I wanted to talk about money. I don't like talking about money and my husband doesn't allow us to tell people about our finances - not even Ryan or Zachary has ever known how much money their Dad makes or how much our house cost or any debts we've had. But since we truly want God to get all the glory for this new adventure we are on and I've had some comments that make me feel like I should clear up a few things. A few well meaning friends have indicated how blessed we are for Gus to be able to quit work and go to seminary for three years without worrying about money. I guess they assume that because Gus was a lawyer, all lawyers are rich, so thus we have loads of money piled away to just take it easy while he goes to school. We didn't always make the right choices with our money at the beginning of our marriage (Ryan and Diana - please don't make that mistake! Love you!) and so we spent the first five years of our marriage getting into debt while Gus finished his last year at Virginia Tech and went to UVA Law School for three years. We spent the next five years getting out of debt and getting ourselves straight on what we should be doing with God's money. We had a nice chunk in our savings account and started building up some money in 401K and retirement accounts. As many of you know, we felt God leading us to not go into debt for Ryan's college and not let him start off in debt either. So after $63,000 went to four years of tuition and room/board for college and $15,000 repairing and fixing the house up to get it sold, well let's just say we will be depending on God to provide everything we need. We certainly have the option to move money from retirement and other investments for us to live on for the next three to four years but we have decided not to go that route. We truly feel God calling us to depend totally on Him. We are putting our retirement and other funds in accounts that will not make it easy for us to get to them and we will live on whatever Gus makes at whatever job God leads us to.
"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing." Matthew 6:25.
So this just isn't a career adventure for us, it is a total and complete dependence on God for everything - EVERYTHING! And that is something we have not done in a long time - it feels amazing. We have no job and no place to live in Kentucky right now and are unsure who will give us a place to live if we have no job.
"Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go. And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Luke 9:57-58
Jesus had no home and did not earn an income to provide food, but trusted His Father in Heaven to provide all He needed. So everything in our new direction of life, will absolutely be done by God and provided by Him - no one else. We begin this journey with less than we have had since we first got married. In fact, we were the happiest in our married life when we lived in Blacksburg, Virginia in a dumpy trailer, living on a secretary's salary, and didn't know how our bills were going to be paid (except for having two great kids since then that made life quite happy!) We have come back to where we started except this time we will be putting our trust in our Father in Heaven and not ourselves. Am I still scared, oh yeah!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
We're finally finished!
The for sale sign is in the yard and the house is on the market. Two months worth of work and it feels amazing to be finished. The house officially went on the market Wednesday and our staging is complete. The whole staging thing is strange because we are still living in the house, but it feels like we can't really live in the house. Does that make sense? Every day we have to put out the staging towels in the bathrooms, almost everything we use in the house has to be put away so nothing looks cluttered. Every day I have to tell Zachary "don't touch the walls" , "flush the toilet", "pick up that", and "take your shoes off before you walk on the new carpet". When someone is coming to see the house, we've been told to leave classical music playing and put out fresh baked cookies before we leave. There are 35 houses in our small zone so it will be a true testament to God's power and all to His glory if the house sells in time for classes August 15th.
So we press on in faith and Gus is registering for classes tonight. I have already registered for my class at the Wive's Seminary and I am really looking forward to it. I always wanted to finish my degree and am only three classes away from being done, but now I get to take these classes that will strengthen my role as Gus' helpmate in whatever ministry God leads us to after seminary is over. I am praying he also uses the classes to lead me to whatever ministry He would have me serve in at our new church in Louisville or wherever we eventually end up. I have so many things I would love to do: lead a homebuilders couples Bible study in our home, have a support group in our home for young wives (and they are all young except me since I will be the oldest wife in the seminary classes), maybe offer a monthly babysitting night for all these young families who need a night out, or lead a book study for moms with a Sally Clarkson book. Zachary and I have already looked into some volunteer options for us during the week.
One of the great things I love about homeschooling is the opportunity to volunteer together any day of the week. There is an orphanage type facility in the area that we are living that desperately needs volunteers that might be a good option for us. Gus thinks that if we volunteer there, I'll start bringing home foster children and want to adopt babies. Wouldn't that be wonderful!
Each day brings us a step closer to starting our new adventure and it is exciting, frightening (we have no place to live in Kentucky and Gus does not have a job!), stressful, and AMAZING - may it all bring Glory to Him.
So we press on in faith and Gus is registering for classes tonight. I have already registered for my class at the Wive's Seminary and I am really looking forward to it. I always wanted to finish my degree and am only three classes away from being done, but now I get to take these classes that will strengthen my role as Gus' helpmate in whatever ministry God leads us to after seminary is over. I am praying he also uses the classes to lead me to whatever ministry He would have me serve in at our new church in Louisville or wherever we eventually end up. I have so many things I would love to do: lead a homebuilders couples Bible study in our home, have a support group in our home for young wives (and they are all young except me since I will be the oldest wife in the seminary classes), maybe offer a monthly babysitting night for all these young families who need a night out, or lead a book study for moms with a Sally Clarkson book. Zachary and I have already looked into some volunteer options for us during the week.
One of the great things I love about homeschooling is the opportunity to volunteer together any day of the week. There is an orphanage type facility in the area that we are living that desperately needs volunteers that might be a good option for us. Gus thinks that if we volunteer there, I'll start bringing home foster children and want to adopt babies. Wouldn't that be wonderful!
Each day brings us a step closer to starting our new adventure and it is exciting, frightening (we have no place to live in Kentucky and Gus does not have a job!), stressful, and AMAZING - may it all bring Glory to Him.
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