I Am NOT A Material Girl!

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world." 1 John 2:15-16

Ask, and ye shall receive. I wonder how many times over the last two years of blogging the Bible that I have mentioned struggling with the shopping demon. I always have been in a vicious cycle of spending- if we had money in the bank account, it needed to be spent. With Andy's job in fluctuation, we would just barely scrape by in the lean months, and then in the months when he was working and bringing in an income, we would be overwhelmed by the extra and blow every last cent- and then a few. I have asked God time and time again to help me be a better money manager, but I really think it was one of those prayers that I prayed when I was desperate- not when we were solvent and doing well.

And that, I think is what God wanted from me. He wanted me to ask him for help when I thought I didn't need the help. He wanted me to ask Him what to do with the paychecks instead of just throwing it here and there and then, oops, it's gone, you'll have to wait until Friday to put gas in the car. When Andy got his first real paycheck... I immediately wrote out our tithe check and then asked God to help me be wise with the rest of it. And I've done that with every check since- and it's working. I have felt the desire well up inside me to go buy something, and I'll actually hop in the van, drive to town and look at the something I wanted to buy. And then I will physically not be able to. Literally and in all seriousness. I wanted a patio set- not a fancy one, but something that we could have company over and we could sit comfortably outside. I looked and looked at sets and found one I liked that was reasonably priced. I looked at it and looked at it. In fact, I was downright staring at it, picturing it on my porch and this overwhelming urge to just walk away took over and I left without the patio set. And wouldn't you know. A week later, I have a like-new patio set on my patio that I didn't have to pay a penny for. It needed new cushions, which I was able to purchase with no problems, and it fits our needs exactly.

But the last month has been just like that. Even grocery shopping, I'll get it in my head on the way in that "today is the day I'm going to splurge and buy shrimp" and then I'll look at it at the store and not buy it. Then this past week for our group dinner, one of our group members brought shrimp to share! So I still got to eat some shrimp! We needed a new lawnmower, and I picked one out, but without consulting my husband first. I went to the store to buy it twice, and neither time, was I able to put it in my cart. It was only after Andy and I discussed it together, researched and agreed that this was the model we wanted, and then we went together to buy it. Even my online shopping has been affected!! That was my ultimate downfall before, because I can buy anything with the click of a mouse! I will look, put something in a shopping cart, and then the overwhelming urge to exit the site without checking out will take over.

I know, without a doubt, that those overwhelming urges to walk away or click the red x are the Holy Spirit guiding me. And while it's been a tad frustrating at times, I am oh-so thankful for it. There have been opportunities to give that have come up, and because I haven't been all spendy-spendy, we've been able to give when we've felt prompted to do so. This weekend we're making a little getaway, and we're able to do so without worrying if we have enough money for gas. I can't tell you how thankful I am for the Spirit guiding me with our money. The desire to spend spend spend just isn't there anymore. I had to go buy the kids clothes, and while I was at least able to do so, the second I felt that I'd bought enough, we left. The needs of my children have been met, but not to the excess that I may have been prone to before.

God's grace is wonderful, and I love simply knowing that he heard my cries for help. He heard me when I asked for guidance with our money. Am I perfect yet? Far from it, but it's amazing how much better life is when I am not spending every hour worrying about this check clearing or that check bouncing, or will I have enough gas this week? Because I am not worrying all the time I am able to focus better. Tasks have been getting done that needed to get done, and that oh-so important time with God has become even sweeter, because I am not distracted by money matters.

So what's next? I fully expect this:

"And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten" Joel 2:25

All these years that we've just wasted what we had... I am trusting God to take care of it. Perhaps by sharing our experience with others we can help them prevent a financial disaster altogether. Our locusts are gone, and perhaps we can help others prevent the locusts completely. With God's help, anything is possible.