There was a time when I thought that if I could just make enough money and have enough stuff, I’d be happy. In the process I amassed a great deal of credit card debt. The harder I worked the more enslaved I became. Reality began to set in that what I was doing wasn’t working so well. One morning I set out to buy groceries and came home with a car. 

My life changed radically when I found God in the Yellow Pages. I wandered into the back of a church and heard of Jesus who died for my sins, and who loved me for free with no strings attached. I decided then that I wanted an authentic relationship with Christ as my Lord and Savior, and that meant to believe He is who He says He is. One of the things that stood out to me, early on, was how God provided for His People in the Word, in very tangible and practical ways. It challenged me to take His Word literally, and with that reframe, God began transforming my life.

By the time I got married, I had paid off all my debt, except for a mortgage. We took a leap of faith to live on one income as the children arrived but there was constant pressure to make ends meet, and to live in the midst of a two-income culture.

My future husband and I got serious about money stewardship during our engagement counseling. Figuring it would be easier to discipline ourselves to live on one income from the beginning, rather than to get accustomed to living on two incomes and later go through the pain of giving up, we sought out materials from Larry Burkett (now Crown Ministries) to help us create a budget.

We found the best way to set a spending plan in place was to first track where our monies were going.  I kept track of each expenditure we made, and just forced it into one category or another, sort of a data collection.  Months later we could clearly see where our money was being spent and we were better able to evaluate and make decisions on better cost cutting choices.

Setting up an Escrow account was probably the most helpful budgeting tool.  We got this idea from our mortgage company, who was escrowing our taxes and insurance.  I set up a separate savings account that we would put money into, routinely, to save for future expenses.  This helped immensely flatten out our expense stream, and kept us from feeling like we had to charge large bills.

We started another separate savings account and started saving each month, calling it our "auto replacement fund."  The theory is to save a certain amount every month, and when we need to replace our car, we are able to pay cash for it, eliminating the car loan. 

Then over the years, we slowly added other savings areas that include "depreciation" accounts (major appliance replacement, roof replacement, etc.)  We slowly built up, over time, a savings account to keep three months take home pay in it, in the event we were out of income.  It's important to keep in mind that I was just putting away a dollar or twosome months.  It's just as important to develop the habit of savings, and to always save something. 

Over time, the Lord showed me that the pressure I felt was brought on myself, by indulging those spending habits we couldn’t afford. The Lord taught me that if my problem was money, I didn’t have a problem. I learned that my problems, once defined in monetary terms only, were something else. I needed to get my eyes off stuff (greed), get them off my neighbor (envy), get them off the culture and its entrapment’s (idolatry), and stop thinking I need to do it myself (pride). I needed to get my eyes on Jesus. Simple, but not easy.

We’ve seen the more we focus on the Lord - to dwell, gaze, seek and adore Him (Psalms 27:4) - the more He in turn provides for us, in practical ways: God provided the tuition for all three of our children to attend North Heights Christian Academy. God paid off our mortgage and gave us money for specific remodeling jobs. God provides the cars we drive, clothing we wear and vacations we take. God also provides peace, contentment, joy, and an abundant confidence He is in control of everything.

The Lord as our Provider means it’s His responsibility to take care of the Income side of the equation. Our responsibility, in turn, is to take care of the Expense side - to live within our means. Our priorities therefore are to Tithe, to give, to always spend less than we make, to save, and what’s left is available to spend.

I wouldn’t dare not Tithe: God says so! In God’s Economy we have so much more with 90% than we’d have with 100%. I don’t hesitate giving: when we give to the Lord, he turns right around and gives us what we need because He doesn’t need our money, He’s after our Hearts! You wouldn’t catch me charging for something we haven’t saved for: why add pressure by presuming upon the future? And you bet I’ve got my eyes on Jesus! To look elsewhere is one sin or another.