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“Commitment?!!”

Commitment

Have you ever made a commitment?  Maybe you have made a commitment to a special someone and now you are married.  Or maybe you made a commitment to exercise more, eat better, pay off your debt, etc.  There can be a lot of things that we may commit to do.

I have had two things that I have done in commitment to the Lord where He has abundantly blessed.

Debt

Due to some circumstances our family has gotten into a lot of credit card debt.  I never had a desire to go work away from our home but the realization that I needed to came to me a couple of years ago that I needed to do something besides just work in our home business.

The Lord opened the doors for a job that is close to home and has just been a great job.  I had been working a few months when I made a commitment to the Lord.  I pay a certain percentage of my check to the Lord and I decided that I would take the same percentage and put toward our debt.  We are already doing the “Debt Snowball” but this would be extra toward it.  This was not long before Christmas that I made this commitment.  A few days later my boss called me in and gave me a raise, and it was not just a few cent raise.  I was praising the Lord.

More blessings

I first started working as a temp but when I was hired to work on a regular basis I was working full-time throughout the summer and then went to part-time so I could home school.  The big project where I was originally hired as a temp has now come back around again and more people have been hired as a temp.

I decided that I would tell my boss that I would work full-time during this temp job.  And I made a commitment to the Lord that I would take that extra money and put it toward our next credit card that we want to payoff with the idea that I would be able to completely pay it off.  I didn’t know for sure if it would be enough money to pay it off but I made the commitment to do what I could.

I went to my boss one morning and let him know that I would work full-time during this big project.  He was very grateful.  At the end of the day when I was ready to go home he wanted to talk to me.  He let me know that he was giving me another raise.  It was twice as much as the last raise that he gave me.  I walked out of there walking on air knowing that I just received another blessing from God.  This is going to make it possible for me to fulfill my commitment to the Lord.

Do blessings always happen?

When we have a prompting from God and we follow through with the prompting I believe there is always a blessing.  I think the real question is, do we recognize it.  I believe there are times we receive blessings that we don’t realize are a direct result that comes from obedience.  We may even take the blessing for granite.  The blessing may not even come right away either.  And when the blessing does come days, weeks, months, or even years later we don’t make the connection.

Trusting

What it really boils down to is trusting God.  I could have made that commitment and never got a raise and I would not have even known the difference.  And God still could have multiplied my money to pay off the credit card without the raise.  Do we really believe we can trust God to do it?  That is the real question.  How much do we trust God?

Excited

When I wake in the morning with the attitude of excitement to see what the Lord is going to do in my life today, life is exciting.  Do I always wake with that attitude, no, but when I do it makes a difference.  We do not praise the Lord enough.  He is working all the time for our good, even if it doesn’t look like it to us.  He knows what we need to get ready for His soon coming.

Dear Father,

Help me to live with the anticipation of what You are going to do in my life.  Thank You for showing me Your love by giving me the abilities You have given me and for the raise you have provided.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Commit all to God today.  Do not be afraid to follow through with your commitments, He will bless you.

Love you all.

What blessing has God give you?  I would love to hear your story.

 

 

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“Is It Wrong To Be Stingy?”

Is it wrong to be stingy?

What a great question.  There are multiple ways that we can be stingy.  It seems when people think of this question they think mostly of money.  But we can be stingy with our time, strength, emotions, or money.  So here is the real question, is there a time to be stingy or should we always be full of generosity?

Stingy

What does stingy really mean anyway?  It means that a person is reluctant to give or spend; not generous.  When I think of stinginess it reminds me of someone who holds on to everything he has without any consideration of others.

It makes me think of Judas in the Bible.  He was a disciple of Jesus but we know that when it came to money he was not generous with others.  He definitely had no problem taking care of himself though.

You might be saying, “But we do have to be careful who we give to because we can be taken advantage of.”  This is true and that is where stewardship comes in.  But we have to make sure that we are not being selfish under the guise of stewardship.

Generosity

So what does being generous mean?  Here are two.  “1. A readiness or liberality in giving.  2.  Freedom from means or smallness of mind or character.”  When I think of generosity I think of someone willing to give of their time, money, and resources.  The most generous person that ever walked this earth was Jesus.  He did not think of Himself and His comforts but He was always thinking of others.

Rewards for Generosity

  1. When we are generous we have a countenance that shines because we are filled with joy.  We cannot out give God.  He will take care of us.  When God prompts our hearts to help someone whether it takes our time, money, emotional or physical strength He will supply us with what we need.  We don’t have to worry.  I would encourage you to read Matthew 6:19:34.  God will take care of you so you don’t have any reason to worry, you can be filled with joy.  As it says in Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  That is a great promise.
  2. We have a special love for God when we trust Him.  “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all-sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:” 2 Corinthians 9:6-7.
  3. When we realize that all we have, whether time, money, emotional or physical strength belongs to God, we have a fear (respect) for the Him.  And we are rewarded for that respect.  As it says in Proverbs 22:4, “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honor, and life.”
  4. The greatest reward is having treasures in heaven.  “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” Matthew 6:20.
  5. When we are generous another reward is the victory over the “root of all evil.”
  6. Generosity rewards us with escaping from lusts and sorrows.  “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” 1Timothy 6:9, 10.

Rewards for Stinginess

The “rewards” for stinginess are just the opposite of generosity.  And it brings sorry and not happiness.  There are several stories in the Bible that stinginess makes me think about and what the results were.  I think of Judas who held the money-bag.  He eventually betrayed the Son of God to His death and then he committed suicide.

It also makes me think of Ananias and Sapphira who sold their property and promised the money to help the cause of God.  But then they decide to keep back some for themselves and they lied saying they had given all.  They lost their lives (see Acts 5:1-11).  Claiming to be generous but really lying about the facts does not get you anywhere good.  “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.  Ye cannot serve God and mammon” Luke 16:13.

Does this all mean that it is wrong to earn good money.  No, but we need to make sure that our priorities are straight.  It doesn’t mean we can’t live comfortably but we should not be living extravagantly.  As the Lord blesses we need to properly take care of our families and then help others.  And as we do this he will continue to bless us.  Stinginess does not bring happiness.  I am sure we have all known them, and it may be ourselves, people who are stingy are not happy people.  True generosity brings contentment and happiness.

What about motivation?

We do need to have the right motivation for our generosity.  We should not be doing it for the praise of others.  Our motivation should come from the realization that whatever we have is because God has given it to us.  This makes me think of the rich men who gave generously into the treasury but Jesus said a poor widow gave more than they all with only two mites.  They gave from their abundance and she gave all she had (see Luke 21:1-4).

What can we do to be more generous?

Being more generous starts with knowing that all belongs to God and dedicating all our resources to Him.  We need to practice being frugal with our money.  Setting up a budget is a good thing to do.  We can rely on God to help us know what we need to give and when.  Give of yourself as God directs you.  And as much as possible make it anonymous so that God gets the glory and we can stay humble.  “But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.  That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which is in secret himself shall reward thee openly” Matthew 6:3, 4.

Dear Father,

We commit our lives to You.  All that we have is Yours.  We want to listen to Your voice and do those things that are pleasing to You.  Give us Your wisdom.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Give all to Him today and let Him lead and guide you.

Love you all.

How has the Lord blessed you as you have given to Him?  I would love to hear your story.

 

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“I Made a Commitment, Now What?!!!”

Have you ever made a commitment to do something?  Maybe you committed to meet with a friend.  Or maybe you committed to doing something with your son or daughter.  Or maybe you have committed to giving money to someone or even God.  How well do you keep your commitments?

We need to be cautious about making commitments.  I think it is important to really think through the commitments that we plan to make because what we commit to we should follow through with.  The other thing is that when we make a commitment we need to leave self out of it.  Are we committing to this for us or for them, or for some advantage or maybe even a blessing?

It makes me think about tithe paying.  I have a conviction to pay tithe and offerings through my local church.  It helps to pay my pastor, help missionaries, pay for Christian teachers, etc.  But why do I do it?  Do I do it because I want the Lord to bless me?  Or do I do it because I love the Lord and I want to support His cause to save souls?  The motive is so important.  I want to be motivated by love for God.

