God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

Cindi and Hugh talk about how it has been said that most arguments that married couples have are either about raising children, sex, or money.  It is extremely sad when money gets in the way of things in a marriage.

When I saw the name of this chapter before reading anything in it, my thoughts immediately went to the saying that is displayed on our money.  In God We Trust.  What I found interesting is that Cindi and Hugh also made a reference to this within the words of this chapter asking DO WE trust God?  We should because God is always faithful and true.

A lot of their focus in this chapter was about giving tithes, giving a portion of your income (usually 10%) back to God in the way of paying tithes to the church.  They talked about how you give and then are trusting that God will give it back to you!  If you don’t have a church home, though, how do you give?  Well, it is up to the individual, but you could give back in some way by making a donation to a well known charity of your choice.  Or, my personal favorite, what about giving to a family that you know is in need?  It is still giving – if you can – to help someone else.  There will be a ton of differing opinions on how to spend your money and arguments on how this was mandated in the Old Testament that we are to obey and give back to God what He has so richly blessed us with … and in doing so, He will continue to bless us and meet our every need.  There was a time in my life, though, where I could not give money.  Hear me out before casting judgment upon me.  Allow me to explain.

I depended on every dime of my money to support myself and my daughter.  I did not have a church home at that point in time because I was going through a divorce and was therefore snubbed by people within the church that I was attending.  So, I stopped going.  I did not turn my back on God, though, and thankfully He did not turn His back on me either!  Just because I did not have a church “home” at that point to give to did not mean that God was not walking with me every step of the way, often times carrying me through that horrible ordeal.  I know He was with me, and while I would have liked to have given 10%, I knew that if I did, my daughter would not eat as I would not have money to feed her.  Did I trust God, yes!  Very much!  I was clinging to him at that time.  But I had to use my head, too.  The church that snubbed their noses at me did not need my money as badly as my daughter needed it at that time.  I focused my attention on her and providing for her the best way I could as a struggling single mother.  I was in this role for approximately five years before remarrying.  At that time, I was blessed with two incomes again, and I was able to start giving back.  When we found a new church home, I did give tithes until trouble started brewing in that church.  Pretty soon, we pulled out because of what was going on there, and we were without a church home again.  Yet, God continued to bless us, and we are thankful for that so much so that we began blessings others that were in need and giving to charities as we felt lead to do so.   My new husband and I talked about money before we ever did anything like this, though, as we wanted to be sure that the other was on the same page before we did.  This has worked for us.

I firmly believe that God will provide … I’m living proof that He did in my situation.  I did not have a whole lot of money at all after paying for our basic needs (roof over our heads, food on our table), but I was happy because God made sure that I had enough money to take care of my daughter.  That is all that mattered to me.  Whether I skated through the month with only $5 to my name after all was said and done … I was still happy as my daughter was in a nice warm house with a satisfied tummy.  Life was good, yes … even though we struggled.  Why?  Because we were together.  God provided for us.  He always has, and He always will.

There was a time in my marriage recently where I was not sure what was going to happen as my husband took a little separation period from me when he was dealing with a lot of things from his past that had just come to the surface.  I was hurt that he left and shattered the image of our picture perfect life together.  I hurt more for my children who were unsure of their future at that point since he was the bread winner.  We made a decision together two years ago to quit a job that was incredibly stressful, and I went to work part time at a company that I worked for years ago.  It was such a blessing to go back to a job where there was zero stress!  While I welcomed this, I did become frightened when he left recently as I knew that I could not support us on a part time income.  I trusted God to provide, though, and I knew that while I did not want to go back to scraping by like I had done before with my oldest daughter … I knew it could be done as God would not leave me, especially not in my time of need.  I had already been through something similar in years past, and while I did not relish the thought of going back there … I knew that if I was forced to that God would take care of us.  As it turned out, my husband has returned home and is working on his issues from the past.  We are hopeful that we can get back on track and that our marriage will be stronger than ever before after we get through this rough patch.  I know God is already working within our marriage.  I trust and have faith in God for He knows the plans He has for me … and they are plans to give me a hope and a future.  I cling to Jeremiah 29:11.

Join us tomorrow for … Simple Acts of Love

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