Amazed

Sometimes, I feel like God just blesses me when I really don't deserve it. Which then makes me think, when DO I ever deserve it? I went through a stressful day yesterday. I really don't like conflict. Not on my own behalf. I'll go to battle for my kids, my husband or my friends, but for myself -- I'd just as soon hide. I have a home-based business where I work for court reporters. I have worked for a certain reporter on several jobs since June. Mid-September, she decided that the work I'd done for her was not to her liking. The thing is, I had done the job she contracted with me to do. Because she didn't like it, she offered to pay me only half because it was "just so bad" and she had to do so much. Kinda like saying you're only going to pay the hair stylist half for that haircut because you don't like it and you re-styled it when you got home. Well, I let her know half wasn't going to get it and that I expected full payment by 9/30. I didn't get it, so that left me on October 1st deciding how to handle conflict. A good friend counseled me in the use of what's known as a "demand letter," even supplying me with an example. The idea is that I would e-mail it to her then send it by certified mail, too. When I sent it, I got an e-mail back from her saying that a check would be arriving at my door anytime via Federal Express. Oh! I was excited! She'd decided not to fight me. Trouble was, when I got the check, it was for her discounted amount. So, here's another decision: cash the check and accept the shorted amount? Send the check back and say send the right amount? What? Again, other businesswomen counseled me, telling me to seek legal advice before acting. NEWSFLASH! There are good attorneys out there! One serves in Franklin, Tennessee and very kindly gave me the words to say in my return demand letter to her. He said to keep it simple, tell the truth -- this partial payment was not acceptable and that she needed to issue another check for the correct amount. Meantime, I had done some research and found out the business associations she is part of and let her know that if she didn't want to pay, that I would begin litigation AND file complaints with those organizations. Then off to church. Anthony talked about not worrying. Stan spoke about not worrying. Tony told us to gather around our tables and pray for each other. We talked about our concerns around the table and mine was this. It was consuming too much of my time, too much of my energy and too much of me. I asked God for peace, regardless what happens. When I got home, there was a message on the answering machine telling me to call her. It was left at 6:15 p.m. The time when I got it was 8:45. I determined to call her in the morning. When I checked my e-mails, I found one from her at 6:27 telling me that a second check was on its way via FedEx that would make up the total I'd invoiced her when put with the first one. In that same e-mail, she said if I insisted on getting it through PayPal, I would have to send the information. Somehow, around 7:20 p.m. (was this the moment we were praying?) she had a change of heart and looked back through old e-mails to find my PayPal information and sent me the entire amount I'd billed her for! When I saw that, I was amazed. Why? I don't know, I knew God could do that. But why did He choose to bless me so incredibly? Well, I gotta admit, the dance I did wasn't pretty, but it WAS filled with joy and excitement. When I thanked her for her quick and appropriate response, and that I would send both checks back as soon as the second arrived, her reply was simple, "Thank you faye. I wish you all the best." This was from a woman earlier who had written about herself and me in the third person! That was a God-thing in itself! Amazing! So, here I am, once again amazed by God and the way He chose to handle things for me. He cares about the big things and the little things, too. I used to say, "don't sweat the small stuff" then, "it's all small stuff" -- now, I'm changing that to, "Let God handle the small stuff ---- to Him, it's ALL small stuff"