I have been reflecting over my entire life the last
few months as I realize the magnitude of all that God has entrusted to our
family. I can see how I have grown and matured as a woman, a wife, a mother,
and most recently a ministry leader. I can see how God placed so many people in
my path who have invested in me to bring out the skills and qualities he hard
wired me with. I have learned patience and perseverance where I once would have
demanded immediate results or else. There has been one major change in our
family in the last 6 months that is spilling over into all areas of our lives.
Let me take you back to January 2014.
I was driving in the car one morning agonizing over
our financial situation. From the outside we looked like we were pretty
responsible with money. We tithed every month. We drove one car to save on gas,
insurance, etc. We had put down $6000 when we bought our van to keep the
payment really low too. We put a large down payment on our house to keep our
mortgage payment low. We dressed modestly with very few frills or expensive
name brand purchases. One the inside and felt physically ill each month as I
would balance the checking account to see that we had over spent again and had
to use money from the savings account to fill the gaps. I cringed every time we
swiped a credit card to get a few groceries and buy a gift because it was
something “extra” we had not anticipated. We had some lingering credit card
debt from renovations on our house. Inside I felt like I was drowning and
Tyrone didn’t really see it that way when I would nag him about it. (See
Proverbs 19:13, 21:9) While driving, I started praying. I asked God to help us
become financially responsible. I asked him to open Tyrone’s eyes to our debt
and show him how to lead our family in this area. I asked that God work that
out between them and that I would not demand it happen my way. That I would
truly allow Tyrone to lead and I would follow hard after him as the head of our
home.
Later that evening, Tyrone mentioned something that
he wanted to talk about, but was hesitant because he thought I would have an “I
told you so” attitude (back to the nagging wife). He started telling me about a
conversation he had with a colleague who shared a book with him called “The
Total Money Makeover”. The colleague was not a Christian at the time, but he
wanted to know about our church and if this kind of stuff was being taught
there because it was changing his life. My initial response to Tyrone was YES I
am all in. I explained how I was just praying earlier that day for this very
thing. Tyrone’s colleague dropped by a couple days later to let us borrow the
book. We talked more about how he was using the budgeting and debt elimination plans
to develop a vision for his financial future. Before that night was over,
Tyrone had read through at least half of the book. By the end of the weekend,
he had read it through at least 2 times and we were on our way to setting up
our very own total money makeover.
Here we are 6 ½ months into the plan and it has been
an amazing journey. It was really hard at the beginning. As much as I wanted to
rid myself of the felling of drowning every month, I really didn’t want to
sacrifice my way of doing things. I really didn’t want to let Tyrone lead, but
I knew I HAD to. I have never seen him so focused. I have never listened to him
talk about a vision for our future and details of what it looks like. It’s
incredible! The only choice I had was to be his biggest fan and submit to his
leadership because it was clear God had answered my prayer in a major way. We don’t use credit cards. We have eliminated
over $30,000 of debt. The only payments we have left are Tyrone’s student loan
and our mortgage. We have an emergency fund for the breakdowns and unexpected
things. We bargain shop. We have self-control. We have plans and goals and we
work to follow the plan and reach the goals.
A few weeks ago I was reading Malachi 3:10 NIV and
adding it to my list of Bible verses I am systematically working to memorize
and the light bulb really went off.
“Bring the whole tithe into the
storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of
heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to
store it. 11 I
will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will
not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty.”
We give 10% of EVERYTHING to our
local church now. We give additional money to other missions organizations to
support local and international ministry leaders who we know. We give our time to help people in our
community and build relationships with people who live differently than we do. God
has thrown open the flood gates and we are experiences his blessing. This isn’t
about financial blessings alone however. Our marriage relationship is growing
more intimate. We are devoting more time to family stuff. We are joyful because
the stress of financial uncertainty is gone. We have had countless
opportunities to share our story and rejoice with others who are starting their
own money makeover. We are managing time better. We are setting goals are
making plans to achieve those goals. For example, Tyrone has lost 35 lbs this
year which was an impossible task in years past. I am training to run a 15K in
October. There is a youthful glow about us. Jeremiah is training to test for
his black belt in taekwondo in October. Maiesha is taking ballet lessons again
which she loves and is so good at. We are all competing in taekwondo now
(except Chloe – no baby classes offered). The list goes on and on.
In verse 11 God tells the people
what bad things he will prevent when we chose to be faithful with what he has
given us. I am here to testify that God is faithful to his promises. We have
tested and see that he does not lie. Nothing is wasted and nothing is lost when
we chose to trust God. We are not perfect and we will make mistakes in this
process, but it is undeniable – the total money makeover has become a total
life makeover. God is painting a masterpiece and we are starting to see more of
the canvas. It is beautiful!
"I Don't Want to Go" by Avalon sums it up well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGnhB4zYXzU
