Day 20: Give and Be Blessed

I'm sipping a pumpkin spice, white mocha steamer while I blog. Don't panic; I used the Starbucks gift card I got for Christmas. I didn't spend a dime. (Gotcha!)

Purely by coincidence, I'm sure, I turned on the radio this morning to hear Dr. David Jeremiah speaking about how God blesses those who honor Him with their money. This is not the "prosperity gospel"; far from it. It's God's promise throughout Scripture to bless those who give to His work. Two examples: "A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor." (Prov 22:9, NIV) "He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses." (Prov 28:27, NIV) In describing a virtuous woman, God says in Proverbs 31:20, "She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy." Since I don't believe in coincidences and I do believe God's promises, I took that as a charge and drove to Wal Mart.

Our local Pregnancy Care Center is trying to collect one TON (that's right, 2,000 pounds) of diapers and wipes before January 31st, so my first stop was the infant aisle for three packages of diapers and three boxes of wipes. Then, I hit the grocery aisles to stock up on kid-friendly foods, like granola bars, packages of peanuts, pop-top canned chicken and pasta for a local elementary school who started a "Soul Food" program. They provide backpacks full of convenient, nutritional food every Friday to kids who might need additional food over the weekend. I didn't spend a lot, but it was one of the most heartwarming Wal Mart trips I've ever taken. For a grand total of $50.56, I was able to give hope and encouragement to a scared, young mom. God will also use that money to provide for that mother's newborn child and fill tiny tummies elsewhere in the city. What a perfect example of how a lot of people each doing a little can demonstrate God's love for ALL people, including single moms, unborn (and newborn) babies and hungry children.

I challenge each of you to start looking today for ways to give-not just money but also your time and energy. Show God's love and invest in other people's lives in meaningful ways. When you do, you don't have to worry about your needs being met. The maker and owner of ALL promises that He will provide for you and, in the process, you'll be blessed beyond measure. I know I was.

Day 2: Bye Bye Land Line

The phone bill has been making me ill for several months, so I called today to see if I could find a cheaper plan. We have a home phone, high-speed Internet and two cell phones. After my husband and I scrutinized the itemized bill and discussed our priorities, we decided to ditch the land line ($60/month) and add another cell phone ($10/month + $19 for the phone). This will allow us to stay in contact with our teen and pre-teen daughters when one of us is gone and save $45 per month ($540 per year). I'll take it.

Our New Year Adventure

Well, Christmas is over and, like many of you, we're feeling a little financially challenged. Add property taxes and higher heating bills to the Christmas crunch and, well... I start looking at creative options. This year, my plan involves a family adventure, of sorts. Since I feel like there's more month than money every January, it's easy to embrace that as the truth. So, my husband and I totalled up all of our monthly commitments - house payment, car insurance, utilities, phone and the amounts we've committed to give to our church and other ministries. Then we subtracted that amount from our monthly income. The result showed us in black and white that we do have money left after we pay our bills. The only reasonable explanation for the gap between our intentions about how to use our money and the reality are the "variable" expenses. (That's CPA speak for expenses we can more easily control, like groceries and clothes.)

So we devised a plan. For the month of January, we've resolved not to eat out and not to buy anything except essentials. We are going to make a list of any non-essentials we want to buy and reconsider those potential purchases in February.

Let me set this up for you. We're not big spenders. We drive a 10-year-old Jeep and a five-year-old minivan. No car payments. We live in a 1950's Ranch style house that we have slowly fixed up over the last decade. We usually eat out after church and sometimes one other time per week at the "kids eat free" places. I buy many, if not most, of our family's clothes used or drastically on sale. We've only taken one family vacation, which we paid cash for.

But, alas we are apparently still "leaking". We want to be better stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us, and we want to give more, save more and continue to fix up our house. Maybe you want to get out of debt, save for retirement or travel. Whatever your goals are, I hope you'll join us in this challenge, and I'd love to hear about your victories, challenges and temptations along the way.

Good luck and Happy New Year!

Now It's Gettin' Political

I have no political expertise; my degree is in Accounting, not political science. But my dad, a Vietnam vet and high school political science teacher, was passionate about America and its greatness, and he passed that zeal onto his daughters.

That said, recently my daughters (ages 12 and 10) were trying to sort out all the rhetoric and asked me why their dad and I consider ourselves "conservatives". Here's my answer, condensed into a top 10 list.

10. I can't relate to the Hollywood elites, and they can't relate to me.
9. I think I am better qualified to manage my own life, and money, than the government is.
8. I believe that capitalism, not socialism, is the strongest economic system.
7. I am, and always have been, proud of my country and believe that, with all its faults, it is still the greatest country on earth.
6. I think the only effective anti-terror strategy is to fight terrorists where they are, not merely ask them to play nice.
5. I believe the responsibility of judges is to interpret the constitution, not re-write it.
4. I admire, not blame, the brave men and women who fight for our right to criticize and accuse them of "air-raiding villages and killing civilians".
3. I believe that 99% of the situations people find themselves in are caused, or greatly contributed to, by their own choices; therefore, taking personal responsibility is much more empowering than government intervention in most situations.
2. I believe that marriage was intended by God to be a union between one man and one woman.
1. I believe life is precious from the moment of conception until the moment of natural death, and that the circumstances surrounding the child's conception don't determine the value of its life.

I think Ronald Reagan said it best. "Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged."