How to Trust God with Your Finances (part 4)
Step 3: Seeking God’s Will in a Trial Run
Opening the envelope with that refund check told me all I needed to know about my decision to become a stay at home mom. It was the third piece of evidence—and I never argue with “threes”.
An emergency came up that first year and we needed about $1,000 to cover it. I prayed, asking God to help us to “figure it out.” Explaining to Him the exact amount we needed, I said I was willing to go back to work if that’s what He wanted. I struggled with accepting the call to stay home, and was continually looking for His will to be my will.
I could not believe my eyes a week later when I saw a check—for some random mortgage refund—in the exact amount I had prayed for!
The second piece of evidence came when we were short on funds for some reason I cannot now recall, only for my husband to receive an unexpected bonus– again in the exact amount we were short!
All of this followed the first proof: our Trial Run.
My Trial Run as a Stay at Home Mom
Having realized the deep desire to be a stay at home mom, I was not entirely sure if it was compatible with our situation (or my temperament.) I thought I could maybe “halfway” commit and was willing to do a Trial Run.
We had saved a little money and decided to take advantage of a relatively new benefit at the time—a six-month unpaid leave of absence that allowed moms to stay home with their newborns while still guaranteeing their job upon return.
We sold both our cars and went down to just our minivan, as I shared in Cut! Cut! Cut! (part 3 of this series). Committing to a life of frugality, I wondered: Could we actually do this?
It was definitely a change—but then again, having a baby changes everything.
When the end of my leave approached, I looked at our bank statement and was stunned: we hadn’t even touched the money we’d saved!
Jesus promises us:
Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?… Your heavenly Father knows what you need…But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.
Matthew 6: 26, 32-33
Was I “seeking His righteousness” in being a stay at home mom?
Maybe I could do this.
Maybe God was blessing us to show us he would provide.
Maybe this actually WAS His will.
Choosing Cradle over Career
There are so many things we can do with our lives. And while I haven’t always been thrilled with the path God has placed me on—and it certainly hasn’t been easy—I’ve always had a gut-level instinct: If He is the one leading me, I need to follow. Choosing to go from my career mindset to my baby’s cradle was a huge turning point in my path of surrender to God’s will in my life.
Surrendering Finances
Surrendering our finances to God continued throughout the years to be an ongoing trial. But also an ongoing show of miracles.
Eighteen years later, with four children, we started thinking about college costs. Speaking with God yet again, “Please, Lord, I do not see how we will pay for college for all of them! We really need the salary of a part-time job. I am willing to work if you can find me the right job for me. I don’t know what else to do! Please help!” Telling him again the exact amount needed, I waited for an answer, sure that some amazing job would plop down in front of me.
I don’t know why I was surprised when, within a week, my husband was given an unexpected bonus totalling the exact amount we needed.
As much as I was ready and willing to work, CLEARLY He did not want me working outside the home during that season.
“God has all of the money.”
A few years ago, I went to a fundraising banquet. The woman who ran the charity was giving her annual fundraiser talk, telling about the works they did and the miracles that happened in trusting God with financial needs for a projects they believed He had inspired. She said, “We realized that God has all of the money and if He wanted this project to happen, we would get the money needed.” Sure enough, the exact amounts needed were donated to their charity, completely out of the blue.
That phrase stuck with me– God has all of the money.
He knows what our needs are. Being generous with Him and good stewards of what we have, He will be generous back with us—not in a mechanical cause-and-effect way, but in the way that grace flows.
It’s like a water spigot. We may be tempted to turn it off and hoard what we’ve collected. But God’s grace is waiting right behind it—ready to pour out and overflow in our lives if we trust Him enough to turn it back on.
At the end of the day, it’s not just about pinching pennies—it’s about being generous and intentional with the resources God has given us, sacrificing as needed, and trusting Him to fill in the gaps.
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