The Lord has been good to me. He has blessed my marriage and given us beautiful children. He has answered my most desperate prayers and allowed me to be a stay-at-home mom, focusing my energy on my family as He has called me to.
I now live the dream I prayed for. He gave me what I asked for and more. This isn’t to say that life is perfect and joyful. More truthfully, it is chaotic, and struggle is a common reality. Raising a family in this sinful world, striving to let the Lord reign in our lives vs our own fleshly weaknesses is a daily battle. One that we do not always win.
I remember our early years of marriage when we both worked full time and lived quite literally paycheck to paycheck. It seemed any time that we had any extra money come our way, something would break on the car or some other costly expense would come along and leave us exactly where we were previously. It wasn’t until we made a decision to surrender our finances to the Lord and started tithing on a regular basis that we started seeing a change in our finances. We always had enough, but when we surrendered our finances to the Lord and committed to obeying and honoring Him above all else, that was when change started to happen.
Slowly, but surely, overtime our financial situation has improved. Our faith has also grown. We have had many opportunities to choose whether to be faithful to the Lord with our finances or to lean on our own understanding. The more we chose the Lord over ourselves, the more we have seen Him at work in our lives. We are not wealthy by societal standards, but we have enough to meet our needs and the needs of others here and there.
We were infantile in our faith when we married. We tried multiple church services in our new town. None seemed to fit. Most likely it was our own biases that hindered us, but for many years, Christian radio was the only “church” we had. That was where we gave our tithe. I remember listening late into the night to a radio show of a man called Bill Pearce. My husband worked the late shift, so I went to bed alone most nights. Bill spoke so slowly and so sincerely. In the late hours, I found his message and voice soothing and peaceful. The Lord spoke to my heart in those hours and strengthened my faith. Today you can find his broadcasts on YouTube, called Nightsounds with Bill Pearce.
It wasn’t until years later when our second child was born that we finally found a church home and began to regularly attend church again. It was a church that offered a live, online service where we could attend from the comfort of our own home and begin to see that this was a church we could grow in. We attended that church regularly in-person and online for many years until God moved our family to another town and another wonderful church home.
We were a two-income family many years, despite my yearning to be home with my children. I worked in a childcare center and my children were taught by others during the days while I worked. God often heard my pleas to bring me home and let me focus not on other people’s children, but my own. Eventually, with the arrival of our third child, He granted my heart’s desire to be home.
We only had enough finances to stretch my maternity leave to five months. Then I would have to get another job to make ends meet. Three or four months into my maternity leave, after I had started applying for part time jobs, my husband was granted a promotion and a small raise at work. It was just enough to allow me to stay home full time. Money was tight, but I was finally able to be home and focus my energy on my family! We honored God’s provision by increasing our tithe to match. Tithing isn’t a guarantee that God will increase your finances, but for us, it was a physical action, a step of faith that we deliberately took to show the Lord our surrendered hearts and commitment to depending on God’s provision for our family.
The Lord does not look on outward appearances, but upon the heart. He discerns the motives of our actions and the heart behind our behavior.
