Ok, so this summer has been one of the most fun and rewarding summers since we've been married. However, it has also been the most financially slim! I don't really want to just talk about money, and I'm not going to divulge every bit of our household budget, but with us having bought our house in May and me not finding a job until just a couple weeks ago, we have been SCRAPING BY to say the least.
In the past, it has never been a big deal to pay for a dinner out for some friends, or to buy ice cream for all our friends' kids, or to simply just splurge on ourselves every once and a while. However, we have had to make some HUGE adjustments to our spending practices since buying our house. We've had weeks that we literally had just enough to get by. Weeks that we somehow were able to buy food for the 3 of us on just $30.
Chris and I have always heard stories from family members, or some cheesy T.V. evangelists about "Miracle Money." It's that money that seriously just appears out of nowhere! Money that you didn't expect. It's that mystery check in the mail for the exact same amount as your electric bill that you didn't have the money to pay. Yeah.. I'm sure you've heard of it too. And like, us, you've probably been skeptical. Probably even laughed a little too.
Well, I'm here to tell you first thing that this "Miracle Money" does exist. I'm not telling you this to try to sell you anything, or to convince you of anything in particular. I'm not saying that God will send you a check in the mail if you just buy my little bottle of "Holy Water" for $19.95 or anything like that. I'm just telling you this because, for months, Chris and I have been amazed at how God has provided for our family in a multitude of ways.
Early on in the summer, after paying all of our bills, we DID NOT have the money to buy groceries for the following week. We had honestly wondered how we were going to make it. We had thought about not tithing, but quickly disregarded that thought. Well, that Sunday at church, a virtual stranger walked up to Chris and put $40 in his hand. This was a guy that knew our names, and we knew his, but that was about it. We had no connections to this man, and he had NO reason to ever just give us money. When Chris questioned him, he just told Chris to put it in his pocket. That God had told him on the way to church to give it to us. He said that he could tell just by looking at us that we were good servants. I think that's the best compliment I've ever gotten! That $40 was able to buy enough groceries for our family for the week. It may not have seemed like much to anyone else, but to us, it was a huge blessing.
You see, if we had chosen not to tithe, we would have told God that we did not trust Him to provide for us. We would have told God that we didn't need Him that week. But by tithing that week, we let God know that He was still Number 1 in our lives. We let God know that we trusted Him and we loved Him and we knew that He would take care of us. And that is exactly what He did.
Another bizarre story: Chris and I are very proud of the fact that we have only taken out one credit card in the whole time we've been together. And, we paid it off 2 months after getting it. So, here sits this credit account, with a zero balance, and we haven't heard anything from the company in months. Out of the blue we receive a letter in the mail stating that our next statement is available for our review and it mentions something about a due date. Well, of course we kind of panic and assume that this company has charged us some sort of fee for just having an account open, or for not using the card in so long, or something like that. And again, we DO NOT have any extra money this month to pay this ridiculous fee, or whatever it is. In fact, we are in need of more money to make things work this month.
Turns out, we had some sort of a warranty on our credit account and since it was already paid off, they are refunding the amount back to us! First time either one of us had heard of it before. A couple days later we get a check in the mail for twenty-something bucks. Totally strange.
Anyway, there have been several other instances of this sort of thing happen to us lately. We've needed money for gas and I get a photoshoot booked. We needed an extra $130 to make our house payment for the month and we get that in the mail. We needed groceries and some back to school stuff for Ethan and I get a call to babysit some kids for a few days. It's just like BAM! God is there to take care of us! And I guess this is where my pitch comes in... it's because we have been doing what God has called us to do. When we are living like He wants us to, we will be taken care of. Simple as that.
One last story on the flipside: A few weeks ago I was nervous about writing our tithe check on Sunday morning. I knew that, once again, this week we would be cutting it really close. I was supposed to get paid for some babysitting that I did the following day. I tell Chris, "Let's wait until they pay me and we'll just tithe in cash." Reluctantly, Chris agrees to it. What happens? It takes the guy 2 more weeks to pay me. Every time he called it was something else. Some other excuse as to why he didn't have my money. I believe that this happened because I did not want to trust God to provide for us that week. I wanted to take control and I paid the consequences for it. If I had only tithed on Sunday like I was supposed to, I probably would have gotten paid on Monday.
