Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. Ecclesiastes 5:10
Eric had a job interview with Buffalo Wild Wings. While he was in the interview I was reading Proverbs and praying that Eric would be seen as "wise" and "discerning". When Eric returned, I asked him how it went and he told me the interviewer said he seemed "discerning". Thank You, Lord for answering prayers so immediately and specifically!
And then we got a phone call with the job offer! God willing, Eric will be the new assistant manager at a Buffalo Wild Wings! It gets better. He'll be training in Billings for 7 weeks and they pay for housing AND living expenses AND a housekeeper in addition to his regular salary. The Lord has provided!
Unless you're independently wealthy, whenever you move it's a little bit of a strain on the finances. But the Lord told us to get the heck outta Dodge, so whatever the money situation, we were going to skidaddle. Through a variety of people and circumstances, the Lord ended up blessing us with almost 3 times the amount of money we were expecting to leave with!
Expecting that Eric would be able to get a job offer right away to replenish the bank account, we freely, yet frugally, spent money on gas, groceries, and a couple of frivelous outings and fancy coffees.
Since the new job wouldn't start for another week and a half, we decided to have a budget meeting while enjoying a tastey beverage at Rockford.
We discovered that all the money we had left was promised to something else.
We had no money left.
We had no money.
No money.
None.
And then the coffee cup was empty.
At that moment, I was convinced that the one thing in this world that would make me feel better about our bleak situation was a coffee refill.
I was exactly 9¢ short. I asked the barista if I could talk her out of a refill for less and without missing a beat, she said, "no." So I trudged out to the car without my coat on in 20° weather to scrounge for change, to no avail. I found myself in the pathetic spot of frantically tearing apart the contents of the car looking for 9¢!
Then I stopped.
"What am I doing?!"
I immediately burst into tears and started yelling to God, "9¢ is not going to fix this! A cup of coffee is not going to fix this! Lord, I WILL trust you! I WILL follow you! Please give me faith! Help me with my unbelief!"
Apparently, I was outside having this monologue with God for so long that a worried Eric came looking for me.
I never did get that refill.
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God.
Psalm 146:5
By God's grace, He helped me realize that my security shouldn't be in a job or in money or in a stock pile of diapers and food. My security and my trust needs to be in Him alone. But in my panic, I started thinking of ways we could postpone payments and fanagle some cash, of friends we could call who would send us $50.
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
Lamentations 3:25-26
Eric prayed for me and in his prayer, he said that we would follow the Lord and still praise Him if food got low, if food ran out, and on the first day without food, and the second, and the third.
#1 - Going West
#2 - In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge
#3 - Take delight in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart
#4 - Let The Journey Begin
#5 - Yahweh-Yireh
#6 - for the love of money... and coffee.
#7 - Testing God
#8 - Billings, MT
#9 - who needs furniture?
#10 - The floodgates of heaven thrown open
#11 - Hardwood Floors, Terrible Neighbors, and God
To invite Genevieve West to speak at your group or church, please email Genevieve directly at MrsGWest@gmail.com.
Eric had a job interview with Buffalo Wild Wings. While he was in the interview I was reading Proverbs and praying that Eric would be seen as "wise" and "discerning". When Eric returned, I asked him how it went and he told me the interviewer said he seemed "discerning". Thank You, Lord for answering prayers so immediately and specifically!
And then we got a phone call with the job offer! God willing, Eric will be the new assistant manager at a Buffalo Wild Wings! It gets better. He'll be training in Billings for 7 weeks and they pay for housing AND living expenses AND a housekeeper in addition to his regular salary. The Lord has provided!
Unless you're independently wealthy, whenever you move it's a little bit of a strain on the finances. But the Lord told us to get the heck outta Dodge, so whatever the money situation, we were going to skidaddle. Through a variety of people and circumstances, the Lord ended up blessing us with almost 3 times the amount of money we were expecting to leave with!
Expecting that Eric would be able to get a job offer right away to replenish the bank account, we freely, yet frugally, spent money on gas, groceries, and a couple of frivelous outings and fancy coffees.
