In our house, we have a saying. It goes something like. "Go the second mile, dude!" Well, this year, I've been realizing that God has been doing just that.
It started with me asking God for one mile. "Lord, please, help me not to be so stingy this year."
Deep down, I meant something more like, "Lord, I don't want to be so stingy with regards to my gift giving."
But, since that wasn't what I had actually said, He took it literally.
The first three months of the year I was slammed with unexpected expenses. Some were entirely unexpected one-time-only, and some were partly-expected-more-than-I-thought-long-term expenses. The latter ones took a hike mid-year; Kind of like a tax increase, but it wasn't taxes. By mid-summer, nearly 85% of my income was pre-allotted, leaving 15% for gifts, personal spending, and personal saving.
Then the Lord convicted me that at this time, I didn't need to be saving for a car. He also seemed to want me to spend the money I'd saved already on an airplane ticket to see my brother and sister-in-law. (That trip is coming up next week!! Yay!)
As September rolled to an end, I suddenly realized that:
a) I was about to enter October, which has about five important friends/family's birthday's. And,
b) It was almost Christmas.
c) I had a few important other items to purchase as well
All of which meant that I that 15% of my budget would be incredibly insufficient given my income, (which, by the way, took a significant decrease towards the beginning of the second quarter)
I only had one option, because cutting my pre-allotted expenditures was not an option. Getting smaller birthday presents wasn't an option this year either, because, in line with my lesson in non-stinginess/God's providence, I made a sort of un-spoken policy to give my best, regardless of cost, and let the Lord provide the rest.
So, I prayed, "Lord, I need some more money for these next few months, please."
Last week, the Lord provided me a second job. I was grateful. But since I charge an hourly wage not much over the minimum wage, and since I wouldn't be working more than a few additional hours, I wasn't sure it would be enough.
That is, until I discovered that my new employers randomly decided to pay me double what I was charging.
Isn't God good? He took my 'one-mile' request, tweaked my attitude about the whole thing, (quite a bit), and took it the second mile in more ways than one. This is only a short version!
