Luke 16:10,11

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?”

 Proverbs 13:6-8

“Righteousness guards the man of integrity,
       but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

 One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;
       another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.

 A man’s riches may ransom his life,
       but a poor man hears no threat.”

1 Timothy 6:17,18

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”

My heart is heavy from sin I thought we had conquered or were conquering. We were wrought with financial sin from the moment we got married and our bad habits transcended dollar amounts. No matter how much we made, we spent even more. When we made the most money, we incurred the most debt.

This past year we really turned things around, or so I thought. We slowly made a savings for ourselves and paid down a few credit cards. Very quickly however, unexpected bills popped up and our savings dwindled. Because Mike made such great money tiling we thought it was wise to rent such an amazing apartment. I am not going to say that if Mike was not laid off we would have been alright, I don’t believe that, but it would have prolonged our ignorance to our sin.

Mike works hard, long hours. We spend very little and do without most of the time. I have totally rocked it with coupon clipping and have cut our grocery bill in half. We thought we were ok.

We’re not. We are living grossly above our means. For some reason I continually excluded rent from being sinful. ‘It’s rent, that’s not a sin! That’s a necessity!’

That’s half true. Paying rent is a necessity, but paying our rent, is not. It is not a necessity to live in a beautiful gated 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment home.

So, what do we do?

Go big.

We will be moving into the smallest, cheapest 1 bedroom apartment we can find. We will learn to be frugal when we don’t have to be. We will pay down debt because the other option is unacceptable. We will learn how to be wise with little so that if we are given much, we will know how to be wise with it.

We have been living the lie that says because we make much, we can distribute it well yet we find ourselves, each month, trying hard to make ends meet. Trying hard to pay down an unmoving debt. Trying hard to live a life that we were not meant to live.

So my friends, this is the deal: Our Internet will be gone tomorrow and for the next 3 weeks we will be scrambling to find a new place to live, move, and press the restart button on our life. We will, literally, be exactly where we were 4 years ago, sleeping in the living room of a 1-bedroom apartment. Please pray for us. Pray the Lord would guide us to wise choices. Pray we would do what He would have us to do. Pray that we can rejoice in poverty and that God may be glorified through us.

My greatest fear since we got married is that we would be without a home. I find it, in God’s great Mercy, that He is forcing me to confront this fear head on.