When grace reigns, blessings pour

My wife just heard back about a job offer we had been praying for. When I got my current job a few weeks ago, my wife also had an interview that didn't work out. Thank God it didn't work out, because this new job offer is better.

She'll be a part-time pre-school teacher for a non-profit that serves Chinese immigrants in the Seattle area. It's a great job--not the least because she gets paid to earn a teaching certificate recognized by the City of Seattle and receives pay during the summer break!

Now with her working and my new job, we can finally start looking for a house. I believe God is going to provide in this area as well. We are currently eyeing a duplex conversion in downtown Renton, not too far from my parents, but about 15 minutes further north than where we currently live. (She'll work in Seattle's Chinatown and I work in Bellevue.)

I thank God for providing for us. Both of us have obeyed God faithfully over the last couple years, even when it required exercising our faith. When we moved to Seattle last year, I had to believe God was going to help me provide for my growing family. It wasn't easy--I eventually spent four months searching for a job and spent eight months working for considerably less than I was making in D.C. Yet God gave us grace to get through that period without arguing, which is easy to do when finances are tight.

Recently, however, I've been thinking about the possibility of giving up my current job to do full-time ministry, if that's what God has in plan. I don't have any feeling this would be happening any time soon, but perhaps it's the Holy Spirit testing me. Am I going to love the gifts, or the Giver?