Did you pay your plumbing bill???

I'm sure you are dying to know!

As you recall, we have been in a 90 Day Challenge from our church to give 10% of our income faithfully  for 90 Days.  

It was crazy hard, but we were making it (by God's grace), but during this time we had a plumbing issue which put $350 on the credit card.  So over the last 2 weeks I have been praying and looking for a $350 check in the mail.

It never came. 

The 90 Days ended and there was no check.

In church this week I kept praying.  "Lord, the 90 Day are over.  It's been wonderful.  But, You know, there's this $350 bill that didn't get paid."

....and then The Lord reminded me that I could pay it!

You see, when I did my budget for this last paycheck, it was just unworkable. We needed to pay rent as well as several drafts coming out of our bank account.  It just would not work.  Then Brian reminded me that his next paycheck is coming on January 2nd. We normally pay rent on the 1st, but we called our landlords and they said the 2nd would be fine.

WooHoo!!  So, now we had money to use!  I covered the shortfall then moved the majority of it over to our savings, which has been depleted during the 90 Days.  And there it was, just sitting there until The Lord reminded me that it could be used to pay the plumber.  Yes!!  God is Faithful!

So, after 90 Days of Giving by Faith...

- our savings is about the same as before

- our debt is lower than before due to regular payments

- God provided for all unusual expenses incurred during this time

- I budgeted 800% more carefully than I ever have, for 8 straight pay periods, never getting lazy.

- I was able to earn money during this 90 Days that I used to pay for Christmas.  That's right...we paid for Christmas this year in December of this year.  This is new for us.

- We won a $300 getaway at Brian's office Christmas Party.  And we are going to LOVE it!!

         (shoutout to my amazing family who are watching our 7 less-than-docile children!)

-Brian and I had several very difficult but wonderful budgeting discussions, and for the first time..ever? we have a 5 year plan of what we hope to accomplish with our finances. 

   It even includes vacations and pre planned fun. What??  (This is Brian's contribution to the budget! ...Oh, and he also contributes everything on the "Income" line.)

-And Finally, our church and the Kingdom are our 10% richer....

            And so is our faith!