Trusting God with my finances

In the Bible, God promises to provide for our needs. But most of us don’t act like we believe it – we handle our financial matters as if it’s all up to us. But God wants us to trust him in every area of our lives – even with our money.

In late September of 2018 I received a message from God to save 70% of my Disability Support Pension for future expenses.

I immediately obeyed. It was hard, and I didn’t do it perfectly, but it helped that I lived with my parents at the time.

I was allowed to tithe out of the 70%, but God also wanted me to see if I could tithe in other ways, like tithing with my time. It’s taken a while to start doing this, but I eventually started baking biscuits for morning tea after church, and teaching Sunday School, both of which use my gifts and passions. I enjoy doing both these tasks.

In January I moved out on my own, so I spent all that money on setting up my new home.  But I began to pray and trust that God would provide for me – and for anyone else that comes along.

My financial journey with God has definitely grown in the last six months.  I had never budgeted before, so it took a long time to learn to manage a budget.  I have really begun to rely on God to provide me with the money I need.

I continue to tithe, sometimes with money I can’t really afford.  I do this because I want to put my money where my mouth is.  It’s one thing to say I trust God, but it’s another thing to give to God money I think I need and trust him to provide.

This month (July) was the first month I have been not only sticking to my budget, but been able to put some cash away in savings.  Before now, it was a struggle to make ends meet.

It’s still a struggle, but I have had real moments where I have seen God provide. One that sticks in my mind was when I had a recent dentist appointment.   I withdrew the $200 they had said it would cost to make sure I had enough.  I went through the rest of my money and, two days before the appointment, I went to a friend’s book launch. While there I felt God telling me to buy a copy of her book, but the only money I had was that $200 – which I needed.

But for a long time, I’d prayed ‘anything’ to God, telling him that whatever he wants, will be; that I would do anything he wanted me to do.  So I bought the book.

The next day I freaked over what had happened, and borrowed some money to cover it.  However, when I went to the dentist, it ended up costing only a fraction of that $200.

I was just humbled by this, and it increased my trust that he would provide for me. Next time, I won’t borrow money.  I will trust that God knows what he’s doing.

Philippians 4:19 says that God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. And I have now experienced this firsthand.

God provides. It may not be financial.  It may be emotional, or spiritual, or even physical.  He will make sure we have everything we need.

Jodie.