Not preachin' to ya or anything... just sayin'.
In the past, it has never been a big deal to pay for a dinner out for some friends, or to buy ice cream for all our friends' kids, or to simply just splurge on ourselves every once and a while. However, we have had to make some HUGE adjustments to our spending practices since buying our house. We've had weeks that we literally had just enough to get by. Weeks that we somehow were able to buy food for the 3 of us on just $30.
Chris and I have always heard stories from family members, or some cheesy T.V. evangelists about "Miracle Money." It's that money that seriously just appears out of nowhere! Money that you didn't expect. It's that mystery check in the mail for the exact same amount as your electric bill that you didn't have the money to pay. Yeah.. I'm sure you've heard of it too. And like, us, you've probably been skeptical. Probably even laughed a little too.
Well, I'm here to tell you first thing that this "Miracle Money" does exist. I'm not telling you this to try to sell you anything, or to convince you of anything in particular. I'm not saying that God will send you a check in the mail if you just buy my little bottle of "Holy Water" for $19.95 or anything like that. I'm just telling you this because, for months, Chris and I have been amazed at how God has provided for our family in a multitude of ways.
Early on in the summer, after paying all of our bills, we DID NOT have the money to buy groceries for the following week. We had honestly wondered how we were going to make it. We had thought about not tithing, but quickly disregarded that thought. Well, that Sunday at church, a virtual stranger walked up to Chris and put $40 in his hand. This was a guy that knew our names, and we knew his, but that was about it. We had no connections to this man, and he had NO reason to ever just give us money. When Chris questioned him, he just told Chris to put it in his pocket. That God had told him on the way to church to give it to us. He said that he could tell just by looking at us that we were good servants. I think that's the best compliment I've ever gotten! That $40 was able to buy enough groceries for our family for the week. It may not have seemed like much to anyone else, but to us, it was a huge blessing.
You see, if we had chosen not to tithe, we would have told God that we did not trust Him to provide for us. We would have told God that we didn't need Him that week. But by tithing that week, we let God know that He was still Number 1 in our lives. We let God know that we trusted Him and we loved Him and we knew that He would take care of us. And that is exactly what He did.
Another bizarre story: Chris and I are very proud of the fact that we have only taken out one credit card in the whole time we've been together. And, we paid it off 2 months after getting it. So, here sits this credit account, with a zero balance, and we haven't heard anything from the company in months. Out of the blue we receive a letter in the mail stating that our next statement is available for our review and it mentions something about a due date. Well, of course we kind of panic and assume that this company has charged us some sort of fee for just having an account open, or for not using the card in so long, or something like that. And again, we DO NOT have any extra money this month to pay this ridiculous fee, or whatever it is. In fact, we are in need of more money to make things work this month.
Turns out, we had some sort of a warranty on our credit account and since it was already paid off, they are refunding the amount back to us! First time either one of us had heard of it before. A couple days later we get a check in the mail for twenty-something bucks. Totally strange.
Anyway, there have been several other instances of this sort of thing happen to us lately. We've needed money for gas and I get a photoshoot booked. We needed an extra $130 to make our house payment for the month and we get that in the mail. We needed groceries and some back to school stuff for Ethan and I get a call to babysit some kids for a few days. It's just like BAM! God is there to take care of us! And I guess this is where my pitch comes in... it's because we have been doing what God has called us to do. When we are living like He wants us to, we will be taken care of. Simple as that.
One last story on the flipside: A few weeks ago I was nervous about writing our tithe check on Sunday morning. I knew that, once again, this week we would be cutting it really close. I was supposed to get paid for some babysitting that I did the following day. I tell Chris, "Let's wait until they pay me and we'll just tithe in cash." Reluctantly, Chris agrees to it. What happens? It takes the guy 2 more weeks to pay me. Every time he called it was something else. Some other excuse as to why he didn't have my money. I believe that this happened because I did not want to trust God to provide for us that week. I wanted to take control and I paid the consequences for it. If I had only tithed on Sunday like I was supposed to, I probably would have gotten paid on Monday.
Not preachin' to ya or anything... just sayin'.
