Living above and beyond our means

WARNING! WARNING! This is confessional in nature.....perhaps humiliating, but once again, serving as Free therapy! :)

"Not until the pain of the same is greater than the pain of change will you embrace change." Dave Ramsey

God is performing a revolution in my life. And as with many revolutions, there has to be some casualties. Some sweet-smelling, beautiful and pleasurable things will have to die .

I, Michelle Marie Lively Skow, have been living above my financial means for many years. I have tried to mask this sin by gifting, bargaining, couponing, and justifying...but the truth is, I have lived in such a way that was not wise. It was and is not God-honoring.

I am a measure-er....a compare-er. Unfortunately, my mind automatically quantifies things as much as I can. And when stacking up the blocks, my lifestyle has always seemed pretty meager to me.....comparatively. My desires have been simple. All I ever wanted to do was to shop the Clearance racks at Target, buy myself a Sonic drink during Happy Hour, have an air-conditioned car with power locks and go out to eat every Friday night. That's not extravagant, right? I have always felt I have deserved that life. That was my American Dream (that I bitterly vented about a few weeks ago...but now realize that it's not the Dream's problem....it's mine!)

However, God is bringing me to a place where I am beginning to recognize my irresponsibility and my indulgences. And more importantly, I am realizing what all of those small, temporary pleasures have cost us. Not in money, but in opportunity to do more for God.

We are sitting on the doorstep of two INCREDIBLY HUGE movements of God. And Dawson and I want, more than anything, to be able to take part in these movements. We want to participate in God's work, and have a ring-side seat to the divine action. But the thing is....we can't afford ring-side seats. In fact, we can't afford a seat at all.

So, now what do we do?

It is NOT the time for pity-parties and regret, but it IS time for action!

The answer is.....sacrifice. Even typing it makes me uncomfortable. Yuck! We know that we have to make amends for our mismanagement in the past, and move forward in a different way. And we have to decide what KIND of SACRIFICES God wants us to make. Is it time? We work more. Is it luxuries? We trim the fat, and figure out what we really NEED. I know it is some combination of both, but right now we are trying to find the right combination. We know that it would not honor God to sacrifice our convictions, our marriage, or our family. So, we want to be diligent in protecting the time, energy and attention that needs to be devoted to these.

God led me to James 5 today, as well as Luke 12, and both of those are pretty stern warnings about how God expects us to handle our money. We are praying. We are seeking wise counsel. We know God is good. And we know God CAN change people. HE can CHANGE habits.

I praise God for a husband who has always valued relationships over money, and who is humble enough to change with me.

Alright, let's see what happens!!