Family and Finances: Episode 11, Part 2

talked to so many people who struggle with financial insecurity. I remember reading years ago of the bag lady syndrome of women who worry they'll one day be a bag lady like lose everything and are on the streets and have nothing and the article is about Katie Couric and she was one of the wealthiest women in America and she had this deep seated fear that one day she would have nothing and be so vulnerable. But you know in Christ we have promises that he will always supply our need and that we're not to worry about tomorrow, the people came to him and said wait a minute you're telling us not to love money but what are we going to eat what are we going to wear let's get real here right and God said seek first the kingdom and all this other stuff will be yours I will take care of you and I think he wanted to remove that fear of tomorrow. It also emphasizes to me just our need for other believers brothers and sisters we need the body. I think one other aspect to him is being a good manager. Adam was put in the garden in Genesis 215 to work and manage and you and I well you work in the garden I don't really work in the garden. I eat from the garden you work it and you know if we don't manage it what happens. Weeds take over. What does it look like right now? It looks like a jungle out there. Yeah it's fruitful and it multiplies when we work but if we stop managing it and it's going to go to chaos and I think that is the element of being a steward that so often is missing in our finances that we do need to be careful we need to be particular. I read a Harvard survey that if one person in the marriage is particular that the couple that has somebody that is particular very detailed oriented picky is another word to that. Well how about conscientious. Yeah if there's at least one that family will earn more money than the family that doesn't have somebody that's particular. That just makes sense to me because management and maintenance is an essential part of our life and I think God entrusts that to us.

He says I'm going to multiply the seeds in the ground but you have to do the part that Adam had to do and that's to be a manager and to take good care of it. I like to tell people that God gave you the gift of being picky. I don't have that gift then. You look at the detail closely and I've come to just so appreciate that the gift of pickiness. And you have the gift of busyness you're always working you've got that visionary mind working all the time. Well it's a good combination. I'm always looking ahead and you're always following behind trying to analyze what you're doing. Trying to put the visas together. You know and God the three parts God's part he's the owner the provider and he's in control. And we have just seen some beautiful stories do you remember we were invited to a church to hear testimony night after crown graduation and there was a young couple that got up and she said this class has been so phenomenal I've got to tell you what happened. And she said that in the class God put it on her heart to quit her job. And without consulting her husband she gave two weeks notice at her job came home and told him I'm coming home I'm not going to work anymore and he said are you kidding me? God couldn't have told you that. He would have told me as well and he would have told us how we're going to pay the sixty five thousand dollars of credit card debt we have. You can't quit your job. And she said I just feel deeply in my heart he said to do it and I've already told them we're going to quit and he said his knees were literally shaking and I remember he said the rest of the story was. He got a call from a headhunter that offered him a job that paid a $65,000 bonus. And God got them out of debt. The very day she came home. And I remember she said, see there?

I told you God was in control. We've seen so many beautiful stories like that. That's right. And it's always just a confirmation of who he is and his goodness, his wisdom. It's been a great journey for us. Well, it's been a journey that we've experienced. Everything that we have talked about today in, we've tried our best to be faithful. And we've seen God change our lives in ways we could never imagine. Who would have ever thought that all that pain we were going through, God would redeem to allow us to try to help other people out of the same pain. Because he did provide. He is in control. He did show us that we are his stewards, not owners of anything. And he's just been so kind to us. Well, and he allowed us to go through heartache and hard time so we would have compassion. And get rid of our arrogance that we were some sort of authority at this, that he truly redeemed us from the mistakes we made. And I would say to young couples right now, I'd say to any couples, if you have not surrendered to God's absolute ownership of everything, it's so important to do that. Use that sticky note method. Use that right out of deed and put everything on it.

Everything that you think is yours. Because we're all vulnerable to losing it. Then start seeing that God is your provider. We simply work, as he told us to, but he's going to provide for what your needs are. And ultimately, he's in control. He's in control of your bills. He's in control of your income. He's in control of what you have or do not have. Whether you have a promotion or no promotion. He's in control of your next breath. And we can relax and enjoy what God will do in our lives. And give thanks. When we see him work, it's a time for us to really, really praise him, worship him, and thank him. Well, thank you, Anne. Thank you. It's been great. Yeah, it's been a great journey. Mm-hmm. [MUSIC PLAYING] (upbeat music) (upbeat music)