I hope you don't get tired of reading all of these multiplication stories, I'm not! I'm just amazed as my eyes are opening up more and more to them almost daily it seems.
I almost missed this one.
When we were in the Suburbs, we had a piano teacher for the kids who was incredible. She was known for getting the highest scores in the county at Conservatory Exam time. One of her students became so proficient that he made a career in music as well as wrote his own piano teaching books. Going to one of her recitals was like attending a concert at the Hummingbird Center in Toronto, get the picture? I felt very blessed to have her. She taught my older four, but specifically advanced my oldest, who has a somewhat natural talent in piano.
All that changed when we started to build the house four years ago. For awhile this awesome teacher was willing to drive the 35 min. out to Niagara to teach our kids, but one year into that, we had to shut it all down. She was still willing to drive, we just weren't willing to pay! She was one of the most expensive teachers around and yes, she got results, but you had to have money to get the results! Money got really tight as we were finishing the house and there was just no way we could keep her, sad to say. We had her come out a few more times to inspire us and then to try and inspire our oldest daughter (#1) to keep up her piano studies or to try and inspire her to teach the younger ones, but life just got too busy, more babies were born, which was tiring, and I didn't have the energy to force her to do this.
But then, this summer, #1 got asked to teach some children from church which we quickly agreed to do as this was a great opportunity for her to gain some extra cash, from home!
Hey, wait a minute, I thought to myself one day. How come she can teach these guys, but not her own sisters and brothers!? So we had a little chat and talked about how great it would be if she could teach our kids! At first it wasn't easy to get her head around teaching siblings as we had tried this once before, and vice versa, having a sibling be the teacher, but with a few encouraging talks with everyone, suddenly I had a new music teacher. Needless to say, my children are getting taught and to be honest, they are doing really well! She is a good teacher!
Herein lies the multiplication story that I hadn't even noticed - I hadn't seen it at first as it seemed to me to be more of a child-discipline story instead. It was shortly after I had this little talk with #1 that we made our financial vows. Try to picture this - a beautiful black grand piano sitting in a house, but rarely played. Some play a little, some tinker, but it just sits there gathering dust. This was never the case in the Suburbs. It was always being played, so much so that I couldn't have a conversation on the phone without telling someone to stop playing - it was too loud! But since the move, hardly ever.
It was only a couple weeks ago I realized it was happening again - I was on the phone and I had to leave the room because it was too loud, non-stop piano playing had begun again and I mean non-stop because now there are 5 piano players and they have to fight for a turn! That's when I realized something had happened - God has taken our very talented oldest daughter and has taken all that money we invested in her (it seemed like a waste because we hadn't been able to continue after the move) and is now multiplying it through #1. She is now the teacher we had to give up, who, ironically began teaching when she was just 15. She would be proud. I am proud and grateful to God for filling our house with music again - for free! What a gift.
So, don't you see? Once again, there is multiplication where it seemed there was just a loss and no hope. I'm so pleased whenever the younger ones beg #1 to have their lesson. I think what I most enjoy about these multiplication stories, besides the fact zero money is involved, is that it is often in an area that I've completely given up on.
In the case of the family room, I knew it was hopeless, i.e., we weren't building another house anytime soon....it never occurred to me to pray about space! In the case of the horses, I also felt discouraged and though I was praying, I think deep down, the only way I thought God could work was with more money in the bank. As for the piano lessons, once again, never prayed about it as I knew (in my small-minded human thinking) the only way would be if we ever came into money. Renaissance Man had said lessons were cancelled indefinitely. This was awful for me as we really had invested sooooo much time and money in the older four and to just leave that as if it never happened was devastating for me, especially in light of #1's talent.
In each of these cases, not a dollar got spent, no money was taken from any bank account, any resources God used were pre-existing - our own furniture, our own barn, our own daughter, and, coincidentally, each one of these stories has happened since we made our vows to get out of debt. We've determined to not spend where we normally would have and yet God keeps giving us above and beyond what we need, in spite of the fact that our faith is so weak. Simply amazing. May I never forget these great faith lessons.
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