Wholeness

We are very blessed to have a wonderful health insurance program.  It's truly a wholeness or wellness program.  They have figured out in my hubby's line of work that physically well does not make for good pastor's sometimes.  For sure, this is true in everyones life.  One effects the other.  If you are not financially well, it can cause health problems, if you are not spiritually well, it can cause mental issues, if you can not healthy it can cause social problems.  They show it to us in terms of a wheel.  It's about my mind, body, and spirit.

We got an email a few weeks back "reminding" us (it was news to me) that 4 free financial counseling session are available to everyone who is on the program at an affiliated center that accepts our insurance.  Low and behold there is one about 30 miles away from us.  Now, don't get me wrong I'm a business major and I get this stuff.  I could sit down and probably help someone else make a budget etc, but it seems to not be my personal strong point.  I can "lie" to myself and my hubby and I can pretend to have some unrealistic expectations for how our budget will work.  So, we are not in any crazy financial trouble but thought we should take advantage and see what they had to offer.  We are not the first people to leave seminary with a large amount of loans (and we probably don't have near as many as the majority of the people).  

We had our first appointment earlier this week and it was wonderful.  I really liked our counselor.  She agreed that things weren't terrible and we had some great areas that we could work on and see a difference in our finances.  She said she was just here to be a mirror to us.  I liked that.  Hubby and I couldn't set unrealistic expectations of our finances because she asked the budgeting questions in the right way.  How much do you spend already in a week?  A month?  Well a budget works better if you know what you usually spend.  She also had some great tips for student loan payments.  A few changes in government loans were made after we graduated that we didn't know about that could benefit us.  She also pointed out that the biggest chunk of our budget went to our cars.  That one kind of hurt!

When we moved here we ended up getting a second car.  We live 30 miles from a town of any size and I didn't want to be trapped, stuck, isolated etc.  We were afraid that would happen if hubby got a lot of emergency calls for the church.  Well after a year and half we realize that really isn't the case or at least not the norm.  I joked with my hubby that at this point in our finances I can drive myself to the mall but can't actually buy anything extra when I get there.  So the discussion turned to taking care of student loans and deciding how we feel about going down to one car.  

I am so glad my bible study is working through the book of James.  I posted about praying for wisdom and that is what I've been doing about this situation.  I am not praying for more money, we have plenty.  I just need the wisdom to be a good steward of what we have.  So we continue to pray.  In praying for wisdom I have found that God continually gives me the tools we need to do His work.  I prayed that instead of just wanting Martin to sleep all night, God would give me the wisdom to know how to help him.  Within the next few days I read an article about how toddlers start to need less sleep etc.  I knew that was our problem.  I found the tool I needed to help my son.  He now sleeps pretty well.  I had been praying about money and instead of dropping it in my lap, God sends me the tools to become a better steward of my money.  We will continue to pray for wisdom as we work on our whole being and not just our health or our finances.  Who knows what other tools God will show us that will make us more able to spread His love and shine the light.