Our resolve to be more aggressive with our debt-reduction started about 5 years ago. After building and selling a home we made huge strides. During those 5 years, we sometimes got tired of being so "good" and we indulged ourselves a little here and there. But we always get back on track and resolved once again to stay focused....the goal of financial freedom motivated us. Then, this past October, we got an even more intense resolve to ramp it up even more, but evenso, we still found it easy to slide into old patterns even if just for a brief moment because it was easy or convenient to spend in an area we had said we wouldn't. This past week, I thought Renaissance Man and I should evaluate how we were doing and assess where we could be better in our resolve so we could stay focused. While I was thinking about this, I considered the date....according to my calculations it was exactly 40 days until our anniversary. Light bulb! So I approached him with my crazy idea of, once again, fasting, as we had two anniversaries ago for the sale of our home. During the time of fasting we would pray, but with a more focused prayer on financial freedom, coming before the Lord, asking for freedom from the bondage. I even asked the kids to join us in the 40 day adventure and so some of them have chosen different things they are giving up, like Lent sort of, and they are praying for the same things as well as for friends they know need more focused prayer. None of us have completely stopped eating, for some it could be desserts, or technology. For others, it's giving up complaining or having temper tantrums! It's been interesting what each one has chosen.
One of the other reasons it occurred to me to pray more intensely was because the needs were becoming more intense and we were coming to the end of our financial rope. Please don't misunderstand - this isn't about prosperity gospel. I'm just convinced from a Biblical perspective, debt is bondage. I don't believe God wants us to be in bondage. I know He can use our circumstances to sanctify us and He may not choose to relieve us. I'm praying more on the lines of Paul, seeing debt also as a thorn in our side. If God chooses to leave this thorn here for our generation, I'm ok with that, really. But I will never stop trying to eliminate it or pray about it until He tells me otherwise.
Back to why we were feeling a certain motivation to pray for intensely....Money was going to be coming in, but not in time. There wasn't a sense of panic, but some concern about how we would cover our needs. RM decided to book an appointment with the bank manager. I wasn't thrilled with the idea, but knew something needed to happen in order to make things work. This was day 1 of the fast, a Monday morning. I found myself praying in the shower, "Lord, you know we don't want more bondage, yet we find ourselves in this situation, an appointment with the bank....is there anyway we could meet our needs without seeing the bank?" That's all I could do was pray and leave it in God's hands. Then RM and I prayed together that morning. As we were finishing praying, the little mail minivan pulls up to our mailbox. I could see it coming in the distance. We usually dread this little vehicle as the mail lady usually drops off bills! This time I said out loud to RM, "Oh! Here comes the mail! It's so exciting! I wonder what little miracle she'll bring today!" In my heart I knew I was speaking foolishness, we weren't expecting any miracle money, so I was saying it rather facetiously! Actually, we were due money, but there was no sign of it coming thanks to our accountant not getting back to us. In fact, RM has been quite ticked with our accountant after that whole tax fiasco. Like I wrote a while back, the government had made an oversight and it turns out we had over paid which meant they were owing us money, but it was up to our accountant to work that out for us! Their office would not return our emails. As the days went by, RM was getting really frustrated because he knew we could have really used that money. I thought maybe the accountant's assistant was on holidays, but don't most people have an auto-reply explaining that these days? "Sorry, out of the office, will be back in a week?" I think so. Back to the mail lady....someone ran out to get the mail, and sure enough, lots of envelopes, including one from the government - I hate those brown envelopes.....most of the time. Suddenly, RM looks up at me, "We can cancel the appointment with the bank. I don't need to go there anymore." "What?" I said in shock. There it was, the cheque from the government that we were due. It was going to cover all our needs - just enough. How could this be?
Well, guess what? It turns out the accountant had been on holidays and even emailed that day saying, "Sorry! I was out of the office last week, but I dealt with your tax issue before I left." Thanks for telling us!!!! We had no idea and that's why we were pestering her for that whole week. God knew all along....
I heard a great line this week - There is no panic in heaven. Charles Price was speaking about Romans 8:28 and how "all things work together for good", but sometimes when bad things are happening we start to feel that maybe there's been some mistake. How can bad things being working out good in our lives? We have to realize there is no panic in heaven, nothing is a surprise to God. All things pass through God's filter first - if something "bad" is happening, He has allowed it to happen, and always, always it is for our good, to either sanctify us or to glorify God in some way. It's almost comical to imagine it being otherwise, "Oh my! I had no idea that was going to happen to that family?!" As if we would ever hear God speaking to the angels that way.
So God knew that the whole tax thing had been worked out. He knew that money was coming. He knew that we needed that cheque. But we didn't know what was going on in the background, so we found ourselves trusting, even with respect to our huge dental bills this month. Remember? I kept wondering how God was going to work it out. We still haven't sold the huge fish tank, but it's looking really positive. I just assumed that was what God was going to do. You know, trying to figure out God again. His timing on the money made it even more miraculous to us in light of our first day of fasting - what an encouragement to persevere!
The size of the cheque being enough to cover all our needs reminded me, too, of the manna the Israelites collected - just enough for one day. Then the next day they would go out and collect again. Our "manna" cheque covers more than a day - more than a month actually, but it still means daily reliance, it means always depending on God for his provision.
So, we are in awe, once again of how God is the God of the 11th hour - leaving it right until the last minute. We literally couldn't have gone another day without that money. God gets the glory. He always does. There is no panic in heaven.
No comments:
Post a Comment