I feel bad because I feel like I am not contributing financially. I know I am contributing to my kids health, keeping the house clean, and making sure everyone is fed. That is all great but compared to financial contribution it seems like nothing. Sometimes with doctors appointments and other things that come up I cant even do some of the things a stay at home mom should. You would think since I stay at home my house would be spotless. Well it is not. Not even close. So, when we talk about finances it is really hard for me. It just tells me another thing that I am not being able to help with.
I do have a college degree that was quite expensive to get. I am a certified Medical Assistant and my degree is a dual degree in phlebotomy. I absolutely love anything that is medical (that's why using essential oils for my health was easy for me) and I love everything a medical assistant does. If I love it so much, why am I not doing it to help earn an income? I would LOVE to go to work part time and earn a paycheck to help out. I say part time because raising my kids and not having someone else raise them is the most important thing to me. Too many kids are being raised by a caregiver these days, which is understandable, but not what I want to do.
If I want to go to work, then why am I not? I would end up LOSING money if I worked. Yup, that is right. In the end I would have to pay to go to work. Isn't that crazy?! Daycare is very expensive where we are. I also have two and sometimes three kids that would need to be put in daycare. I would pretty much be working to pay a person to watch my kids and pay for gas to get to work. That is really sad. Right now my college degree is just sitting there and I am just sitting here feeling bad because I cant work.
We actually tried to find something that I could work when my husband gets home but my husbands hours can vary a little bit and he works "bankers" hours because, well, he's a banker. Sadly a lot of shifts are either during those hours, won't get me home on time, or are overnights. Sorry, but I cannot stay up all night then stay up all day to take care of my kids. No way possible. With me not being able to work at all, how in the heck are we going to get out of debt?
We prayed about this. A lot. I know I have prayed about this at least once daily. My husband and I are chronic worriers. We worry about different things but we still worry. I worry most about health issues and he worries about financial issues. It's hard for me to worry about financial issues because Brad deals with finance and bills. Its hard for Brad to worry about health issues because I am the one making the doctors appointments and taking the kids to them.
There is a scripture in the Bible that I recently heard and I think it might just be my new favorite scripture. It is Philippians 4:6 and it really helps to put me at peace. The New Living Translation of it is " Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." It helps remind me that we are not alone in this. We need to place things in Gods hands more and worry about them less. I think the most important part is to show gratitude for what God has given you. God has blessed us with so much and even when we are struggling we need to be thankful for what we have.
Back to the praying. When we talked about our financial situation and I really started to worry, I decided to pray more. Then all of a sudden our church announces that they are doing a new series called Live Free and it will be helping us with our finances with what the Bible says. Not only will we be talking about how to get out of debt every Sunday, but they started growth groups that are part of the series. Our church got Dave Ramseys financial peace university kits discounted and we will be going through those at the growth group.
Now let me just tell you something because I know you are all thinking it. Usually when a church talks about finances and the Bible it is talking about tithing and that we should be giving more to them. Well, our church isn't like that. They think tithing is important (it's in the Bible whether we like it or not) but they are not one of those churches that only talks about it. They are not trying to get more money out of us, they are trying to get us debt free. A lot of people don't see finances as a spiritual issue. The Bible talks more about money than it does talk about heaven or hell. Let that sink it. It is a spiritual issue. If we are out of debt, then we are truly free to do more of God's work.
It's so weird how when I started to really pray about it that our church announced that they were going to start with this series. I will start to post weekly post's about what we are doing and our progress in becoming debt free Gods way. I am very excited about this and I feel like God is saying to me "You are raising your children to love and know me. Don't worry about finances I will help you, just keep teaching your kids about me." Now, I just want to make something clear. I am not saying that you cannot raise good children if you don't believe. I am not saying that you are not a good person if you don't believe. I know many people out there that their children are wonderful and they are great people that are atheist. I try not to be judgmental because the Bible say's not to so I would never judge someone by their beliefs. I would love for them to find God and if they want to talk about God to me then I am more than happy to. I will not force my beliefs on them though, God gave us free will for a reason. I just feel in my life since becoming a Christian and following the Bible more, that I am now given a direct path to which my life should go. My path goes one way and that's right to Jesus.
