Showing posts with label Patience. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Patience. Show all posts

April 11, 2014

Finance Friday: God Increases


If I could describe my general mood for the past weeks, I would say it would be anxiety. I've been worried and stressed over many things that I also failed to spiritually connect to God on many occasions. It really is true that worrying is the opposite of faith.

I worried about many things: the length of time it has taken for my camera to be fixed, the lack of payment from a friend who borrowed money from me, and the problem regarding my house loan.

Money sure knows how to make the world go round.

Now, faith. Faith is what is what should have made my world go round, but I succumbed to worrying. Because of this, I almost did not hear the prompting of God within me.

My primary problem - concern - is the housing loan. As a little bit of background, we're almost done paying the equity. In a few months from now, we should be starting paying the amortization.

However, to do that, my application for bank financing must be approved. You see, I'm currently on my "single mom stint" now. Even if Job financially supports us, it is my name that appears on the papers. Long story.

So anyway, to apply, of course I need to submit work-related documents. I had problems securing a contract from my current "work provider." While I did have a contract I signed 3 years ago, I was advised I couldn't use it because of some legal changes in the system.

Okay, I could live with that. The problem is that I no longer received updates about an alternate document I can submit to the bank. Worse, my follow-up request was not met so well (I actually wrote about it here). Uh oh.

My mom, who is also my real estate agent (shameless plug: Davao Real Properties), scrambled to find another way. She tried to get me officially employed by her real estate office; unfortunately, that backfired. We tried other ways including talking to the developer himself but they didn't work out the way we exactly planned.

I wanted to question God on why this blessing was becoming a burden. I was so sure He wanted to bless us with a home, but why was it so difficult?

Now, this same developer is opening a new subdivision with the same low-cost units. The location is different, farther from the one we originally bought from, but it's good in its own way because it's near my parents' house (where we live now) and even nearer another lot my parents bought.

What made it a practical option is the fact that in this subdivision, the developer offered 5-years 0% interest cash payment scheme. In other words, I don't have to go through bank financing anymore. In other words, I shouldn't have anything to worry about!

On top of that, it's not officially open yet so there are still many corner lots to choose from. Perfect, right?

But I didn't want to consider it because, I don't know, maybe I was ready for a change in environment? Maybe it was because I really wanted to be neighbors with George? Maybe it was because I wanted to transfer to my own home right away?

As opposed to the original house and lot we were paying for, where we can transfer within this year, we would have to wait for around 3 more years in this new one. And that was a major con for the impatient me.

Impatient. Patience. Wait. Wasn't God teaching me a lesson about that? Isn't it one of the ungodly traits I should remove, one of the reasons behind this waiting season?

Upon that realization, I began to have an inkling of what God was directing me to do. One morning, my mom told me that the bookkeeper had trouble fixing my ITR (for some reason!). In addition to that, the developer offered to have us pay the balance for 5 years instead of just 4 years because we had already paid for a year for the previous development. Because of that, our monthly payment became lower than what it should have been.

Right then and there, I made the decision to transfer. Yes, I wasn't able to consult Job about this one, but there was nothing he can do, too, and time literally was running out for my parents to still grab a good lot. Most importantly, I'm sure God will talk to him Himself.

Yes, there's a bit of belt-tightening involved. I couldn't name figures here, but compared to what we were paying previously, now we have to pay almost 50% more. That's huge but the reward is a lot that would be more than 20% bigger than the original one. On top of that, it's a property that would be completely ours in just 5 years.

Wow. I'm amazed myself at the turnout of the events.

Sure, there are moments when I ask myself if we could pay that bigger amount every month but God reminds me not to worry. He is in control, and He is faithful.

The point of this post is to tell you that God increases. A lot of us might know this on the theological basis, but it's hard to see it work in the practical daily life.

Here are the ways God increased me during this ordeal:

God increased the problem with the original subdivision; at the same time, God increased the "potential" of the new subdivision. It's like He lowered the old option to raise the new and better one.

God increased our income, and as a result, we increased our giving. Since God cannot be outdone in giving, He increased our income even more. Because of that, He gave us the provision to be able to follow His plan about our address.

God increased the amount of money we need to pay for every month, but He also increased the land's size. Oh it's still very little compared to what you may be thinking but God will increase it over time!

God increased what we have to pay for every month; at the same time, it increases self-control and restraint and would increase our knowledge on personal finance.

God increased the time we have to wait for this house to be built; thus, He is also able to increase what patience and fortitude (???) we have inside.

God increased the anticipation we must have and personal sacrifices we must make but He also increased the provision to go through it and the reward to look forward to. God increased the season of planting and, by faith, I claim He will also increase the harvest.

God increases. I increase in God. Siksik, liglig, at umaapaw.


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January 4, 2014

On Obedience and Waiting

A few weeks ago, Job and I made the decision to minimize communication. We would have cut off communication altogether,but we saw it detrimental as Job needs to know how his son is doing.

It first started when I prayed - really prayed - to God and asked him when he would fulfill the desitres of my heart. I was growing tired and weary. God, being the loving Father that he is, comforted me of course. However, he also said something to me that tested my maturity. He spoke to me and said:
I cannot bless you if you don't stop sinning.
Radical, right? I didn't know what it meant at first. Then God revealed to me (through what I read) that I was being disobedient to my parents. You see, my parents have been hurt at me and Job. They ordered us to stop communicating. That was years ago. However, obviously, we are still very much together and always communicating.

I have been going against my parents' will without realizing it. In God's eyes, this is a huge sin, and He cannot bless me (in this aspect) because of it. Come to think of it, God might be the one hardening my parents' hearts.

So I promised God that I would minimize communication to please Him and my parents. I promised that I will only talk to Job once a week to give him updates about Yuri, the investments, etc.

I dreaded telling Job abou t this because he is a very emotional person. Predictably, he reacted negatively when I first told him. What I wasn't prepared for was how fast he accepted it. It was just around 30 minutes. Then I remembered praying to God that He speak to Job and convict his heart. God did the work even before me.

Job then talked to me about God and how he wants to help me overcome sin. Then, he shared what he read from the Bible. Amazingly, we were both convicted to read Abraham's story.
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis 22: 15-18) (Emphasis added)
We were truly blessed by that, and he shared more Bible verses to me. It was as if he was the one who made the "decision" in the first place! In the following days, all he did was read the Bible, and I did not even tell him to do it. It was all God's work. Aside from me, He also wants Job to be a man after His own heart. I feel really blessed.

I also know his reading the Bible and singing worship songs isn't just superficial because his tone also changed. Before, he would impatiently announce that he wants to be with me and Yuri already. Nowadays, he would say something like "please take a lot of photos of Yuri so that I would also see him when he was little when God finally allows me to be with him."

We agreed that aside from minimizing communication, we will not focus on our relationship for now. Instead,we want to focus on building our relationships with our Maker. We are learning to trust in God's perfect timing.

Job and I agreed to talk only on Saturdays. We inevitably fail miserably because it was Christmas and New Year, and my gift to him arrived, and his gift to me arrived. However, we kept our talks very straight and direct to the point. Then, after delivering the point across, we stop talking and wait until our designated talk-day.
Photo: society6.com
Is it hard? Of course it is. I have been in a relationship with Job for years. and I naturally look forward to swapping stories with him at the end of the day. However, we can do it with God's grace. We're confident we will get blessed in His time if we follow him. In fact, we're already getting blessed just weeks after making the decision. I know God only wants the best for us, and in order to attain this best, we need to obey His commands.

Now I understand that God and the world aren't just "picking" on me. God wants to build our characters to prepare us to receive the abundance of his blessings. What a relief.
Photo from Facebook

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