Growing In Giving
Start Somewhere
When you are single your money is your own, but once married it becomes your money together. You may need some help in the area of money, unless you were taught how to be a good steward of it. Dave Ramsey is good teacher on how to give money a place to go. His book "Financial Peace," is a great way to get started, and he also offers a great class!! If you aren't good with money and need to learn, it's ok, just get started.
Budget
When my husband and I got started in our married life, we put together our money, debt, and made a plan. It wasn't easy, but we got started. How? We made a budget! At first we started with a piece of paper, which had our bills and debts on it. Then we would look every month and see what needed to be paid, and as we had extra we would pay off debt. We weren't able to pay much at first, but we did work hard to pay what we could.
Life Happens
We were doing pretty good, and then life happened. My husband lost his job, and he got a different one, the problem was we got behind. This was hard to deal with, but we just knew we needed to hold off on paying debt until things smoothed out. I also had been hurt at the beginning of our marriage from an accident I was in, so we were living off of his income. I did find something, we both were able to do from home. It was one of the best things that could of happened to us!!! We learned so much and grew!!! Some people start businesses and have a brick and mortar building, and some have an online store. We were able to work from home and build that business.
Starting Out
If you have ever started a business you know that money takes a while to come in. Ask any restaurant owner, creator of a product, etc, you will see that they may have money coming in, but have to put it back into the business. It's not easy, and it takes a hard working, entrepreneurial-minded person to do it. As we built our business, we learned about how to manage our money. We always gave our 10% tithe, and we also gave offerings and special gifts! We learned to do this separately before we got married and continued because we knew that God is faithful when you give.
Time Passed
As time passed, we realized that through some poor decisions, that we still needed a better system. We had taken the Dave Ramsey class our first year of marriage, but had slowly slipped back into bad habits. So we started over, we went back to a Dave Ramsey class and tried applying the principles again. We started listening to the DR show on the radio, and got busy. We were sick and tired of being sick and tired. We kept trying to apply it, but then life would happen again.
Two Steps Forward
We would go two steps forward and then take three steps back. It was exhausting. On top of this we had started a church and with a business where my husband worked being sold, we were back to square one. This is when tenacity and resiliency kicks in. We couldn't just quit, we had to keep going. We gave extra when we had it, and we trusted God for all of it. He helped us through our rough years with money. We were growing while we learned!!
Blessings
We were faithful with our money, we gave as we were supposed to. God always met every need! But, we finally came out of the wilderness and into the promised land. How?
We remained faithful in our tithes, offerings, and giving. Sometimes we gave when we didn't have it, and if God put it on our hands and we had promised to give we gave. Then it happened!! As we just kept trusting God and being faithful we finally started seeing an increase! We followed God to where we live now, and God blessed us! Each job my husband has been given has been better each time, and I am working from home again! I had a cleaning business for years, and prayed God would make a way for me to be home, and He did!! He has blessed it and now I'm able to help so many do the same thing I am doing! Jesus helped us to grow in giving!! He showed us how to give, and put it in our hands. We grew as we did so!!!
Scriptures
Monday: 1 Corinthians 4:2 says, "Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful." Learning to be a faithful steward is so important, especially in marriage!
Tuesday: Luke 16:11 says, "If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true [riches]?" You have to learn to be faithful, and keeping a budget helps you to do just that!
Wednesday: Proverbs 22:7 says, "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower [is] servant to the lender." This scripture drove us to pay off debt, and reminded us when life happened why this is so true!
Thursday: Luke 16:10 says, "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much." You learn to be faithful in little when you are just starting out, then God will make you ruler of much later!
Friday: Matthew 6:33 says, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." When life happens and you are trying but it seems like it's not working, remember this scripture! Quote it, speak it, live it!!
Saturday: Galatians 6:9 says, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” We had to keep pressing and not grow weary, for we knew eventually we would reap a harvest of what we had sown!
Sunday: Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” When you trust Jesus with your life, marriage, your money, and everything you have you will see blessings! When you tithe he will pour out blessings you don't have enough room to receive! So keep growing in giving and watch miracles unfold.
Contact
Please feel free to contact us by way of email on our blog posts or our new website! Also, please feel free to share and post our blog posts! Happilyevermarried.org or blancinglifewiththebrowns@gmail.com Thank you and you too can have a happily ever married marriage!