When Joe and I got married 29 years ago, we were merging two broken households, each run by two flawed individuals. If you’ve experienced divorce or a shattered relationship, you know what I mean.

 

And so it was for us.

 

I’ll admit that before all this, I never had a good grasp on managing money, and by the age of 31, things hadn’t changed. Before meeting Joe, I had a solid job that allowed me to cover my bills and pay off my debt. However, when I left that job to marry Joe, he took on the responsibility of managing both my debt and his own. Unfortunately, our combined income did not cover our expenses. Finding a few extra dollars to contribute as an offering was nowhere in the budget we never actually created. We lived paycheck to paycheck, and even worse, we often spent beyond our means by using payday loans with an astonishing interest rate of 325%. By the time a new month began, we were already in the hole.

 

We saw no end.

 

One day, after realizing we were $300 in the hole just before payday, I became extremely frustrated. The constant burden of our finances was making me feel nauseous. We were struggling financially, and even worse, we were not managing the money that God had graciously provided us. I decided it was time for a significant change, so I created a strict budget.

 

We desperately desired to be out of debt, make a weekly offering, and still put food on the table. We prayed a lot and did our best to stick to the new budget. After a few months, it felt like a miracle when we achieved our goals! However, we still needed to break the habit of overspending.

 

God understood our struggles. He knew we spent money to fill old wounds and bring temporary comfort. He was aware of our impulsive purchases, and He knew we hadn't yet realized that He was the sole source of our comfort. As a result of our ignorance, we had just enough to get by—never an abundance to save for future emergencies or retirement. Despite this, we were grateful for His mercy and thankful to have enough.

 

In 2007, after a financial crisis, we finally understood our situation, but our credit was severely damaged. We had to create a plan to move forward. We tightened our budget even further, stopped using credit cards, and decided to start fresh by only using cash for our purchases. It was incredibly difficult! However, we had each other and God by our side. Our purpose became clear: with God's guidance, we aimed to become better stewards of His money and, above all, to start giving back to Him. This marked the beginning of God's abundance in our lives.

 

Fast forward to November 2016. How was our spending? It had improved. We managed to get through the crisis and gradually established new credit. We even acquired a credit card or two, but by then, we had learned to treat them as tools rather than toys. Nevertheless, we still felt deep down that we weren't living up to God's standards. This realization led us to an important book called “The Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey. Joe and I read it together every night, and we began to implement Dave’s plan for becoming debt-free. By October 2017, our total debt—including the new credit card, old loan, and mortgage—had reached zero! Praise the Lord! We celebrated!

 

The Bible contains numerous teachings about how to manage the money that God entrusts to us. Through our experiences, from mishandling money to receiving an incredible abundance to give away, we learned that true giving opens the door to receiving from God. We must let go of our tight grip on cash that we mistakenly think belongs to us. When we do this, our hands become open to receive God’s overflowing abundance.

 

God patiently waits to share His blessings with us. He desires nothing more than to give freely to His children. However, we must take steps to manage what He has already provided, so we can be trusted to give back a portion of what is rightfully His. In God's economy, receiving comes through giving.