God is ALWAYS Right on Time!

We had a unexpected situation recently that we had to make an immediate upfront payment for.  It was a large sum money and one we believed was going to be reimbursed to us in the near future.  However, the reimbursement was being denied (which just isn't right for them to do!), and we were left with the lack of funds to cover our monthly expenses.  I was angry and just couldn't believe that such an injustice would be done and then we were left in a situation that could put us into debt temporarily.

In the midst of this anger and fear - I stood up and began declaring the Word of God!  I prayed and petitioned Heaven for help to correct this wrong done to us.  I then did my best to let the situation go and just waited upon God to move.

Nothing happened.  I was getting nervous as the date was drawing nearer and we were going to be short money and be in debt to cover our regular expenses.  This past Sunday I knelt at the altar and asked for financial help.  I didn't think much about it until Monday came and the miracles started flowing in drowning me in blessings!!
 
It started out with a few hundred dollars and I thought, that's it - that's our miracle.  Then, after a phone call, of whom the caller had no idea what I'd been praying about, begin to inform me that they felt LED to give us such an amount of money and they had received a call from another family member who was also giving us some early Christmas money.  By the end of the day Monday - we had MORE than enough to cover the unexpected expense and then some leftover for savings!

God is ALWAYS right on time!  I don't care what we have gone through the past 18 1/2 years, God has ALWAYS provided and ALWAYS met our needs.. sometimes with minutes to spare!  From providing for my son's $400 a month formula to touching a plumber's heart to say NO CHARGE to us when he finished some work for us.  Always, always, always!!  FAITH MOVES MOUNTAINS and I suppose that the landscape of our lives has proven that.  Thanks be unto God - He takes care of His people!

Thinking of Others or Only Ourselves?

You hardly see this mentioned anywhere but we are actually in a housing crisis.  Homes were too inflated for the lower-to-middle class consumer to purchase and rent was too high as well.  All that is coming down as home prices nationwide are falling dramatically.  In NYC alone, it is a buyer's market with people snatching up properties for $20K less than the asking price.  In my area, people started realizing the home prices were going down the past 2 months and are listing like crazy but there are hardly any buyers.  Rents are still very high and inflated and we will see if those come down.

I'm not here to talk about the housing crisis in that regard, I'm here to talk about how we got here.  It is more profitable for a builder to build a large, 2-story home on a lot than a small ranch home that is affordable for the buyer.  That, I believe is a huge problem as we are forced to either buy a home that is too big for what we really need, or we buy an older, smaller, more affordable home that drowns us in repairs.  We need more affordable, smaller homes being built for families!  There isn't a builder that I know that is willing to reduce his profit to do such a thing.

I've envisioned communities with 1000-1200sq ft ranch homes that are $80K, making it affordable for most families.  There just isn't anything like that being built anymore.  It isn't entirely the builder's greed that is the cause, it is American's greed as well, as they seek to live in homes that are much larger than they actually need.  I'm reminded of the scripture in Luke 12 of the man who was doing so good, he thought he would build bigger barns.  Why not, right?  You've earned it, you should have better, right?  That man lost sight of helping others and instead focused on his own luxuries and security.

I suppose you can do whatever you want and live the life you've earned (hopefully by moral means), but I feel that God doesn't just bless us with finances for us to have more.  I believe God hopes we will think of someone other than ourselves!  Again, novel thought I know.  

You can either ensure your own luxury in this world, or you can be the tool of the hand of God to help others in need.  Sometimes God may draw us out of our own financial security to help another - are we willing to obey Him or is our financial security really our God?  It is time to become dependent upon God and not independent on our own.