Living within the Budget: God's Provision in the Little Things

I wrote yesterday about my project of living within the budget. This is a little story about how God shows up when you take a few steps of faith.

A few weeks ago I was grocery shopping and noticed this picture in the window of my favorite resale store:

I instantly loved it. The three little girls remind me of my three close-together girls, I love the colors, I love the frame. But it was not in the budget, and I thought it was overpriced. So I didn't buy it. But I kept thinking about it. A week later I window shopped and saw it again. Still out of my price range. I remember thinking to myself, "well, if it was half price I would buy it. But by the time they mark it down someone will have bought it, and the white tags never go on sale anyway. Oh well."

The next day I opened my email and lo and behold, I had sold a piece of jewelry. Which never happens. My etsy site is so sorely neglected that I have no idea how someone found it, let alone decided to buy something. I was delighted with my unexpected "extra" money, and I instantly thought of this little picture hanging in the window down the street. Unfortunately, my profit still didn't match the price of this painting. But after I had shipped the earrings, I had to go to the grocery store anyway, so I went to the store that was next to the resale store with this painting. And what do you know, all pictures were half price that day! Coincidence? I think not.

Sometimes God gives us these little gifts to show us that we're on the right track. To encourage us to carry on in obedience. I am so thankful, not just because I love this happy little picture hanging in my home, but even more because it is a reminder that God cares. He cared that I loved this little picture, and he cared that I stuck to my budget and didn't buy it when it was too expensive.

Here's one more look at my pretty little corner.

Don't you love it when God sends you a little surprise? Tell me YOUR story of God's provision in encouraging ways.

The Snowball Effect

We're digging out from the fifth-largest snowfall in Chicagoland this week. Yesterday we woke to a winter wonderland, and it was glorious to drive to church in it. Even more glorious to discover that most of the congregation and a full quota of the choir had also braved the elements to worship together. We shared a moment of calm together, the Lord's Table, and profound reminders of God's deep love for us while we were at our worst--ungodly and weak-willed, unable to do the right thing even when we knew what it was. What a great way to spend a snow day. We enjoyed watching the Super Bowl as well--probably the first time we've had all our kids watch the whole thing with us.

January and February are often months of paralysis for me, probably the effect of not enough sun. The irony is that these are the very months I'm often trying to reassert some sort of order in my world. Out with the Christmas decorations and holiday eating habits. In with more discipline in my walk with the Lord, in my health, and in our spending habits. Out with the toys that no longer fit now that Christmas gifts are put away. In with better study and practicing habits. Out with time-wasting on the computer, in with weekly blogging--that's the goal, anyway!

This year I'm trying a new strategy: instead of working on everything at once, I'm trying to focus on one thing and see how discipline in that area leads to discipline in another. It's what Dave Ramsey calls the snowball method, where you tackle the smallest debt and the other ones naturally follow. I don't want to get overwhelmed with everything I'd like to see run better in our lives, so I'm letting myself just work on one thing with the other things coming along as I'm able.

The big area I'm working on is our finances. Now that our big move is done and life has settled down a bit, I really need to work on getting our spending habits--my spending habits--under control. It's not that I waste money, but I do not do a good job of sticking to the budget. So I'm taking baby steps toward better planning and money management. Maybe soon I can blog about extreme couponing!

In the meantime, it has been healthy to spend these dark winter months focusing on manageable steps toward success in one area instead of feeling down on myself for not being as far as I'd like to be toward ten different goals. And I think it's working. When I'm feeling pretty good about accomplishing one small thing I tend to want to take a step toward accomplishing something else as well. Today's victories were spending some time with my Bible and my gratitude journal when my attitude was heading south, not eating the leftover junk food from yesterday's Super Bowl bash, and doing pretty well with my budgeted Walgreens run (although I hope to do better next week). There are more things I wish I had gotten done, but instead of beating myself up about those things I'm going to choose to focus on the few things I did right. Tomorrow is another day, and perhaps I will have five or six victories instead of only three. Especially since school will surely be back in session and I will presumably have fewer interruptions.

How about you? Is there a goal you're working on? Have you taken some baby steps in the right direction that have helped you gain discipline in a second area as well?