There are seasons when I look at our checking account after the bills are paid and think, Okay…now what? There’s a little money left, but not enough to do everything I’d like to do. The emergency fund could use a little more. The car will eventually need repairs. The kids always seem to need something.…
Every time I hear a sermon about giving, my stomach tightens. Not because I don’t want to be generous. But because I immediately start doing math. I’d love to tithe. I really would. But when giving ten percent means wondering how we’ll pay the electric bill, put gas in the car, or buy groceries, the…
Have you ever been perfectly content with your life until you opened social media? Maybe your day wasn’t extraordinary, but it was good. The kids were fed. The bills were paid. Laundry was folded—or at least moved from the washer to the dryer. Life felt manageable. Then you opened Instagram. Suddenly you’re scrolling past spotless…
There have been seasons when I’ve wondered if I’m too focused on money. Not because I dream of luxury vacations or designer handbags. Most of the time, my financial thoughts revolve around something much simpler: security. I want to know the bills will be paid. I want to know there’s enough for groceries, unexpected expenses,…
I used to think a budget was restrictive… because that’s what you’re taught when you learn how to budget. It felt like something I had to do—something that kept me from spending, from enjoying, from having freedom. It definitely didn’t feel like something that mattered spiritually. But over time, that perspective started to shift. Because…
There was a season where I avoided looking at our numbers. Which, ironically, was the exact season I needed to be looking at them the most. We had dropped down to one income, and everything felt tight. A good portion of our bills were on autopay—because they had to be—and they all seemed to hit…
There’s a quiet thought that creeps in when you’ve been trying to do things right for a while. I thought we’d be further by now. You’ve been more intentional.You’ve said no when it would’ve been easier to say yes.You’ve tried to be mindful, to plan, to steward what you’ve been given well. And yet… it…
Money has a strange way of taking on more power in our lives than it was ever meant to have. For some of us, money becomes the thing we constantly worry about. We check our bank accounts anxiously, run numbers over and over in our minds, and feel a knot in our stomach whenever a…
There was a time when our finances felt predictable. We used to sit down and plan our income weeks — sometimes months — in advance. We could see what was coming. Bills were covered ahead of time. Occasionally, we even had a small surplus sitting there at the end of the week. There was a…
It doesn’t always happen in one dramatic moment. Sometimes the budget doesn’t explode. It slowly crumbles. Like you’re hanging from the edge of a mountain, and the rocks keep breaking loose beneath your fingers. You don’t fall all at once. You just keep adjusting your grip. And eventually you realize something hard: Sometimes the budget…