Our Budgeting Story

Can I just be honest and tell you that I have forgotten to tell you about one significant thing in my goal to be frugal and to get out of debt? 

The biggest thing I’ve learned on our journey is this:  we need to trust God with our finances.  He has given us the blessings of material wealth (yes, you are wealthy) as well as spiritual riches.  God wants us to be good stewards of what He has provided us with.  If we follow God’s principles and His leading, we will be on our way to the best possible financial position we can be in, and we will be able to serve God in whatever capacity He asks us to concerning our finances, as well as our time, which is so tied up in our money.

A few months ago, husband and I started a new budget.  This budget includes paying each bill that we owe each month, paying an extra $400 toward our debt (this spring we expect to cancel that credit card!), and then we also have an allotted amount of money for spending each month, which covers groceries, gas, and whatever other general expenses we have in the month.  This cycle goes from the middle of the month to the next middle of the month.  The last cycle, we had an extra expense of replacing the starter in our car.  The one before that, we had to buy three brand new tires.  Those two expenses, along with our regular necessities, have put us over our allotted spending for each month and not allowing us to “make up for it” the next month.  We should be having overdrafts on our account.  But each time something has come up with the car, we have heard God say to us, “I’ve got this.  Don’t worry about it.” 

Since starting the new budget, bills are getting paid; debt is being paid.  We are giving to the church as well.  We are not getting any overdraft notices in the mail.  A few times during this process, I have checked our bank balance at the ATM.  It’s never been exceedingly high, but I’ve always been surprised at how much was in there.  All our bills come out automatically, so I don’t have to login to the bank website every month, and so I don’t look.  I see that, somehow, by God’s blessing, our bills are being paid, with no problem, and I just don’t want to look and see what on earth (in heaven?) is going on in my bank account! 

I am trusting that this is going to continue to work as smoothly as it has been, and I am not going to go snooping around trying to figure out how it’s happening.  Maybe it’s nothing more complicated than timing being orchestrated just so, in order that every bill is paid.  I just don’t want to know. 

I’m not saying that your finances should be done in the same way; this is just what God has given to us at this time, and it probably won’t be this way long-term.  What I AM saying is that God is taking care of us in the way that we need it, and He will take care of you as well.

If you want to hear more about how God is blessing us, or if you want to learn about God and His blessings in general, PLEASE comment or message or email me.  I don’t care which.  I’d love to talk with you.