Financial Fear or Freedom? (Part 2)

If you missed Part 1, be sure to read that first!

After I came out of that financially devastating situation in my life, and finally felt like I had reached "ground zero", I began to rebuild. Once I was able to make ends meet, I eventually reached a point where I claimed to believe God's promises that He would provide... until I recognized that I truly didn't. I was only speaking the words - my heart wasn't quite there. Every once in awhile, when the money came up short at the end of the month, I would get angry with God and ask Him why He wasn't providing the way He promised.

And then one day it hit me...

If I'm living my life in a way that is beyond the means which He has provided, I'm telling God what He's given me is not enough. And that is a lie. What God gives us is always enough. What we choose to do with what He gives us reveals our heart - either we trust Him or we don't.

I had to really reexamine where my money was going. If I couldn't afford my house payment, there was a good chance His plan might require me to downsize. If I couldn't afford my car payment, there was a good chance He was asking me to trade it in for something a little more modest. If I found I was spending more money at Starbucks every month than I was giving the church, God was probably asking me to take a hard look at my priorities.

If you find yourself struggling financially, my first challenge to you would be to examine where your money is going. When we take the time to examine our financial priorities, God has a way of convicting our hearts. Of revealing to us a certain level of selfishness that today's world would simply see as entitlement. God doesn't promise to provide for our selfish whims - He promises to provide what we need. And He asks us to be content with that.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

-Hebrews 13:5

But I skipped a part of my story. The part where I broke free of all the debt I had accumulated so quickly when I became a single mom. Don't worry - I'll share that part too... but don't be surprised if it doesn't look the way you might expect. Sometimes in an attempt to break free of the chains that bind us, we simply exchange one kind of bondage for another. In doing so, we don't truly attain freedom.

Financial Fear or Freedom? (Part 1)

You know the story. Maybe it's your story. Maybe it's the story of someone you know.

 

You fall in love, get married, have a child... and then seemingly out of nowhere, he's not in love anymore.

 

Relationship ends. Court battle ensues. There are fights over custody, visitation, child support, settlement payments...

 

And when it's all said and done, you're a single mom with one (or maybe no) income. You have a child to raise, bills to pay, and the money coming into the home is significantly less than the amount that needs to be going out.

 

And you panic.

 

Fear sets in.

 

Defeat is felt.

 

You didn't ask for this. You said "I do" thinking you were signing up for a happily-ever-after, and now you don't even know how you're going to feed your child, let alone pay the mortgage. Forget about doing anything "happily".

 

The direction you turn in this moment reveals a lot more about your heart than you might realize.

 

It's a common story. The specific details aren't exactly my story, but the outcome, fear, and accompanying emotions are the same. I was in debt further than I even knew, and when the bills started coming in - credit cards I hadn't realized had been maxed out, checks that bounced due to account withdrawals I was unaware of, and past due notices on bills I thought had been paid - to say I felt overwhelmed would be an understatement. Among other things, I was on the verge of eviction from the one-bedroom apartment I shared with my daughter.

 

I know now where my heart should have been. In the Word. In the only One who knew how to truly provide for my little family. 

 

But it wasn't. It was in the world. It was focused on fear, and the lack of control I felt over a situation I thought I should be able to control. 

 

If I had been focused on God's promises, I would have known that He would never leave me nor forsake me.

 

Do not be afraid or terrified... for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. -Deuteronomy 31:6

 

I would have known that He would always provide for me what I needed.

 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

 

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." -Matthew 6:25-34

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:19

But I didn't believe that.

How about you? If you're struggling financially, do you believe His promises, or are you stuck in a place of fear?