope it will provide encouragement to  anyone else who is hurting.  Feel free to pass it on if you think it might encourage someone.
 
This has been an incredibly difficult year for me.  I started out unemployed the first six weeks of the year, after my employer of four years outsourced our entire department to a private company two days after Christmas of 2007.  The supervisory staff wasn't hired, so I was out of a job.  2008 was one financial disaster after another.  I got a job in mid-February.  I started the job flat broke and in debt from the six weeks of unemployment.   The job was working for a private company that handled work outsourced by the state, but was not a state agency (it had nothing to do with the job I lost right after Christmas.)  It was  located a long drive into the next county over expensive toll roads, but it was a job. 
 
I started using every penny but about $20 of each paycheck to pay back everyone I owed from the time I was unemployed.  Just when things started looking up, my landlord told me she had sold the house I was renting and I had to move ASAP.  I had been renting month-to-month because the landlord had wanted to sell the property, but it had been on the market for months and I never dreamed it would actually sell.  Understand, I had no money for a deposit and first and last month's rent and movers and everything else that has to be paid when you move.  I had nothing!
 
By God's Grace, a wonderful place was provided that met all my needs and many of my wants, but I was once again financially in the red from the moving related expenses.  Just when I started to think I was going to get caught up, my car "died" and needed over $2,000 in repairs to get it running again.  Not long after that my new landlord told me they needed to sell the house I was renting ASAP because the rent I was paying did not cover their mortgage payment, and they weren't going to be able to keep paying the difference after all because of unexpected expenses in their situation.   Once again I had to move but had no money to move with.  24 hours later I was informed that the job I had been working at all year was being eliminated due to state budget cuts.  Suddenly, in the space of 24 hours, I was facing the prospect of being both homeless and unemployed on my 50th birthday, which was just a few days away.  The possibility of anyone finding work in this economic climate is scary, and even more so for someone in my age group.  I should have ben bouncing off the walls in a royal panic, but instead I had this strange peace.  At that point it had been such a tough year that I figured I wasn't panicking because I was either having a nervous breakdown, or it was the Lord's peace.   
 
I had been trying to get back into state employment for a long time, but even though I was well qualified for many positions I had regularly applied for, I had not had even an interview for well over three years.  Out of the blue I received a call for an interview with a state agency for a position that exactly fit my education, training, and experience!  Even better, the office was located only ten minutes from my home.  When I went to the interview, I was informed there had been a total of 148 applicants for the one job.  Fifteen were chosen for interviews.  Out of the fifteen, I was told I was in the top three. The person being replaced was in the military and had received his notice that he was being deployed for a year and a half, but had not yet received his orders for deployment.  They could not actually replace him until he received his orders, so I was told to check back weekly until they knew when he was leaving.  At that point I didn't know if I had the job or not.   All I knew for sure was that I was in the top three, but the second and third choices were not going to get a job, so I waited anxiously.  In the mean time, there was again the matter of finding a place to live .         
 
I went to the Lord again begging for help, and started looking for a place to live for the second time that year.  The problem was that it was now Fall, and there was not much available to rent, especially in my price range.  I started looking, but at one point was so discouraged I went before the Lord in my church's chapel one night, begging in tears for His help.  A dear friend of mine kept reminding me of the Red Sea Miracle, where the Jews had escaped from the cruel hand of Pharaoh only to be pursued by Pharoah's army from behind, and stopped by the Red Sea in front.   She kept telling me that just as God had provided a way for them, He would provide a way for me, where there was no way.      
 
I have some pets I dearly love.  I have no husband or children, so they were my "surrogate family."  Each was rescued from dire circumstances, and I was afraid of having to give them up.  I was actually more afraid of losing them than anything else. Not long afterward I looked at a place that was not really what I wanted, but called the landlord about it anyway.  She told me she "just happened" to have another house I might like better.  It had a tenant who wanted to move out of the house she was renting because she had found another one that was closer to work and that worked better for her.  I made an appointment to go look at it, and really liked it.  Again, it had all my needs and many of my wants.  The Lord provided every single thing for a very smooth, easy move, and miraculously provided a way for my rent and utilities to be paid until I could get back to work, thus ending the "homeless" part of the "homeless and unemployed"  trial I had been facing.  Understand that I do not believe in chance, or luck, or fate.  I believe God directs our paths.  
 
Two weeks later I was told that I was the number one choice for the job I had interviewed for, that they were processing my paperwork through the state system and I would be starting  as soon as it was finished, thus ending the "unemployed" part of the trial.          
 
Every step of the way God provided every single thing I needed, right down to a package of toilet paper when I ran out, five days before my next unemployment check was scheduled to be paid.  What a great and awesome, loving God we serve!  The most important part of this is that God is no respecter of persons - He does not play favorites!  Deuteronomy 10:17 says, "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe."  Romans 2:11 says, "For God shows no partiality."  Ephesians 6:9(b) says, "He who is both their (referring to slaves) Master and yours is in Heaven, and that there is no partiality with Him."  Colossians 3:25  says, "For the wrongdoer will be paid back for what he has done, and there is no partiality."  What God did for me, He will do for any of His children. 
 
I hope this is an encouragement to someone who is struggling with needs.  Have faith! God will provide!    
 
Catherine                    
 

When You're Down to Nothing,
 God is up to Something.
Worry looks around,
Sorry looks back,
but Faith looks up.