Menu

alt

I write about what matters...to you---
women, wives and moms---
about your family, faith and future.
I write about what's hard, what helps and what heals.
I show you how it's done. And not done.
I hold your hand as you find what matters to the Savior.
And let go of those things that mattered to you, but not to Him.
I write about what matters...to Him.
               Sonya Contreras

Emergency Spending

alt

My husband and I agree on a designated budgeted amount for groceries, home, pets, clothing, whatever I want. He doesn’t ask how I spend it. But he expects me to stay within the boundaries.

I’ve had the same amount for almost 20 years. So when the boys were teenagers (I had four at one time) and a few in college, I had to forget house repairs, so I could prepare a son for college and buy groceries. Or when my husband made more than our first years of poverty and school, I still had to live within that budget.

I can always find a reason to spend. It’s fun to give to others. It’s Christmas after all or birthdays. Don’t they come up all year? I must prepare my sons for life. We moved to a house, don’t I need curtains and furniture?

Then I have the added expense (which I call the BLACK HOLE) of my writing, which requires much editing, a book cover, advertising (for a few pittance sales).

As I spend, I subtract my expenses from my allowed amount and find to my dismay (once again, surprise, surprise) that I am over my amount.

I lack discipline.
UGH.
Shouldn’t I have learned this by now? I have been doing this—how many years?

My problem isn’t my spending, nor my lack of discipline, nor my wants. But what I do with them.

Isn’t it right to want to give gifts? to provide for my family? to fix my house?
It’s not the needs that are wrong.
It’s how I meet those needs.
I want what I want NOW.
Abraham was promised a son. That was a legitimate need.
But he had to wait how many years? 20 years? before he received it.
King Saul couldn’t wait for Samuel the prophet to offer the sacrifices before his battle, so he did.
The Jews wanted to make Jesus King, not so they could worship Him, but so they could get the Romans off their backs and they could get a free meal with bread and fish. 
They wanted what they wanted now.
But life is more than your needs.
God wanted to teach them how much they needed something else more than their need.
When Abraham replaced Sarah with Hagar, he manipulated God’s timing. He took control and brought trouble.

When King Saul offered the sacrifice, he overstepped his boundaries, even as king. God rejected his offering. He lost the battle and even lost his son’s right to reign as king (1 Samuel 13).

When the Jews tried to make Jesus king, they lost their opportunity to worship Him.

Without waiting God’s timing, NOW makes the need an emergency.
Emergency brings urgency.
Urgency brings loss. (The saying “Haste makes waste” is still true.)
By pressing to fulfill their need NOW, they lost the fulfilment of the greater need, one they didn’t realize they had.

God gives us needs. Not so we can rush to fill them.
But so we can bring them to Him for Him to meet.

Remember the article Do You Let Your Husband Love You? 
God is greater than your husband. And He wants to love you too.

When you rush to buy something you need, you thwart what God wants you to have on a deeper level.
He wants to change you.

Sometimes God wants others to meet your needs.He’s been working in their hearts, convicting them to be less selfish. God has prepared them to give to you.
But when you run out and buy what you need, and have no needs, no one can give.
You’ve taken that “gift” away.
You don’t realize you are loved by God’s family because no one can give in your need. (That is a humbling thing, by the way, to accept from others.)
God has made us a family to help each other.

Most of our furniture was either given to us, or found at thrift stores or even along the side of the road with “free” signs. A miracle from God. We were blessed. So were the givers.
We were thankful, not greater in debt.

When you buy all that you need, you must do it yourself.
That’s where the struggle comes. 
You CAN’T DO IT BY YOURSELF. (SEE Are You Strong Enough?)
By spending on yourself, you don’t have anything left to give others.
Money becomes your master. You’re a slave to pay back what is owed and to care for what you now have.
That emergency spending isn’t for you to spend now. But for you to wait. 
Remove your control. Allow God to work a miracle. 

When my husband was in the Philippines, he met a poor Christian church.
They worked in the jungles during the time when a missionary was taken hostage and killed. Muslims trained their converts there.
This church was persecuted. They lived in dire poverty.

