Devotional from Margaret B.
Here are a few key excerpts from Margaret's message about finding financial freedom:
In the fall of 2009, my family began one of the most terrifying, humbling, and faith-building experiences we had yet to face. I wasn’t sure we wouldn’t become one of those divorce statistics in the process! After my husband suddenly lost his job, I found myself standing in line at the DSS office to apply for government aid. I was 4 months pregnant with our second child. But I held a college degree and another child on my hip. My husband had a Master’s degree and an above average credit score. We had never missed a payment, on anything! But at the start of the Great Recession, those credentials wouldn’t prevent our house from sitting untouched on the market for 31 months. The fact that we were both raised in educated, middle-class homes wouldn’t help the fact that it took almost a year to secure full-time employment again. Which is what brought us to the Upstate and how I found Anderson MOPS! I won’t dwell on the struggles we faced when we could barely find the money to pay our mortgage most months, but I will say that those years strengthened our faith immensely and looking back, I wouldn’t ask the Lord to spare us from that heartache because it was during that darkness that we had to rely on Him and Him alone. We were doing all that we could, but it wasn’t enough. I’ll never forget crying out, “Lord what will we do?!” and almost audibly He answered so clearly, “YOU don’t have to do a thing, just trust me, I will take care of you!”
... But we trusted him when he said in his word, “…do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food and the body more than clothes. Consider the birds: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable are you than birds?...but seek first his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well…for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12: 22-34
In the fall of 2009, my family began one of the most terrifying, humbling, and faith-building experiences we had yet to face. I wasn’t sure we wouldn’t become one of those divorce statistics in the process! After my husband suddenly lost his job, I found myself standing in line at the DSS office to apply for government aid. I was 4 months pregnant with our second child. But I held a college degree and another child on my hip. My husband had a Master’s degree and an above average credit score. We had never missed a payment, on anything! But at the start of the Great Recession, those credentials wouldn’t prevent our house from sitting untouched on the market for 31 months. The fact that we were both raised in educated, middle-class homes wouldn’t help the fact that it took almost a year to secure full-time employment again. Which is what brought us to the Upstate and how I found Anderson MOPS! I won’t dwell on the struggles we faced when we could barely find the money to pay our mortgage most months, but I will say that those years strengthened our faith immensely and looking back, I wouldn’t ask the Lord to spare us from that heartache because it was during that darkness that we had to rely on Him and Him alone. We were doing all that we could, but it wasn’t enough. I’ll never forget crying out, “Lord what will we do?!” and almost audibly He answered so clearly, “YOU don’t have to do a thing, just trust me, I will take care of you!”
... But we trusted him when he said in his word, “…do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food and the body more than clothes. Consider the birds: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable are you than birds?...but seek first his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well…for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12: 22-34
Craft: Paint Chip Calendar
MNO: Calligraphy Basics with Tamara
MOPS on the Town: Publix Backstage Tour
Hope to see you all at our meeting on February 8th!
