Watching the hand of God work is an amazing thing to witness, no matter if he's working in your life or another. There have been several times in my life where I KNEW, without a shadow of doubt, that God was moving and orchestrating big events in our life. I have experienced exactly that kind of movement this past week.
First, thank you so much for those of you who have been praying for our family.
Matthew 18:20
For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
The evening of my last post we found out Vaughn was going to keep his job. Halleluiah! Answered prayers? Absolutely.
The past month, the church we have been visiting has been doing a series on finances called "Broke." It's been very fitting and relevant for where we are right now. I have to say, Vaughn and I have both learned so much about what God expects of us through our finances. I think one of the huge realizations for us was that our money is not ours, it's God's. This one really hit Vaughn hard, and as the head of our household, he felt greatly convicted. We have always been "givers" to the church, but have never made an effort of give a monthly/weekly tithe. I was elated that God put this on Vaughn's heart as something we should make a priority.
Vaughn wrote his 10% tithing check and I gave 10% of my side business proceeds on January 29th. We rarely have enough to cover our expenses as it is each month, but this wasn't as scary as it sounds. Actually, it didn't cause us any stress at all.
Trusting God...
We also decided to quit using our credit cards. Every month when things didn't add up, it's the first place we went...automatically. We decided we needed to stand on our own two feet and give God room to work in our finances. This part was a little more stressful for us. Money in does not equal money out. But, we are following God's lead, trusting, and giving him room to glorify himself through us.
Ready for it? Because it's really amazing.
This month my etsy store sales have sky rocketed. I went from 3 orders/month for the past 3 months to 22 ORDERS and COUNTING JUST FOR THIS MONTH. And the month is not over, people! I am booked 4 weeks out, and even have orders coming in for March, April and May.That's a lot of cookies! It is more than the difference between income in and income out.
Oh, but then of course, Murphy' Law step in.
Last week, my car decided it needed a new transmission. A $2100 transmission. This, of course, right after we swore off using our credit cards. How were we going to pay for a $2100 transmission? Credit? It didn't take long to decided, we just weren't going to get it fixed until we had the money (there goes my tooth money, I thought!). We would trust God...that he would allow us a way to get where we needed to get and do what we needed to do.
I rationalized that lots of families are a one car family and they somehow make it work. The biggest hurdle was how we were going to pick up Asher from preschool 3 days a week, but we trusted something would work out, even if we had to ask for help from friends and family.
Just a few hours later, we had a family member offer us a loaner car they weren't using. Wow! I was elated. Look how God works when you let him.
When the loaner car arrived the next day, the title to the car was brought with it and handed over to us. Are you following me here? Someone was GIVING us a car...to have...to keep...and folks, it is definitely an upgrade from what I've been driving. I have never been so shocked in my entire life...there were some major tears of joy. Now, a car if a HUGE gift and we aren't really sure if we can even accept something that major, but the offer is there.
I have more.
We filed our taxes this weekend so we could have the refund money to fix my car. We were praying it would be enough to get the car fixed, even if we had to add in the money I had been saving to get my tooth fixed.
Our return was more than 3.5 times what it was going to cost to fix the car. Enough to fix the car, fix my tooth, pay off Maryclaire (you know, our debt from her birth) and put some away in savings.
This not even the kind of stuff you can make up. This is definitely not the kind of stuff that happens to us. This is not luck. None of this is by our accord, but by the grace and glory of God.
I am reminded of his glory, his power, his provision...especially when you trust and obey Him...when you allow him room to work in your life, even the areas you think are beyond his reach. They're not.
In the words of my 4.5 yr old, "God can do anything, Mommy. Anything He wants."
Amen, and Amen!
First, thank you so much for those of you who have been praying for our family.
Matthew 18:20
For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
The evening of my last post we found out Vaughn was going to keep his job. Halleluiah! Answered prayers? Absolutely.
