Memorial Box Monday - Carfax

It has been quite a while since I posted a Memorial Box Monday story.  If you want to read more MBM posts, just click on the link on the sidebar for more of how God has worked in our family in big and small ways.  Today's story is one I originally posted three years ago, but this month we celebrate that Chris has been with Carfax for nineteen years.  Wow!  God's provision in this way continues to be a huge blessing to our family and we are so very thankful.  Thank you, Chris, for your hard work!

(Balloons from work today....the "one" didn't quite make the ride home!)

 After being married for one year and finishing college in southern California, Chris and I knew that we wanted to move to Missouri to be near family.  We chose Columbia because of the University where we planned to work on our Masters degrees.  We wanted to wait for a year so that we could have state residency, so after our arrival we started job hunting.  Yes, we were young and wet behind the ears and moved out here with a Hertz truck with all our earthly possessions, and no jobs or a place to live.  We both signed up with temp agencies and started getting calls right away. 

 Chris got a temp job answering phone calls for an upstart company named Carfax.  The show 60 Minutes had just aired with a news piece on this company you could call to see if your used car was a lemon.  Temp help was needed to answer all the 1-800 calls that came flooding in.  After the calls started to subside and other temps were let go, the office manager kept finding things for Chris to do.  He was a good worker and worth keeping around. Chris has always enjoyed computers and the Carfax office had plenty of computer work to do.  He was eventually offered a permanent job which we were so grateful for and excited about.  He quickly came to realize that his heart was more into computer work than pursuing a Masters in Psychology.  His gifts and talents lie much more in this area and we are so thankful for the way God gently guided him into this field. 

The rest is really history as Chris has now been with Carfax for nineteen years. We cannot begin to list all the ways this job has been a blessing to our family.  God has shown his faithfulness time and time again.  Chris mostly works 40 hour weeks and is home with family the rest of the time.  His work rarely requires travel.  His schedule is very flexible so that he is able to take off easily when we have doctor’s appointments and such.  He is blessed with lots of vacation time that has enabled us to take many memorable family trips and to be gone for 3-4 weeks at a time.  The financial impact has been incredible as well, allowing me to stay home ever since Michaela was born (another MBM story!), allowing for trips to Japan to visit family, and helping to provide for two adoptions.

God, we praise You for your sovereignty in guiding us when we had our own plans.  We praise You for providing for our family through the blessing of Chris’ job.  We praise You for blessings uncountable that go above our simple needs.  Our "standing stone" in our Memorial Box is a Carfax car so others may see it and allow us opportunities to share Your goodness to us.