Marcus gave Lauren a big hug, but he didn’t squeeze her too hard. He told her she would be a wonderful mother. And Lauren told Marcus she had all the confidence in the world in Marcus as a father because he had a good history of fathers in his family—“unlike mine,” she added under her breath. Then they stepped back and looked at each other. “Well, now what?”
The idea had always been for Marcus to work a decent paying job so he could be the main provider (1 Timothy 5:8) and Lauren could stay home while they were raising a family. That was the plan anyway. And they considered it God’s will for their lives. Lauren was great at what she did, but her heart wasn’t in her career. She wanted to devote her time and energy to the one thing that really mattered (Proverbs 31, Titus 2:4). But now Marcus lost his job while she succeeded at hers. And they were expecting a baby in seven months or so.
“Well, now what?” They were both thinking it but Lauren said it. Marcus said what he always said when they seemed to run into a dead end, “Brainstorm, Get Advice, Pray.”
So they went in and sat down at the kitchen table. Marcus looked at Lauren’s right hand and saw she was still holding the little plastic stick with a plus sign on it. He looked at her. Very seriously. “Lauren, God will make a way for me to work and you to stay at home. We’ll do whatever we need to do.” Lauren was just as serious, “You’re right Marcus, you’re right, but let’s be realistic.” So they talked about realism for the next five hours. Marcus had two more weeks at Colby’s. Lauren was due in just over seven months. They could make it on Lauren’s salary in the meantime. So they were good in the short term. But the short term was not what concerned them.
At 9:00 Lauren realized they hadn’t eaten dinner so she warmed up a couple Michelina’s TV dinners and they kept talking: brainstorming job opportunities for him, brainstorming work she could do from home if he couldn’t find a job. They made a list of people Marcus could talk to: Ron’s cousin worked for Panola Steel, Lauren’s brother Eddie worked for the post office, Lauren’s mom worked for Cracker Barrel. But nothing was certain and Marcus didn’t have any education beyond high school. Besides that, no one had ever told Marcus, “If you lose you job just come talk to me and we’ll take care of you.”
At 11:37 they were talked out. Marcus pushed back his chair, got up, walked over to the couch, picked up his Bible off the arm of the couch, came back, sat down, and opened it to James 1. He set the Bible in front of Lauren and pointed to the tiny number 2. “Here’s what we’ll do.” She read out loud through verse 6.
When she finished he said, “That’s what we’ll do. We’ll pray. Starting now.”
So they bowed their heads at the kitchen table (which was a card table) in their little apartment and they took turns praying. Marcus prayed for Lauren and the baby, for wisdom in finding a job, for a sense of peace. He finished by telling God that he trusted him. “You’ve taken care of me in the past. I know you will in the future.” Lauren prayed for herself and the baby, for Marcus to find a job, for wisdom to know what she should do about her own work. She finished by telling God that she trusted him. “I trust you, Lord. Short time or long, I know you will answer our prayer.”
They said amen and the apartment was quiet. There is a time for everything. And it was time for the three of them to go to bed.
More about Marcus Redding’s journey of faith next week.
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