His Comments

Her Comments

As I started to think about another devotional, I glanced at the list of topics my wife had prepared and “Finances” was one of them. When I met her, I was bad at managing money, and after we were married, I didn’t get any better! Now she has control over that area, and she makes sure I have an allowance for Dunkin and an occasional video game, haha. Guessing she doesn’t want me to share my financial expertise, or lack thereof, so I would like to share how God blessed us with wisdom to have a change of heart and plant seeds.

As I shared in a previous entry, I was a non-believer when first married. Thinking back to how I used to covet money and possessions, and how scripture warns us not to be unequally yoked to a non-believer, it makes me think of a passage in 1 Timothy:

This passage holds so much weight as I think about life before being saved. Thank God for the strength and wisdom He provided my wife during our first years of marriage, since I wasn’t a believer, and for His saving Grace.

As a Christian, we aren’t called to be perfect, and I still struggle with covetousness. That is why it’s so important to regularly read scripture and allow God to bless us with wisdom through His Word. One overall passage that helps me keep things in perspective is from Deuteronomy. Everything we have we owe to God. Everything is God’s. Never put anything before Him.

A year or two after giving my life to Christ, a situation came up concerning money and fractured relationships. Perhaps because I let covetous views guide me for so long, I remember this being one of our first “What would God want us to do?” moments in our marriage. As a non-believer, I would let relationships be fractured over owed money. With this situation, we prayed and looked to scripture for guidance. God calls us to love, love God, love our neighbor, and love our enemies. This led to me being humbled, realizing I was holding to anger where I should be showing love. I was coveting money and possessions when I should be putting God first. It was then we reached out to those involved and extended an olive branch, wanting to mend relationships and to let them know past debt was forgiven and erased.

This was truly an eye-opening and humbling experience. I learned how covetous for temporary things of this world can stop us from reaching out and evangelizing to those in need. I learned that showing love can spread seeds, allowing others to see God’s love through our actions. Without God, I would still be dead in my sin and covetous. It’s only through the Grace of God that we can have life.

When Robert and I thought it would be fun to start a devotional series on relationships, he had me make a list of topics I wanted to talk about. On my list at the bottom was FINANCE. What did the male brain pick for this week? FINANCE!

Finance is an issue for everyone, not just those who are in a relationship. I wish I knew more of the biblical principles when I was younger. I have been studying the Bible along with my husband since he became a believer. One thing that surprises me is learning that the troubles of today are the same troubles they had during biblical times. The other thing that was surprising to learn is God has already given wisdom and insight on finances, disagreements, and other life’s issues. There truly is no doubt that scripture is God breathed.

I can’t help but feel if I had been more scripturally knowledgeable growing up and throughout adulthood, I would have made better financial decisions. Robert and I both grew up poor, and I feel that led to inconsistent spending habits before we met and afterward. Knowing biblical warnings may have led to less reliance on credit cards throughout our marriage. While not all credit is bad as both Robert and I had to pay our own way through college, and college loans helped that happen. The use of credit, loans, and key friends at crucial times (Thank you!), helped me make it through college. However, this reliance on credit is a burden that keeps on taking into adulthood.

If my ultimate goal was to become wealthy and have things of this world, I don’t think becoming a teacher was the ideal profession! While not being as knowledgeable of scripture as I would have liked, God was calling me to serve. Becoming a teacher is the way God allows me to spread love in my life. Robert tells me that giving my students a strong role model, who loves God, and show’s them love and kindness, is a wonderful way to spread seeds for the Lord. I also find that I give of myself freely to my students in any and every way possible.

Financial stability is one thing I’ve worried about since becoming an adult and throughout my marriage. I find myself worrying about retirement. God hasn’t blessed us with children but has blessed us in other ways. Not having children to rely on as we get older leaves me scared. My husband helps balance out my insecurity. If it were up to him, he would donate most of our finances and answer “The Lord will provide!” His heart is one of the things I love best about him. He is willing to give money, time, and resources to those in need. This is a wonderful gift that God gave him. (He’ll be annoyed I shared that, haha) I took over the bills a few years ago. I feel the Lord has me in Robert’s life to balance out his spending! I tell him “The Lord *may* want us to pay our bills before donating what little we have!” The Lord also has Robert in my life to remind me that we can do all things through Christ, and he is in control.

One thing we’ve realized throughout our Christian journey is giving can include more than money. When Robert and I are in a season of drought and unable to donate money, it’s important to remember what the Lord says about sharing our time and our love. Proverbs 19:17 tells us “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord;” All things of this world is God’s, include us. At times when we can’t share what we have, we are called to share what we are. Share our knowledge. Share our time. Share our love.

God Bless.