Just like there will be rain on your parade, and ants in your picnic basket, life is full of twists, turns, disappointments and heartaches. The best laid plans can be reduced to gibberish on a piece of paper. You pray, you plan, you execute......and then you go over the first hill of life's roller coaster.
It's inevitable, folks.
This past summer, I posted a blog about how selling our boat resulted in us being able to pay off our debt, and look forward to a fabulous, SOLVENT senior year for Claire. I posted that not to brag, but to provide hope......that it can be done.
We had one blessed month of breathing easier and living like normal folks with liquid assets. Michael bought Claire and I Kindles for our birthdays. He was able to purchase two guns he had wanted for a very long time. We went out to dinner, and didn't have to sweat the total on the bill. It was a heady, brief period in our lives.
Four weeks later, we learned that our monthly income would be reduced by $850. This is a sizeable amount, unless you're a Rockefeller. We had budgeted using that amount, and now we were faced with being tight monetarily again. We had done everything right, but stuff happens that's out of our control.
How many times have you heard that scenario? Things are going great, then someone loses their job. A loved one gets cancer. A divorce, death, move across the country........stressful, but so common place.
How do you react when life hits you with a biggie like that?
I'm a Christian, and so are my husband and daughter. I know we're watched like hawks by our friends and family who are not. How do we respond to the rough stuff? 'Oh sure,' they say. 'It's so easy to act like a Christian when everything's going well. How about when the bottom drops out?' Well, it's a big responsibility. How DO we respond?
Just about everyone knows who Job is, in the Bible. An upright, Godly, rich man, Satan got permission from God to have a field day with him, and as a result, he lost his 10 children and all his earthly goods. Then, Satan struck him with horrible boils. Curse God and die? Probably sounded pretty good after all that. However, Job refused, and in the end, God gave him more than he'd originally had. You better believe everyone in the area was waiting to see how Job would handle such atrocities. He came through with flyling colors.
At this point, I will confess: initially, I didn't feel like responding to our financial setback in a Godly manner. Frankly, I wanted to hire a hitman. I wanted to scream and yell and throw things and inflict pain. Just seeing my poor daughter struggle with the realization that senior year might be a bit more lean than we wanted was enough to send me into the rages all over again.
We still have our moments of feeling hopeless and angry, but it's getting better. Once you work through the initial anger, you start to regroup. Plans gets changed, but life goes on.
And then, a strange thing happened.
I noticed that God was providing just what we needed, at just the right time. Like the manna in the desert that God gave every day for the Israelites to eat, every single need was met with just the right amount of money. Human nature being what it was, I wanted to have enough money to sock away, to 'hoard,' to ensure we could provide for ourselves. What often happens when you have a surplus? You begin to believe the lie that YOU are taking care of you, NOT God. He doesn't want our family to fall into this trap, and so, we must rely on Him for every single thing we need. Talk about true Christianity. We can't pay lip service to our faith......'oh yes, we're relying completely on the Lord, and we have $100K in the bank.' Nope. 100% reliance on God. 'If You don't come through for us, Lord, we won't make it.'
Now, I realize that I'm writing to the Christians out there. I'm sure a bunch of you are nodding your heads in agreement. But, I'm also writing to YOU, my non-Christian blog reader. You may not believe in God, or you may be an agnostic.......one who only believes what can be proven. Well, I lay open my life as proof that God exists. He not only exists, He provides.
Relying on The Lord for our finances. Living the Thriftnerd credo. It works for us :)
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