The reason I do pay is that God has asked me to.  Yes, I want to be blessed as well but I realize that His blessing may not be monetary, which I am perfectly happy with.  I also realize that obeying the Lord does not always bring “peace”.  I want to clarify.  We can have peace in obeying God but we may not have “peace”.  When we obey God, Satan does not like it and he is going to bring trials and storms our way.  But the blessing is that, as we trust God we can have peace knowing that we are in harmony with God and His Word as we go through the storms.

We have been struggling financially for quite a few years.  During that time we got ourselves into a lot of credit card debt.  Last year we went to a Dave Ramsey Seminar for the second time.  This time my husband really got on board.  We have been doing the Snowball Method for our debt, which has been working very slowly.  There are also those bills that end up “falling below the line”; if you have been through Dave Ramsey’s Seminar you know what I am talking about.

We also owed a lot of taxes this year.  When you get into a lot of credit card debt the government doesn’t take that into account.  So you work hard to make more money in order to pay off the credit cards and the government considers you making more so they charge you more taxes and the vicious cycle goes on.  So this year we owed more taxes and had to put in an extension.  We finally filed Oct. 15 and paid what we could toward the taxes.  We had to step out in faith because we really did not have the money to pay and still pay our bills.

We have recently started another business.  It is a water loss business.  The basics are, you get a leak that floods your house or business, we come in and extract and dry it out.  Right after we stepped out in faith to pay the majority of our taxes we got a big water job call.  Praise the Lord!  We are still praying in Faith that we will get paid right away for the job.  These insurance jobs can take up to 4 months to be paid but we know God can make it quicker.  We have seen Him do it.

There is another thing that I stepped out in faith and did a couple of weeks ago.  I received my check from where I work.  I work part-time and I have mostly been using that money for anything you would buy at a store, food and such, whatever the household needs are.  As I shared above I have a commitment to paying tithe and offering.  I also decided to commit the same percentage that I give to the Lord to put toward my smallest credit card to get it paid off, the Snowball Method.  So I figured it all out and submitted the payment to my church for the Lord and paid an extra amount toward my lowest credit card.  A few days later my boss called me in to talk to me and let me know he was giving me a dollar raise.  Wow!  The blessings of the Lord are so wonderful.

It can be hard to step out in faith not knowing the outcome.  And we still don’t know how we will make it for the next day, week, or month.  Is it scary? Yes!  But as I continue to give it to the Lord and let Him work out the details, is so much better than trying to make it happen myself.  As long as we are doing our part we have to let God do the rest or it will destroy us physically, emotionally, spiritually, and maybe even financially.

Dear Father,

Thank You for Your blessings.   To be honest it is really a struggle to trust You.  Thank You for Your patience with us.  Continue to guide and lead us.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Do your part today and give the rest to God.  He will see you through.

Do you have a story to share?  How has God blessed you when you stepped out in faith?  I would love to hear your story.  It is always encouraging to hear others faith stories.

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“Seek What!?”

There is always this question in our minds what to pursue first.  We get out of high school and we think, “Okay, what is next?”  The answer may be college.  Once we graduate from college we usually launch our career.  And somewhere in there we get married and start having children.  Life is busy and chaotic at times, probably most of the time.

At this point we are just running one hundred miles per hour just trying to keep the heat on and food on the table, so it seems.  As time passes the expenses get higher and we start to feel choked out with everything.  Our priorities start to get all mixed up.  We suddenly, without even really thinking about it, start living a life of survival.  I have to make money, pay the bills, get a house and a car.  And I need this, this, and this.

I have felt this way many times.  You start out in life not really “planning” anything.  We think we are planning but reality is we are not.  Most of us don’t sit down to count the cost we just plunge ahead.  And before we know it we are in the rat race of life just like everyone else.

I didn’t sit down and count the cost.  Although I am glad I got married and had my children, I didn’t sit down and really calculate what it would take.  And over the years it has been way harder than I ever imagined.

We do need to calculate the cost of everything we do.  But there is one ingredient that is often be left out of the equation.  And that is, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33

We get so busy making money and trying to survive in life that we often forget what our priorities should be.  We need to be seeking God.  We need to be seeking Him every day, not just once a week when we go to church.

Some might be saying, “But I have to make a living, pay the bills and take care of my family.”  Yes, and God even says that taking care of your family is very important.  “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” 1 Timothy 5:8 This is a very strong verse.  God doesn’t want lazy people because He also says, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.” Proverbs 6:6

It is really all about getting a person’s priorities straight.  What God says is to Seek Him First.  Here are some suggestions to follow.