The past month, the church we have been visiting has been doing a series on finances called "Broke." It's been very fitting and relevant for where we are right now. I have to say, Vaughn and I have both learned so much about what God expects of us through our finances. I think one of the huge realizations for us was that our money is not ours, it's God's. This one really hit Vaughn hard, and as the head of our household, he felt greatly convicted. We have always been "givers" to the church, but have never made an effort of give a monthly/weekly tithe. I was elated that God put this on Vaughn's heart as something we should make a priority.
Vaughn wrote his 10% tithing check and I gave 10% of my side business proceeds on January 29th. We rarely have enough to cover our expenses as it is each month, but this wasn't as scary as it sounds. Actually, it didn't cause us any stress at all.
Trusting God...
We also decided to quit using our credit cards. Every month when things didn't add up, it's the first place we went...automatically. We decided we needed to stand on our own two feet and give God room to work in our finances. This part was a little more stressful for us. Money in does not equal money out. But, we are following God's lead, trusting, and giving him room to glorify himself through us.
Ready for it? Because it's really amazing.
This month my etsy store sales have sky rocketed. I went from 3 orders/month for the past 3 months to 22 ORDERS and COUNTING JUST FOR THIS MONTH. And the month is not over, people! I am booked 4 weeks out, and even have orders coming in for March, April and May.That's a lot of cookies! It is more than the difference between income in and income out.
Oh, but then of course, Murphy' Law step in.
Last week, my car decided it needed a new transmission. A $2100 transmission. This, of course, right after we swore off using our credit cards. How were we going to pay for a $2100 transmission? Credit? It didn't take long to decided, we just weren't going to get it fixed until we had the money (there goes my tooth money, I thought!). We would trust God...that he would allow us a way to get where we needed to get and do what we needed to do.
I rationalized that lots of families are a one car family and they somehow make it work. The biggest hurdle was how we were going to pick up Asher from preschool 3 days a week, but we trusted something would work out, even if we had to ask for help from friends and family.
Just a few hours later, we had a family member offer us a loaner car they weren't using. Wow! I was elated. Look how God works when you let him.
When the loaner car arrived the next day, the title to the car was brought with it and handed over to us. Are you following me here? Someone was GIVING us a car...to have...to keep...and folks, it is definitely an upgrade from what I've been driving. I have never been so shocked in my entire life...there were some major tears of joy. Now, a car if a HUGE gift and we aren't really sure if we can even accept something that major, but the offer is there.
I have more.
We filed our taxes this weekend so we could have the refund money to fix my car. We were praying it would be enough to get the car fixed, even if we had to add in the money I had been saving to get my tooth fixed.
Our return was more than 3.5 times what it was going to cost to fix the car. Enough to fix the car, fix my tooth, pay off Maryclaire (you know, our debt from her birth) and put some away in savings.
This not even the kind of stuff you can make up. This is definitely not the kind of stuff that happens to us. This is not luck. None of this is by our accord, but by the grace and glory of God.
I am reminded of his glory, his power, his provision...especially when you trust and obey Him...when you allow him room to work in your life, even the areas you think are beyond his reach. They're not.
In the words of my 4.5 yr old, "God can do anything, Mommy. Anything He wants."
Amen, and Amen!
Yaaay! That is wonderful! Beautiful post. :)
ReplyDeleteOh my! You just brought tears to my eyes, Jill.
ReplyDelete[Thank you, GOD! You are so good!]
I am thankful that He heard our prayers. What an incredible testimony! If that doesn't make someone believe in the power of prayer, what will?
I'm so glad you shared this! I needed this, too! :)
WOW! I love this post!!!! :-) Ditto all of what Gail said!
ReplyDeleteAnd I didn't know you had an etsy shop. I am dying over the cuteness of the owl cookies! I'm wanting EC to have an owl themed 1st bday party and those cookies would be ADORABLE! I know, I have LOTS of time before her 1st bday party so we might need some of your cookies for her half birthday ;-)
What a GREAT post. I just stumbled across it somehow. Thanks for the uplifting reminder. :)
ReplyDelete