Patience is a virtue and a struggle for me. I know what it means. I understand the importance of it. I believe it’s necessary, and still I struggle with participating with patience. The latest, and longest lasting challenge has been my house. I won’t yet go into detail with the details, but was thankful to have remembered a time last year where my impatience was put to rest with a nice little nugget on faith and provision on the side.
As if I needed another lesson in patience, on March 18, 2013 during one of Birmingham, Alabama’s hail storms part of the gutter from my home was badly damaged. It was dangling from the side of the house like the loose tooth of an eager six-year-old. That didn’t fare well with me or look good for my neighborhood, especially since my house was (and still is) on the market and viewed by people all the time. I instantly followed the process needed to try to get it fixed. The first go round dealt me lack of response from a party mutually invested in the affairs of the house, lack of communication from my insurance company, the promise of a check, the firing of my first “field agent” with that insurance company, and one lost check which never made it to me. I was “fit to be tied”, as my Mama would say.
Three months later after multiple phone and email inquiries from me, and even more storm damage I received a second check that wasn’t enough to cover the total quoted costs. I also dealt with two contracting companies with varying quotes, more lack of communication from my insurance company and the promise of a follow-up. FINALLY a resolution in August 2013 provided another check which I was told was to cancel out the first check that I actually received. I was instructed by one phone representative to void the check I received in June, the one of the lessor amount. Thankfully, I didn’t discard the first check I received, but tucked it away at the urging of the Holy Spirit. One month later, with two checks (one of which I was urged to destroy), two huge, dangling gutters, no patience and lots of frustration I engaged in a semi-heated conversation with my newly appointed “field agent” as to what was causing the delay in me being able to receive the final check that would cover the costs, especially in an attempt to prevent even more damage.
We conversed for nearly thirty minutes as neither of us could understand what the other was trying to say about the checks and why what I had wasn’t enough. It wasn’t until he asked a simple question that it all made sense. He insisted I had checks a plenty to cover the cost. I insisted that the one check I received in August was insufficient. Then clarity came. “Ms. Moore, if you combined the $200+ check you received with the final check you received would that not cover your costs?”, he asked. I replied, letting him know that I was told to void the $200+, however, I’d tucked it away. He was silent for a moment, then apologized profusely for the months of miscommunication stating that the check I received initially in June, the one that was with me all along, was indeed mine for the cashing to contribute to the August check, making up the difference for the gutter repairs. I thanked God, cashed the checks, called the contractor, had my gutters replaced (and cleaned out as the icing on the over-baked cake), and was reminded of the importance of never ever giving up, and never EVER giving up on God’s ability to handle business on my behalf. The moral of this story is: Don’t stop ’til you get enough.
@AngelaMMoore316
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