  1. Seek God first. I would really challenge you in this area.  I have experienced not taking the time to seek God in the morning, as well as seeking Him the first thing.  Which requires getting up earlier.  I have found that when I do seek Him first I am less tired, get more done in the day, and things go more smoothly.  Being able to seek God in the morning starts the day before by going to bed early.  It may be hard to do but it is a must.
  2. Make a budget. Too many times we have to work more hours because we need more money.  But a lot of times if we would budget our money and really seek God on how we spend we would buy less, save more and really be able to live comfortably without working the long hours.
  3. Prioritize your days. Start by getting rid of the time wasters.  It is amazing if we really look at our day how much time we can recover just from unnecessary things we may be doing.  I have found it helpful to lay out an ideal week for myself.  It does take some time to get it to work.  The whole family could do this as well.  Each person can have their day in such a way as to have the priorities where they need to be.  We should budget our time just like we do our money so that nothing is wasted.

These are just a few things that I have found helpful.  I have found that if I am consistent with these things it makes a difference, the blessings that come our amazing.

Dear Father,

We can struggle so much in wasting our time and money and not even recognize it.  And we end up pushing You out of the picture, which just leads to more disasters.  Forgive us for getting so caught up in the things of this world.  Prompt our minds to seek You first.  Prompt us with Your Spirit every time we go to waste time or money.  Thank You for Your love and patience.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

I challenge you to seek God first.  He needs to be first in every area of our lives, money, time, etc.  It is worth it!  And watch amazing things happen.

What about you?  Have you made God first?  Do you have a story of what God has done for you when you made Him first?  I would love to hear it.  Share below.

 

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“Financial Disaster!!”

Have you experienced financial disaster at some time through your life?  I am sure most of us probably have.  There can be so many different reasons why we get into these situations.  You may have school bills that are eating you up, or maybe you have had a sick loved one or a loved one that has passed away and you are left with all the hospital bills, or maybe it has been just because of your own foolishness.  It really doesn’t matter so much how you got there but now the question is what to do about it.

All the time I have been married we have had financial difficulty.  It has been better at some times than others.  I remember when I got pregnant with our third child I cried, “We can’t afford this.”  But after she was born and losing her five weeks later, I learned that money is not everything.

But then again we do have to figure out how to make it in this world and when we don’t do things right it can be a disaster.  When you ignore things and hope they will go away, it does not work, I am speaking from experience.  The one thing about the banks, they will keep giving you credit cards and more credit until you are in big trouble.  There is no bank out there that is really interested in your good.  They are interested in making money.

One of the hardest things is when you and your spouse are not together on your finances.  That was our experience.  Sometimes you, along with the family, have to suffer until there is change.  But sometimes that is what it takes for some people to get to the bottom.  Financial Disaster!  When I told my husband it was looking like we were going to have to bankrupt he finally started to listen and wake up.

Are you feeling overwhelmed right now with your situation and wondering what you should do?  I am going to give you some steps that we have taken.  I hope this encourages you to make the step.

  1. Start with your local Bank. I went to our bank.  We had credit cards, lines of credit, and a personal loan.  Some banks are not as workable, as I discovered but our main bank was, on most accounts.  Most of our accounts, with our request, lowered the interest rates for the life of the loan, which lowered the payments and made it more affordable to pay.
  2. Contact all other credit cards or loans. After working with our local bank I called each of our other cards from other banks and lenders.  Most of them were workable also.  But there were a few that did not work with me.  I pay all those that worked with me first and if I don’t have enough to pay the ones that did not work with me, I either don’t pay them or pay what I can.  I have had them call me and be willing to lower the interest some after they did not receive full minimum payments.  It isn’t easy but you have to make a plan.
  3. Do the snowball plan. If any of you are familiar with Dave Ramsey you know all about the snowball plan.  You list all your credit cards and loans down, starting with the one you owe the least on.  Pay the minimum on each one and as you pay one-off add that minimum to the next one bill in the list and so on.  It is amazing on how it works.  I did use this method once before in our life and got us completely out of debt.  It does work.
  4. Take on extra work. We have been running our own family business for many years, which I have been a part of.  But at this point I went out and got an outside job.  The Lord provided me with just the right job for me.
  5. Trust in the Lord! I believe starting with asking the Lord for His forgiveness for our wrong choices is definitely a start, if we have brought this upon ourselves.  We can’t just ask forgiveness and sit back and wait for God to do something.  But as we step forward to make efforts, He will come along side us and help us.  I found that to be so true when I was looking for a job.  Not only did He provide me a job, as I was looking, but He also provided a job that will come to me at His bidding.  Where I work they call me in when they have extra work.  So my prayer has been that God will provide the work that He knows that I need to have.  I have had to trust Him because sometimes there has been a lot of work and other times there has not been.  But I have a job and I leave it to Him to bring in the work through that Job.  I do understand why He has given me some slack time, which I can’t get into here but I have learned that I can trust Him.

