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GOD TOOK ME BY THE HAND

God has moved in my life on many occasions. The events I'm going to tell you about stand out in my mind as a time I'll never forget (it all took place in 1976).

I was a single mom . My daughter was about eleven years of age and, along with our dog, Ginger, we had a nice place to live. I was renting a comfortable two-bedroom condominium with central heating and air, had a job, a car, and life in general was good.

Then the bottom dropped out. I was fired from my job and couldn't pay the rent. A couple weeks later I was served with an eviction notice. Did I have an emotional meltdown and bemoan my fate? No! (Hello, God.)

The first thing I did on that rainy day after being served with the eviction notice was to pack as much of my household goods and other incidentals in the car and head for the swap meet. I didn't have a reservation for a table, but a table was available for me to use. It was a successful day in that I sold everything I had brought with me.

At the swap meet I bought a luggage rack ($10.00) for the roof of my VW bug and several suitcases ($1.00 each) to pack everything we would be moving back to Los Angeles with us. All our material goods consisted of what could be packed into those six suitcases. That's downsizing big time!

During the following week I had an apartment sale, where friends and others purchased most of the rest of our household trappings.

By the end of the week, we were ready to leave and I had $300.00 in my purse with which to start our adventure back to Los Angeles.

Working alone, I don't move that fast. It was God taking me by the hand saying, "Let's go!"

The VW noisily hummed along, bearing our load. However, the bug wouldn't budge over ten miles per hour when climbing a steep grade. We finally arrived in Los Angeles around noon on Sunday. It felt good to get out of the car and stretch, although we had stopped along the way so Ginger could take care of her doggie business and we could all eat.

We didn't have a place to live yet, so we stopped at a coffee shop with the Sunday newspaper, searching the classified ads for a boarding house since I had sold all my kitchen goods.

Fortunately, searching through the classifieds proved fruitful and by twilight, we had a roof over our heads. How awesome is that? Praise the Lord! The woman of the house said our doggie couldn't stay, although she did let us have a short reprieve and let us keep her until the next weekend.

The next day being Monday, I started searching for work and enrolling my daughter in school. I landed a job on Wednesday, where I started working immediately.

The following Saturday, as arranged, we took Ginger to Arizona to live with my stepfather. He had some other dogs, so Ginger had company of her own kind.

As I'm writing these memories, reflecting on all the events that occurred in a two-week time period, it seems like a dream. Every word of this story is true. God is truly awesome!

Thank you for letting me share.

Learn more about this author, Joyce Bocek.
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