I will make mistakes. I will fail at things. I will have heartbreak and sadness. It is a part of human life. One thing I wont be is alone and I wont ever feel unloved. If nobody in this world loves me then it doesn't matter because I have a God that loves me and would die for me over and over again. I see signs all the time that tell me I am doing the right thing and going the right way with my life. I know we will be okay financially. When everything seems like its against us, God will always be for us. I just have to remember that and be thankful for what I do have even if its not much. Gods not going to do anything for me, I have to put in the hard work. I just know with him on my side when I do put in the work it will pay off. If you are struggling with finances, pray. Keep praying and keep working because I believe God answers prayers and rewards hard work. That is what I will keep on doing and I will update you with how well we are doing getting rid of our debt and hopefully it might help out some of you guys too!
Peace and Love,
We prayed about this. A lot. I know I have prayed about this at least once daily. My husband and I are chronic worriers. We worry about different things but we still worry. I worry most about health issues and he worries about financial issues. It's hard for me to worry about financial issues because Brad deals with finance and bills. Its hard for Brad to worry about health issues because I am the one making the doctors appointments and taking the kids to them.
There is a scripture in the Bible that I recently heard and I think it might just be my new favorite scripture. It is Philippians 4:6 and it really helps to put me at peace. The New Living Translation of it is " Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." It helps remind me that we are not alone in this. We need to place things in Gods hands more and worry about them less. I think the most important part is to show gratitude for what God has given you. God has blessed us with so much and even when we are struggling we need to be thankful for what we have.
Back to the praying. When we talked about our financial situation and I really started to worry, I decided to pray more. Then all of a sudden our church announces that they are doing a new series called Live Free and it will be helping us with our finances with what the Bible says. Not only will we be talking about how to get out of debt every Sunday, but they started growth groups that are part of the series. Our church got Dave Ramseys financial peace university kits discounted and we will be going through those at the growth group.
Now let me just tell you something because I know you are all thinking it. Usually when a church talks about finances and the Bible it is talking about tithing and that we should be giving more to them. Well, our church isn't like that. They think tithing is important (it's in the Bible whether we like it or not) but they are not one of those churches that only talks about it. They are not trying to get more money out of us, they are trying to get us debt free. A lot of people don't see finances as a spiritual issue. The Bible talks more about money than it does talk about heaven or hell. Let that sink it. It is a spiritual issue. If we are out of debt, then we are truly free to do more of God's work.
It's so weird how when I started to really pray about it that our church announced that they were going to start with this series. I will start to post weekly post's about what we are doing and our progress in becoming debt free Gods way. I am very excited about this and I feel like God is saying to me "You are raising your children to love and know me. Don't worry about finances I will help you, just keep teaching your kids about me." Now, I just want to make something clear. I am not saying that you cannot raise good children if you don't believe. I am not saying that you are not a good person if you don't believe. I know many people out there that their children are wonderful and they are great people that are atheist. I try not to be judgmental because the Bible say's not to so I would never judge someone by their beliefs. I would love for them to find God and if they want to talk about God to me then I am more than happy to. I will not force my beliefs on them though, God gave us free will for a reason. I just feel in my life since becoming a Christian and following the Bible more, that I am now given a direct path to which my life should go. My path goes one way and that's right to Jesus.
I will make mistakes. I will fail at things. I will have heartbreak and sadness. It is a part of human life. One thing I wont be is alone and I wont ever feel unloved. If nobody in this world loves me then it doesn't matter because I have a God that loves me and would die for me over and over again. I see signs all the time that tell me I am doing the right thing and going the right way with my life. I know we will be okay financially. When everything seems like its against us, God will always be for us. I just have to remember that and be thankful for what I do have even if its not much. Gods not going to do anything for me, I have to put in the hard work. I just know with him on my side when I do put in the work it will pay off. If you are struggling with finances, pray. Keep praying and keep working because I believe God answers prayers and rewards hard work. That is what I will keep on doing and I will update you with how well we are doing getting rid of our debt and hopefully it might help out some of you guys too!
Peace and Love,
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