LORD, I HATE FINANCIAL PROBLEMS!

There is much in this book about our money ups and downs. As I reflect, some of the time our finances were in order. Our bills were paid, we were tithing, and we had money for an ice cream cone now and then! Those were good days. I remember them well.

Yet, it seemed for such a long time that we scraped by. Much of the time, we were breaking even with nothing to spare. That was okay. The years that were tough and challenging were the ones when we struggled with being behind and being in debt. Ken and I, in later years, looked back and discussed the reasons for our financial woes. Some of it came about even with Ken’s working two jobs to put food on the table for the seven of us. The economy vacillated and so did the paycheck and the cost of living.

Some of what weighed us down was poor decision making. For instance, there were many Christmases when, with no money to spend for presents, we used a charge card so that the kids would have a good day. After about six years of that, we had a celebration one day and cut our charge card into pieces. The Christmases that followed, our kids will tell you, were lean. In fact, one year we gave no gifts at all, firmly determined to not spend what we did not have.

Regardless of the reasons, financial pressure was generally our way of life. Writing this now it all seems sort of distantly trivial; but, in those days, our hearts were weary and anxious as we finagled to keep our electricity on and pay the mortgage. I got to where I dreaded the ring of the phone, thinking that it would be a creditor and I would have to do the “rob Peter to pay Paul” thing as I talked with them.

While living at our house in the country, the economy failed and so did Ken’s very steady work as a carpenter. Valiantly, we tried to keep our house but the mortgage payments kept getting later and later until finally, we were four months behind. Registering the five kids for school in September was a lesson in depression. They would hope for a large packet of photos and I would have to put my foot down and order the cheapest one. Yearbooks and clubs were out of the question.

One morning, I awoke surrounded by the thick black cloud of despair. I could hardly get out of bed. “Lord,” I said intensely, “I’m so sick of financial problems! I’m so sick of financial problems! Why can’t it be something else for a change?”

“All right,” He answered, “what about cancer? Or what about a son on drugs or perhaps, a pregnant daughter. What about a lawsuit or a crime?”

I was silent. I remember distinctly how silent I was. I was not only not speaking, but my spirit was dumb. Thinking about it now it was very much like Job when he put his hand on his mouth after hearing Almighty God thunder His response.

Finally, words came. “Forget I said anything at all, Lord. I see what You mean.”

Sitting here in my right mind and on the other side of the lake, I am absolutely sure that those financial problems were the very thing that taught me to trust God. It was during those days that I discovered this verse: Has not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith? Yes. Yes. Yes. It is true. I became rich in faith. Increasingly so. And to top it all off, I slowly lost all desire for material things. God used those horrid days of fear and poverty and uncertainty to bring me into a closer walk with Him.

I would have never learned the nitty-grittiness of God’s promise to supply all my needs if I would have had a million bucks in the bank and a handy checkbook. The lessons I took in about faith and trust changed my life for good. Maybe that is what it means when it says that He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think!