When Will I Learn?

Sometimes I wonder if I will ever learn. I've been praying a lot about our financial situation. We've been tight lately. So tight that we've had to consider where every dollar is going. And then Ashton had a freak ear infection that happened overnight and busted his eardrum. Cha-ching! Then Ted (the cat) got into a fight and procured a wound that would not heal. Around that same time, Noah needed some shots and started losing weight. That was on top of him losing all the hair on his abdomen and parts of his front legs. There went a vet visit. Cha-ching. Then Daniel started physical therapy and I needed a 3 hour (waste of my day) glucose test the baby needed stuff, kids needed clothes and... Well, you get the picture. Our savings account was eaten away with medical bills. Ahhh!

As Dave Ramsey puts it, I'm the money nerd in our family. I antagonize over our spending and work hard to make sure we manage our money well. That's not saying Daniel slouches, but he's not anywhere close to as anal as I am. I worry and stress over it. And when our savings account gets depleted, I stress even more.

We were worrying about that before the last pay check came in. We needed wipes and diapers and some groceries. The budget didn't have any room to add these things in. Then someone at Daniel's school gave us a huge box of wipes as an early baby shower gift. God is amazing. Daniel shared that in church one Sunday and someone left some money in Daniels bible. We have no idea who provided that blessing, but it helped cover the medicine that Ashton needed, diapers and some much needed groceries. We were so blessed.

But did I learn? Heck no. We were still looking at having to fork out $1000 for Daniel's Romania trip. And that didn't include spending money. On top of that, we still had $1500 in medical bills from his gall bladder surgery. The kids needed some more clothes and I was trying to figure out how we were going to get the baby stuff. Every time I gave it up to God, I decided to take all the worry back again.

So what does God do? He does what he's always done when I stressed over money. He provided in ways that I least expected. I think he's hoping that I'll catch on and let him have the full control of our finances! It's just too bad that I have a thick skull in this area!

Anyway, I've been talking with some friends about watching their two children. I know it's not a huge amount of cash, but every little bit helps. We were not expecting them to transition until the new school year began. But, things went south with there sitter and I've been able to keep the kids. That covered a bit of the deficit we were facing after purchasing the bedding set for the baby.

On top of that, Daniel has organized a ton of fundraising campaigns for the Romanian team. At the moment, the team has raised, contributed or had money donated to cover $18,000 out of the $22,000 needed. Today, they sponsored a church-wide picnic and raised an additional $400. On the 4th, we'll all run the funnel cake booth and do a yard sale. The folks at our church have generously donated a good amount of nice things for the team to sell. I know that this should end up covering the majority of his costs (and the costs of the other 4 members who still owe money).

As if that were not enough, we received a letter from the hospital stating that the $1500 in medical bills from the surgery were forgiven. It almost made me cry. I've always been very weak when it comes to fully trusting God to handle my finances. I think it stems from growing up with power, heat and phone outages. Daniel is leap years ahead of me in this area. He just gives it up to God and rarely ever worries about it. Me, I stress and worry and get upset at times. But as you can read, God is challenging me to once again give this to him. At the moment, I'm heeding his advice. I'm trying hard not to take it back on my shoulders. He can handle this trying time better than I ever could! And more importantly, He is our Provider! He provides even when I have doubts. He takes care of my fears and listens to my prayers. He is an awesome God!