"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." (Matthew 6:24)While we were waiting for the results of our refinancing we were given a once in a lifetime opportunity to go on a beach house vacation in North Carolina. There are a group of people from our church who rented a beach house on the outer banks of North Carolina, but a few families will be leaving the house early. Since the house was already paid for, the rest of the group decided to extend a free room on the beach house to our family. All we needed to pay for was our transportation, food, and extra costs. Below is a letter DearHubby and I wrote to the group about our decision:
Hi Beach House Vacation Coordinators,
An opportunity to stay at a magnificent beach house for free comes only once in a lifetime and worth every penny to spend, especially when it would be with brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Unfortunately, due to our current financial situation, we do not even have that one penny to spend. We are quite torn about our decision as we so much wanted to join all the families for this once in a lifetime opportunity, but after much prayer and consideration, we will need to decline the offer. Although our lodging at this wonderful vacation spot would be free, the transportation, food, and extra costs would still be too much for our very modest budget.
One lesson we have learned from this experience is being better stewarts of our money and putting our hope and trust in God over silver or rubies. We were putting our hope on the refinancing of our home and spending money that we did not have and that was not ours. If we had been stewarts of our money, we would have still watched our spending despite our pending refinancing. We received word this week that our application was denied. Our false hope was crushed.
The beach house offer was our test. Do we take the offer because it is a once in a lifetime opportunity or do we decline it because we don't have the funds? What is the best decision? We are already in debt, something we have not been in for over 5 years now, so what's another few hundred dollars? Through much prayer and consideration, over and over again, the Lord has told us no. Both DearHubby and I are torn, sad, mad, frustrated, etc... over this, but we know we have to do God's will.
Thank you so much for extending this offer to us! Have a blessed time!
In Pursuit of His Call
3 comments:
Obedience is difficult. I think you made the right decision.
Our family is going through the same thing. We were so blessed 3 years ago to have awesome credit, savings in the bank, we could take vacations and spend money on things we really didn't need. We moved to Washington and while hubby got a job, I have been unable to find a good solid permanent job. In June and July, I had back surgery and my doctor tells me I cannot work. The bill collectors are baying at the door, my mom has stage 4 cancer and we can't even afford to be with her because we were not good stewards of Gods provisions when we had! We lived for 8 months on our savings & now, it is gone. God provides our needs and not our wants and your post hit home today! God Bless you and your family and I know in both our families, God will remain supreme!
Hi. I just found your blog. This was so encouraging to me. It is so rare for people to be honest and say we can't do that, we can't afford it. My hubby and I are just starting to learn to live on a budget, and while it can be hard some days, it is truly rewarding. I think it tends to bring a family closer together. Thanks for sharing!
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