But do you know what they did when a care package of clothes from America came?
They gave it to those who weren't in their church, who were poorer than them.
They didn’t see their need, when others had greater needs

God gives us needs. So we can bring them to Him to learn He is enough.
Maybe the need didn’t get fulfilled. and you must wait. (DEEP SIGH.)
Maybe you don’t need what you think you do.
By waiting to buy, maybe someone didn’t give you what you thought you needed. 
Know what I found? Sometimes, I didn’t need it as much as I thought. 
It would have been an added weight.

George Mueller lived like a poor missionary to show people what he valued was eternal.

There’s nothing wrong with nice things. I like nice things (probably way too much.) But check your heart. Is having new and nice what motivates? There will always be something newer and nicer that grabs your attention.

It’s a temptation for me to keep looking at an item after I purchase the solution to a “need.” Did I get the best thing? Amazon makes it easy when you buy a vacuum cleaner. They’ll show you all the possible vacuum cleaners you should have purchased.
Move on.
Be content.

If you can’t wait, and you don’t give it to God, it becomes a weight that binds you.
You can’t keep up. You’re in debt, maybe not by money, but by your drive to get the next solution to your problem.
These are things. Of. Temporary. Value. Wood, hay and stubble.
Yes, we need wood to build our homes. They are important. 
But they are not urgent.
They aren’t an emergency.
They can wait, until God gives it to you.
Or until He shows you some “thing” better.

And it won’t be a thing.
The emergency drove you to Him in a way nothing else will.
Your need isn’t so urgent.
Neither are your wants.

That is how men and women could be stoned, cut in two, put to death, “being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. . . . All these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised,because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:37-40).

They found the truth of 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”

These men and women dropped their emergency needs in the dirt at the foot of the cross and found His sufficiency meant everything.

Emergency spending? Not when I have a God Who is enough.


Displaying 1 comment

Just this past weekend we had an answer to prayer. We were getting very low on wood for our stove because February was so cold this year, then we get a call asking if we could use some wood. It was delivered, all cut, split, and dried out, ready to burn. What a blessing from God!
I'm trying to catch up on my emails, but SO far behind.

Author of Biblical fiction, married to my best friend, and challenged by eight sons’ growing pains as I write about what matters.

Receive weekly articles by giving your email address below:

Faith
Find more articles about faith here:
What Were You Thinking?
Who Are You Watching?
Boundaries for a Better Life
God's Boundaries
Memories of a Hero Mom
The Ripple Effect
How Do We Think Like Jesus
Litany of a Waiting Woman
Ever Cook a Frog?
New Year's Reminders
They Galled Her Gammy
When God Speaks
A Russian Christmas Story
Be Thankful
Be Grateful
Are You Tired of the Same, Old Thing?
  (reprint)
Laughter—Why Laugh?
Mom
Are You Disturbed?
Unity of the Brothers
Encouragements To Declutter
Do You Have Too Much Stuff?
Too Much Stress
Getting Past the Noise—The Value of Silence
Are You Scatterbrained?
How Good Are You?
Looking for Something Good To Read?
A Cup of Cold Water
I Will Trust When I Cannot See
Encouragement—What Is It?
Being in God's Presence
"Einstein and the Professor"
When God Is Silent
Do You Crave Beauty?
Using Stories to Discipline
The Danger of the Wrong Story
Using Stories to Teach Lessons
God is in charge of the future
November Dare Joy Challenge
Ungratefulness
Developing an Attitude of Gratitude
Looking for Jesus
What Do Your Prayers Reflect?
Life's Little Pleasures
Daniel—Greatly Loved by God
Take Every Thought
Jars of Clay
What Do Your Words Reveal about Your Heart?
How Do You Get Strong Faith?
Too Busy for God's Word?
How Do You Think Like Jesus?
Reflections from a Mom
Pain—What's It Good For?
Why Marry?
Consider the Robin
One Life Who Made a Difference
What Day Are You Living In?
Interrupted by God
Is Jesus Really the Answer to Everything?
Are You Beat Up?
What's Your Hurry?
Are You a Manipulator?
Are You Salty?
Are You Condemned?
Trying to Understand?
Do You Expect Answers to Your Prayers?
Do You Eat Your Stress?
Need Focus?
Going through Trouble?
Immanuel—God with Us
Looking for a Relationship?
When God Says, "No!"
What Do You Do with Left-Overs?
How Great Is Your God?
Are You Needy?
How Do You See Sin?
What Do Your Words Mean?
Is Evil Overwhelming You?
Those Aha Moments
Is Your Soul Happy?
Are You Ignored?
Looking for the God Moment
Do You Know Truth from Almost Truth?
I Believe in Jesus—What Now?
Do You Have Your "Son"-Glasses On?
Less Is More
Singing His Praise
Are You Trying To Do It All?
What Do You Do with All These Prayer Requests?
Have a Problem?
Do You Know How to Pray?
Looking for God in Every Moment
Are You Receptive to God's Blessings?
Tell the Senate: Mothers Aren't Birthing People
Is Your Life Complicated?
How Do We Fight Evil?
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
Giving Up or Taking Away
the Bible is simple
Are You a Dripping Faucet?
What's Your Testimony?
The Final Move
Be Careful What You Wish For!
Are Your Prayers Answered?
I Choose Joy
What Have You Learned from Your Hardship?
Who Are You Trying to Change?
What's Your Five-Year Plan?
The Danger of "Aloneness"
My Colors
Are You a Whiner?
Are Your Works Approved?
Do You Think You're Stressed?
Is Your Soul Feeling Ragged?
God Speaks to the Heart of the King
What about the Details?
Have You Felt the Long-Suffering of God?
How Does God Lead You?
Do You Have Enough?
Don't Carry More than You Need
Cast the Seed
God Is Faithful
Are You Deceived?
Are You Essential?
Are You Safe?
Are You Tired of the Same Old Thing?
Does the World Make Sense?
Have You Seen God's Majesty?
Do You Feel Judged?
If You Only Had One More Day To Live
Are You Understood?
Do You Long for the Word of God?
Slow Down and Smell the Dead Leaves
Are You Hospitable?
Our Heritage Is Bought by Blood
Are You Disturbed?
Are You Depressed?
I Did It My Way
Finding the Simple Life with Meaning
The Simple Life
Do You Have the Right Words?
Did Your Dream Die?
On the Other Side of the Fence
Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence
Confessions of a Desperate Mom
Saving for Tomorrow
A Wedding Remembered
Who Will Stand in the Gap?
Are You a Protector or a Ruler?
Who Are You?
Are You an Image Bearer or a Wad of Cells?
Are You a Watchman?
Where Do You Find Meaning?
The Lamb of God as Told by a Scribe
What Love Is This?
Remember: The Symbols of Passover Explained
Tea and Rest
Do You Have Peace?
What Makes a Marriage Work?
When Life Is Awful
Are You Strong Enough?
Rules
Seasons
Be Faithful through Suffering
Do You Know the Word?
Wake Up! Strengthen What Remains
Are You Spit in God's Mouth?
Is Jezebel in Your Midst?
Do You Stand Against Satan Himself?
Are You Tired of Being a Mom?
What in the World Is Happening?
It's Not My Story
How Would Your Faith Compare?
Are You Sinking?
Are You a Rule Follower?
Useful for Him
An Intimate Moment with Mary
The Worldview that Makes the
   Underclass

Thoughts to Ponder
What Does It Take To Know the
    Heart of God?

See the Story in the Stars
Do the Scriptures Burn You?
Being in His Presence
Contentment: It's Not for the Timid
How Secure Are You?
How Do You Respond To Stupid People?
The Earthworm Is My Hero
Heart Issues or Issues of the Heart
Things Aren't Always What They Seem
More faith articles are found here:
alt
under the Table of Contents. Also available in book form.
Or here:
alt
under the Table of Contents. Also available in book form.
Articles on Suffering can be found  here, 
alt
under Table of Contents. Also available in book form.
Special Days
Remember: The Symbols of 
   Passover Explained
    

Aug 12, 2017 The Heavens Declare the Glory of God
July 4th, Freedom
What Is an American Soldier?
Valentine's Day: A Day of Love?
Memorial Day-A Day To Remember
Veterans' Day-To Honor Our Men
Fall Colors
First Thanksgiving Day
    Proclamation

Christmas: Stories behind the Songs
Christmas: Stories behind the Songs, part 2