{"id":69,"date":"2017-06-14T13:06:39","date_gmt":"2017-06-14T13:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=69"},"modified":"2019-12-10T08:44:39","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T13:44:39","slug":"choices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2017\/06\/14\/choices\/","title":{"rendered":"Choices"},"content":{"rendered":"

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.” \u00a0Proverbs 16:9<\/i><\/b>
\nI’m reading through “The Power of a Praying Wife” by Stormie Omartian with a friend. \u00a0When I was reading today, this sentence struck me:
\n“History tends to repeat itself without the intervention of God.”<\/em>
\nWow!
\nStop!
\nThink about that!
\nThink about your past. \u00a0What are things that keep repeating themselves in your life? \u00a0As you answer that question, you probably have just been given a clue to the areas of your life where you are not letting God intervene. \u00a0Mind blowing!
\nI always have defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. \u00a0I think I may just change that definition a bit for my life. \u00a0Insanity in my life is doing the same things over and over again and not letting God into the mix.
\nWhen I was single, my relationships didn’t start to change until I started letting God into them. \u00a0When I started to apply His principles I started having healthy relationships. \u00a0Because I consult Him now, I maintain healthy relationships.
\nWhen I was in debt, nothing changed until I decided to let God into my finances. \u00a0I wrote my first tithe check when I was on unemployment with over $40,000 in credit card debt, student loan debt and a car loan. \u00a0Hard to make the minimum payments on unemployment. \u00a0I was receiving $250 a week and I started writing that $25 check. \u00a0It was actually easier because it wasn’t a large amount at that time.
\nGod honored that obedience. \u00a0Five months later I found a job that was more than double what I had been making previously. \u00a0Ironically, it became much harder to write the tithe check because the amount was much larger. \u00a0Yet I did. \u00a0That was almost 20 years ago and one thing I learned, God honors the tithe, always.
\nI didn’t become debt free immediately. \u00a0It took years. \u00a0During that time I struggled with the thought, “God, you have all the money in the world, why don’t you just cut me a check so I can be done with this?” \u00a0I asked myself that quite a bit. \u00a0It took me awhile to realize the answer.
\nGod wouldn’t of been doing me any favors if He’d paid off my debt because I wouldn’t of learned the lesson. \u00a0I wouldn’t of learned self-control. \u00a0I wouldn’t of learned how to budget. \u00a0I wouldn’t of learned the root cause of my overspending, which had a lot to do with insecurity. I wouldn’t of learned any of that if God had wiped out my debt. \u00a0Odds are, history would of tended to repeat itself if God hand’t intervened.
\nNow I live debt free. \u00a0When I married my husband, I was debt free. \u00a0On our honeymoon we created our first budget. \u00a0We live within our means because the Lord intervened in my finances all those years ago. \u00a0One quarrel my husband and I don’t have is about money. \u00a0Who knew, that in teaching me how to handle money the Lord was actually helping my future marriage?
\nThank God the Lord intervened.<\/p>\n