Have you ever been sitting in church listening to a sermon, but
your mind was on the problems you brought from home? Even though you know you should be focused on worshipping God and
listening to the sermon, you’re brain keeps wandering back to the issue at hand?
Let me assure you that you’re not alone. That’s exactly what I was doing when I recently attended a women’s conference
with the other ladies at my church. The conference opened with a dynamic worship service led by a nationally known
recording artist. As she led the group I raised my hands determined to push my problems aside and enter into praise and
worship. Still, I was completely unsuccessful. All I could think was, “$20.000”.
Over and over, that number kept running through my mind. You see, fifteen minutes before I was supposed to leave for the
convention, we received the news that the head gasket on one of our cars needed to be replaced. The mechanic advised that
due to the mileage on the car, the repair wasn’t worth the expense. We needed to get a new car—which I realistically knew
would cost at least $20.000.00
Knowing there was nothing
I could do about the situation that day and having already committed myself to attending this conference, I chose to leave and deal
with the car problem the next day. But as the day went on, the shock wore off and the news began to sink in. As I stood there in the presence of the Holy Spirit, I started to cry. I’m sure everyone around me thought that I was
experiencing a divine moment or an inner healing, but the truth was that I was crying because my heart was breaking.
It
was breaking because it seemed that I was being forced to make a financial decision that went against everything I believed. I felt like I was losing the financial freedom that our family, especially my Mom, had worked so hard to achieve. Although
we had a plan to purchase a car in 1 to 1 ½ years, at that moment, I knew we would have to borrow the money and go into debt for a
new car. From past experiences and years of studying the Biblical principles of managing finances, I truly
believe that God does not want His children weighed down by the burden of debt.
At that moment, I was at a crossroad. I began to look back on our past experiences, as my family decided which way to
proceed into the future. Growing up, I was raised to believe that debt was wrong, and money was to be managed by God’s
principles. My Mom was a very strong Christian who was passionately committed to living her life according to Biblical
principles. She taught us about tithing, stewardship, contentment and gratefulness. She taught us about
living within our means, working hard for the things we wanted, and trusting God to provide our needs. Personally,
she did all she could to live by these principles. She truly believed that my Dad was managing our family’s
money according to Biblical guidelines, and that we were living on a budget without any debt.
Then one day everything changed. It was a warm, spring day and Mom and I were waiting for my brother to arrive home from
college. While we waited, she decided that she would get the mail. A few minutes later,
she opened a letter from the bank that rocked our world.
She immediately called my Dad and said, “You need to call the
bank. They made a mistake and said we owe thousands of dollars.”
He replied that a mistake had been made---we actually owed over double that amount.
It’s important to know that up until this time, my Dad had complete control over our family’s finances. He wouldn’t
allow anyone to help or even know what was going on. Whenever my Mom tried to participate, he’d either spin things around
to confuse her and make her feel really dumb or he’d become very angry. Although he told us that we were living
on a tight budget and that we had no debt, the truth was that over the course of 10 years, he’d been accumulating a secret debt tied
to their joint checking account.
As you can imagine,
the trauma of the lies and betrayal were overwhelming. On top of that, our family had major financial issues that needed
to be addressed. Still, I’m proud to say that this crisis proved to be one of my Mom’s finest hours. The next day,
she began studying and learning how to manage a budget by God’s financial principles. She closed my Dad’s secret account
and moved the entire balance to a bank loan with a very tight repayment schedule. She learned how to put our family on
a budget and manage our money. We sold things, cashed in insurance policies, and barely spent anything. Within
9 months, the debt was paid off. More importantly, she converted our entire financial system onto a Biblically based budget
of no debt, budgeting, saving, and financial stewardship.
When we started living by God’s principles for handling money, my Mom insisted the entire family participate in the budget. Although she carried the main responsibility as the Chief Financial Officer, each of us knew how the budget worked and where the money
was going. When decisions or changes needed to be made, she discussed it with all of us. She kept herself
accountable to the entire family. Every time she learned a new lesson, she shared it with us. When she felt
financial pressure, she shared that with us, too, so we could work together to get through difficult times. From time
to time she would put each of us in charge of the financial responsibility for various projects. Perhaps my brother would be
responsible for the finances for a home repair job, or I would be responsible for planning the food budget. She wanted
us to learn how to handle money God’s way.
Now that I am
an adult, I am so grateful. Because of her openness and accountability with the family budget, my brother and I
learned valuable principles about money management. These principles have helped us avoid many financial pitfalls and
given us an invaluable blueprint for how to live our financial lives. She trained us in the way we should go, and I am
committed to not departing from it. My brother and I saw the results of living on a budget and following God’s
principles for money and we committed ourselves to following that path. However, this car crisis was challenging
that commitment.