We discovered that all the money we had left was promised to something else.
We had no money left.
We had no money.
No money.
None.
And then the coffee cup was empty.
At that moment, I was convinced that the one thing in this world that would make me feel better about our bleak situation was a coffee refill.
I was exactly 9¢ short. I asked the barista if I could talk her out of a refill for less and without missing a beat, she said, "no." So I trudged out to the car without my coat on in 20° weather to scrounge for change, to no avail. I found myself in the pathetic spot of frantically tearing apart the contents of the car looking for 9¢!
Then I stopped.
"What am I doing?!"
I immediately burst into tears and started yelling to God, "9¢ is not going to fix this! A cup of coffee is not going to fix this! Lord, I WILL trust you! I WILL follow you! Please give me faith! Help me with my unbelief!"
Apparently, I was outside having this monologue with God for so long that a worried Eric came looking for me.
I never did get that refill.
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God.
Psalm 146:5
By God's grace, He helped me realize that my security shouldn't be in a job or in money or in a stock pile of diapers and food. My security and my trust needs to be in Him alone. But in my panic, I started thinking of ways we could postpone payments and fanagle some cash, of friends we could call who would send us $50.
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
Lamentations 3:25-26
Eric prayed for me and in his prayer, he said that we would follow the Lord and still praise Him if food got low, if food ran out, and on the first day without food, and the second, and the third.
“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
I knew the Lord was working on my heart, helping me trust him with our resources. God loves me too much and has better things planned for me than to let me stay the same. He wants to change me into a better person, a better wife, a mom who trusts in Him and teaches the children entrusted to me to follow Him.
So, I let Him.
The next few days, I had ups and downs.
During the ups, I'd thank God for what we had! We still had a small supply of emergency food of beans and rice, we had a warm cabin, clean running water, and diapers for a few more days.
During the downs, I'd crawl into bed and sob, praying and asking God to provide for us and that the food and diapers wouldn't run out. I think one facebook post said something like, "I'd rather be going through childbirth right now than this metamorphasis."
I refused to make any phone calls to get money. Money was not what I needed. I needed God and faith in Him. I WANTED God to change my heart and help me trust in Him alone.
Then came a phone call: The $150 we were expecting was not going to happen.
I laughed out loud. "Okay, I get it. I need to trust in You."
Some new friends invited us over and I saw the spread that they had laid out for us. There were meats and cheeses, bread and chips, fresh fruits and vegetables, beer and wine! In that moment, I thought there could never be a more beautiful feast EVER! We all ate with wild abandon, not caring in the least about what our hosts thought of our appetites! LOL
On our way out, they packed up all the leftover food and sent it with us, along with a few other delicious treats.
Then came a $50 gas card.
Then a gift of $200.
The Lord had provided yet again. He wanted to bless us with all this abundance! He was just waiting for our hearts to be right so that we would be truly thankful to Him.
Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 27:14
Psalm 27:14
#1 - Going West
#2 - In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge
#3 - Take delight in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart
#4 - Let The Journey Begin
#5 - Yahweh-Yireh
#6 - for the love of money... and coffee.
#7 - Testing God
#8 - Billings, MT
#9 - who needs furniture?
#10 - The floodgates of heaven thrown open
#11 - Hardwood Floors, Terrible Neighbors, and God
Here are some books that God has used to change the way I think about money.
I hope you enjoy them and that you get to experience a transformation like I did...
but without the scrouning on the car floor for change:
To invite Genevieve West to speak at your group or church, please email Genevieve directly at MrsGWest@gmail.com.
Genevieve West is a professional Matchmaker and personal consultant, prolific blogger and speaker, perpetual manuscript attempter, wine-drinking, coffee-chugging, sometimes irreverent, often overwhelmed housewife and homeschool mom of three, redeemed by God's grace.
You can find more of Genevieve's insights and antics at:
Find resources and learn about Genevieve's Matchmaking services:
GenevieveWestMatchmaker.blogspot.com
GenevieveWestMatchmaker.blogspot.com