Black Friday blessing

Zac was very worried about making it to Black Friday this year.  Business was slow, corporate was screwing us around, and cash flow was LOW.  We were praying just to make it to Black Friday, have a decent day, and hopefully start a decent holiday season and pay off more debt.  We didn't think our vendors would take any money out on Thanksgiving because of the holiday, but when Zac checked the back account Thursday morning, sure enough, they had taken out $20k +, and left the already low account at $661.  More $ would be taken out Friday morning after a no business holiday & no deposits.  Needless to say, he was very worried.

He made the most of Thursday afternoon at my folks & was pretty quiet the rest of the day planning his strategy.  If we were in the negative Friday morning, we would be unable to run our business on what could potentially be the busiest day of the year.  We were woken up in the middle of the night by our cat fighting with another animal outside.  Zac went to check on it & never came back to bed.  I went to check (I hoped he hadn't been attacked by a badger or something!), and found him curled up on the couch in front of the fire.  He couldn't sleep he was so sick with worry & I just held him and asked if he wanted me to pray.  He said yes, so I prayed that whatever happened we would be able to see the hand of The Lord in it, that Zac would have clarity of mind & focus, and that we'd be led on what steps to take.  

He was up super early Friday on te phone with the bank.  After transferring $2k of our own money into the biz (much less painful than the $20k we put in last year at this time, but still hard to know we will never see that money again), and a bank rep helping him, we met our vendor obligations and ended up with $66 in the account.  We could open our doors!  Tender mercy!  Zac was pretty emotional to see a prayer so readily answered & the boys gave him a big group hug.  

I started getting things ready for our Cleaver Thanksgivivg & went to love in Zac a little for myself around 10:00.  He was overwhelmed with emotion because his sales goal for the whole weekend was $20k and we were already at $41k.  It's not profit and we won't see any of it for ourselves, but it means keeping the doors open for a while longer & getting our cash flow to a healthier place for a bit.  (If you're wondering why it's so impossible to stay on top of this, it's because we have been serving $300k of debt that is not Cricket debt, with our stores--we haven't taken a paycheck in 6 years from the stores & Zac keeps out expenditures extremely lean, but the industry is tough & with our debt load, it's scary hard to stay afloat.  If you're wondering why we don't sell it's because it's a buyers market & we would lose money selling before the AT&T merger goes through in May).

The rest of the day continued to be good and far surpassed our expectations.  Today has been good as well and we are grateful.  We ended up passing his goal by $60k which will help us cash flow for another 1-2 months. When you wonder every single day if tomorrow will be the day you go out of business (despite doing everything in your power to stay afloat), this is a huge gift.  We are recognizing the tender mercies and the hand of The Lord.  We know it's ONLY because of Him we've stayed in business this long.  

I can't say enough how proud I am of Zac.  This has been-by far-the hardest and most trying experience of our lives & marriage.  He continues to give it his all, his best, and strives to be better always.  His greatest desire is to take care of his family & I love him for it.  And for the first time in six years of this Hell of a business experience, he is taking care of himself, too, which I am most proud of.  He is worrying about & changing the things he has power over & can, and trying to give the rest to God.  So thankful for him.