Battling The Shopping Demon

"Honor the LORD with your wealth..." Proverbs 3:9

"Of what use is money in the hand of a fool,
since he has no desire to get wisdom?" Proverbs 17:16

"She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31:27

Something that I have written about several times over the many months I've been blogging my daily devotions is the matter of finances...and how terrible I've been with them in the past. It's a phenomenally tough lesson to master in this day and age of materialism and gotta have it. I can't tell you how many times in my short adult life already that I've been in the same situation where I find myself with one too many credit cards with maxed out balances and making minimum payments. And then I always reach that point where I regret that credit in the first place...but it's too late, the damage has been done. God's been dealing with me on this one. And it may just be that I am finally listening.

With Andy's last job he took a huge cut in pay, and one of the first things I did was pray fervently for God to help me stretch those few dollars without having to use credit. In addition, I prayed so many times that God would help me when it came time to spend the money we had, that he would help me to not spend it unnecessarily. The whole problem came down to this: I am a shopaholic. I love to shop. Shopping was my escape, a way to have fun. On the rare days that I would get time away from the kids while Andy was at home, I always took that time to go do some shopping. I didn't always spend money while out, but I always had an eye open for a bargain. I finally realized that this habit, this love of shopping was the root of my problem. The thing was, it took me a long time to ask God for help with this one, because I didn't really want it to go away.

But I did. I asked God to help me stop the excessive shopping- and not just physically, because shopping on the Internet is way, way too easy. I basically had to ask him to help me stop spending money needlessly, I asked him to take away that desire to spend. I cautiously say that it's been working. When I think about it, I honestly cannot tell you the last time I was at a mall. I go grocery shopping, and that's really it. Every once in a while I will find myself at Target or Wal-Mart to pick up a few household items, but it's always with blinders on. I get what is on my list and check out right away without wandering around looking for any excuses to spend more than I planned.

Yesterday was the best example I have yet. Andy got paid yesterday for some extra work he did, and even just six months ago, I would have seen that balance in the bank account and quickly hustled Zander into the van. Off we would go for an adventure, just looking for an excuse to spend a little of that extra money. And as I looked at that number yesterday, first, I thanked God for his provision, and then right away I started thinking about the household needs that I could meet with that, and I debated going shopping. I decided that yes, we would go, but really, only because I needed some potting soil and some new pots to plant my tomato seedlings. Surely that was a worthy enough reason to head out? But then God provided a distraction, and before I knew it, my day was actually busy, and I headed from activity to activity, and there was literally no time for Zander and I to make a little run. Thank God! Not only did he keep me at home, he took away that desire to spend, spend, spend. Instead, we went to the library and borrowed some books at no cost, and we spent some time playing outside in the glorious spring weather.

I know I'm far from where I need to be, but I also have clear evidence of God doing a great work on me. He really is helping me to be wise with the money he has blessed us with. It helps me greatly to spend time praying before going anywhere. I also find myself wanting to go shopping less and less. I'll think about doing it, but then something will come up, or the weather will become forbidding and I decide I really don't want to be our running around in it. Or I'll mention to Zander that we need to make a quick run, and he'll complain so heartily that I'll thank God for his complaints and choose to stay home instead.

I continue to pray that God will continue working with me on this. I truly cannot do this alone, and need His help to keep moving forward. I also pray that he will use me as an example for those who need it. Perhaps He can use me as an example to prevent someone else from making the same horrible mistakes. I pray mostly though that he will use my example to help my children from making the same mistakes.

"Wisdom is a shelter
as money is a shelter,
but the advantage of knowledge is this:
that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor." Ecclesiastes 7:12