This last year has had its share of ups and downs for me. I
have had many times after buying this house where I was not sure how we were
going to pay our bills or keep this house that God placed us in. We have had so
many great blessings this last year that I got complacent and was not trusting
on God nearly as much as I know that I should.
So to start about 16 months ago as we were pregnant with our
daughter it was placed on my heart to increase our giving from 10% to 20%
making things a little tighter but still very manageable in the apartment and
our way of life at the time. I tell this to you not as a look at me, I share
this because I want you to see God blessing as I do. As we become more accustom
to our new budget and getting the things we need for our baby that came along
about 4 to 5 months after we made this promise to give God one fifth of all we
bring in. With both of us working trusting God with the first fifth of our
income we became complacent and comfortable with out budget.
Even though we gave to God at times it was not from a place of
gratitude and thanksgiving, it was given like it was a duty or out of
responsibility. During this time God was still blessing us, providing cars and
things we needed as our family grew. As we were approaching the end of our
lease on the apartment we had been in for the last two years, we started the
process of trying to find a place to live. Not knowing if we should stay, find
somewhere else to rent, or to buy, we started looking at all options and
started getting more and more discouraged with what was out there.
We started to seek God more, spending time in prayer
together and talking to those we trust. Having a list of things we truly wanted
and needed in a home we continued to look and were getting ready to start
making compromises on our list so that we could own instead of rent because we
decided that we wanted to stop paying others for the ability to live somewhere
and we wanted to buy a place. Getting closer and closer to needing to sign a
new lease or just take whatever we could find we were struggling.
We found someone who was able to help us out with getting a
grant for a down payment on a house if we could find one. We started first
looking close to church and my wife’s work trying to find something in our
price range and everything we found was ether too much or we would have had to
compromise so much in what we wanted.
Just before Fathers day and about a month before we would
have to be out or sign a new lease and about the time I was giving up looking.
I felt this urge to look again and a house just came on the market and was
right about our price range. After work that day I went and picked up my
daughter and drove past this house. It was a little further away from church
and work then we were thinking but it had everything that was on our list, open
great room floor plan and a large fenced yard for our dog. Within 4 days of
finding the house we had an accepted offer and we were able to start moving in
on Fathers day.
After getting this wonderful home some of the utility and
other bills that come with a house were larger that we expected and I started
worrying about money and how to pay our bills and was even getting to the point
of thinking about taking our giving back down to 10% even though promised and
heard God tell me to give at this higher rate. I struggled with continued
giving, I tried to justify that he had us do it for a time to get us used to
living on less so that we would be better prepared for the budget that would
come with the house and had even said to my wife at least once we only need to
give 10% it will make things better.
Thank God I didn’t listen to myself. Over the last six
months of owning our new home, God has provided us with more then enough money
to continue to give where we promised but has made our food last longer and
stretch further, our bills have always been paid and almost always on time. I
have gotten a new job paying $3 per hour more, given my wife the ability to
work from home a couple days a week saving us half on our daycare bill. There are
still times when a car has an issue or we need to get something unexpected and I
start to worry, but then I remember that God put us here in this home for a
reason and its not to be kicked out and he continually makes the money go
further and there is always enough to take care of what ever comes our way.
Thank you God for taking care of your children.
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