There are many other things that can be done that I will be sharing in coming blogs but for now this is a few steps that has led us along the way.  We have not arrived at the debt free status but we are heading in that direction.

Dear Father,

There are many that are suffering financially.  You know their need and I pray that You will provide wisdom and strength.  Give us peace as we do Your will.  Thank You for Your help and guidance.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Remember to trust God through the hard times and He will guide you through.  Take the steps that you need to take a He will provide.

Love you all.

Have you had financial difficulty?  What steps have you taken to get financially free?

 

 

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“HELP, MY FAUCET’S LEAKING!”

Do you feel like your finances are out of control? Do you have more outgo than come in? Do you feel like it just keeps flowing out?

“Fix the leak, please.”

Recently we started having trouble with the faucet in our kitchen. Every time you turned it on a little water would come out where it shouldn’t be. It wasn’t a big deal at first. But then it got to the point that I had to leave a towel on the backside of the sink.

I came in one day and there was water sitting all over the counter. The faucet had gotten to the point that it was leaking even when the handle was not lifted. It was out of control. At this point something really had to be done. I took some things apart to look at it but I couldn’t figure out the problem. My husband finally took a look and was able to fix the problem. Now there is no more leaking. The solution was easy. The problem was just doing what needed to be done.

This made me think of finances. Our money can be like the leaking faucet. It seems like it disappears, just flowing out. We wonder where it is all going. How can we fix the leak? It seems to start out gradual but then it is just pouring out of control. We are not sure what to do so we try to keep ignoring it. But finally it is so out of control we have to take notice and do something about it.

It definitely takes making a decision. Whether you are single or married this is a very important decision you need to make.

One bit of advice that I would give to those that are single, before you get married make sure that the one you are going to marry and yourself agree on how to handle finances.  This is one of the biggest problems in marriages today, so start out right.

I am going to give you 5 ways that you can use to help get started in fixing the money leak.

Make God a part of your decisions. It is so important to include God. Remember He owns everything. We are His stewards. He is the One that understands the leak and can help you fix it. It does take self-discipline and you need His power to help you.

Create a Budget. Sit down with your spouse or if you’re single find a friend that can help you brain storm, and create a budget. This can take some time. You should do this every month until you get it tweaked just right. Then follow it closely, which leads us to our next step.

 Have an accountability partner. This may be a spouse but if you both have different expectations it may be well to have someone who is well-disciplined in their finances to be the person you are accountable to as a couple. And if you are single find a friend or someone who you know that will hold you accountable, it could even be a mom or dad.

 Start Saving. Make a list of things that you need to have in the future or things you would like to have and start saving for them. It is so easy to just go out and buy on a whim and not really think through it and before you know it money has leaked out. Which leads us to the finally step.

 Start buying as much as possible with cash. There is something about buying with cash that makes it more painful. It is so easy to swipe a debit or credit card without even giving it much thought. When you start buying with a cash only system it will be a very effective way to control spending.

These steps are not exhaustive but will get you started in the right direction.

Dear Father,

I pray that you will guide each one of us as we choose to follow You in our finances realizing that everything belongs to You. Give us the strength and courage to take this step and allow You to fix the leak. In Jesus Name,

Amen

Take courage and start today in allowing the Lord to help you in taking these steps.

Love you all.

What steps have you found that have helped you in getting your finance problems under control?