Remember the “Work, For I Am With You” article I wrote a while back? It shared a lesson I learned last spring about trusting God for my income, and the subsequent slashing of my student roster:
I went home simultaneously buoyed and subdued. I knew God might allow things to get worse before they got better, and that still wasn’t easy to swallow. But my determination to trust Him was renewed.
A few days later I got an e-mail. My student roster had been cut in half, and I watched my income plummet in a single moment. I swallowed hard, emotionally back in a tin chair with a cardboard cup of tea, riveted to the promises. OK, God, I thought. You knew this would happen. You say work, I’ll work. You’re going to have to build the temple.
Well, last year God provided in interesting ways. Chief among them was by handing me 14 new students from an unexpected quarter after the semester had already begun :). This year it’s happened again: Spring Semester just doesn’t bring in the numbers that Fall Semester does, and this year, I’m not likely to find new students from anywhere. I am down to 35 students, compared to last semester’s 60.
My financial sheets look a little scary at this point. But I’m going to go on record and say that I’m not really worried. Actually, I was contemplating cutting my own student roster down — yes, voluntarily — this semester in order to concentrate more on writing for new markets and expanding my editing clientele. Writing and editing are much riskier endeavours, but they also free up my schedule to a greater degree and give me more opportunities for ministry and creativity.
I prayed about the idea for several weeks and didn’t get any magical visitations to answer my prayers. What I did get was a smaller student roster and another opportunity to trust God. I realize that “trust” is not an element found in many “How to Be in Business for Yourself” books, but it’s been essential to my business — and trusting God has not resulted in disaster even once in five years. I’m reminded again that we all live life, and we all face trials, but Christians don’t live alone or face trials alone. And that’s a very big difference.
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