Our Journey With Money Part 1

From the start of our marriage in 2009, Nick and I, young college students at the time, knew little about budgeting and had no plans for how to use our money wisely in the present or the future. We both had low paying ministry jobs, but still chose to eat out often, bought whatever we needed and wanted right away, and even lived off of extra student loan money at times. Despite our ignorance and irresponsibility, God began patiently teaching us how to be good stewards.

Once we finished college, we had two options of where to move. One option offered Nick an assistant pastor position with a full salary and all the benefits at an affluent and established church. The other option offered Nick an internship position at a church plant that would pay him less than a part-time salary, offered only emergency health care, and was located in a lower economic community with unfavorable crime rates. As we spoke to people about these two choices, most advised us as if the decision was obvious: take the position that gives more in pay, stability, safety, and support. However, we felt strongly that the Holy Spirit was leading us to take the internship position and we moved to Philadelphia in the summer of 2011.

Living in Philly was a whirlwind. It was crazy and it was amazing. We watched neighbors get arrested for dealing drugs and molesting minors. We once had the SWAT team pound on our door before 7 AM looking for someone who had committed a homicide that used to live at our address. We had mice and roaches in our house at times and often had our water or heating break down. On the other hand, we witnessed the most incredible miracles of people’s lives being completely transformed after they met God. We saw God do wonders in provision for our church and our members. I have never felt so involved first hand in the battle between good and evil and I credit the largest growth in my authenticity as a Christian to my time in Philly. And because we weren’t paid much and had no more loan money to live off of, we were forced to learn how to live simply.

Food was a significant area that changed for us. I started to cook every meal at home. We also decided to eat whatever we had until it was gone. We would eat all the contents of our refrigerator, freezer, and pantry before buying new food. Once we got large donations of oats, dried black beans, and brown rice. We ate oatmeal and beans and rice for months. I don’t really like oatmeal and I surely got sick of beans and rice, but I learned to eat it everyday and be thankful that God provided for us. And when it came to everything else that can be purchased, Nick and I would only buy things if we absolutely needed them. Our money mostly went to utilities, food, gas, tithe, and being generous where we could. And although we had thousands of dollars of student loan debt, the monthly amount that we were able to pay was not even enough to cover the interest. Our loans grew each month.

At the close of our first summer in Philly, Nick and I went on a mission trip to Kenya with some of our church members through the sponsorship of friends and family. We quickly discovered that many people assumed we were rich since we were Americans and we had many people ask us for money. Nick was torn between his desire to help each person and the reality that we were not able to. But a quote he’d heard from Andy Stanley gave him encouragement; “Do for one what you wish you could do for all.” After praying about it, Nick felt led to help a particular man, Mark Kemboi, who felt called to be a pastor but did not have the funds to get his Theology degree. We told Mark that although we couldn’t pay for him ourselves, we would fundraise every semester and get him through school.

Fast-forward to ten months later, I was eight months pregnant with our first child and Nick called me from work with bad news. Mark had just emailed him requesting the funds to pay for his spring semester. We had successfully fundraised for his fall semester, but unfortunately we had completely forgotten to fundraise for the spring.

Regretfully I said to Nick, “We’ll just have to tell him that we’re so sorry and he’ll have to take this semester off and we’ll start fundraising for the summer semester.”

Assuming that Nick would agree with me, I was shocked by his reply, “I think God wants us to pay for the entire semester ourselves.”

“What??!!” I exclaimed, “We probably don’t even have enough money to pay for one semester!”

“Look at our bank account and all our money and let’s see,” Nick replied calmly.   “And, Deanne,” he added seriously, “I want you to pray about this.”

“Ok, yes, I’ll pray about it,” I said quickly getting off the phone, not really planning to pray about his ridiculous idea.

I immediately logged onto our Wells Fargo account. I was right. We didn’t have enough money for Mark. I called Nick right away and said (speaking a little bit in an I-told-you-so tone), “We don’t have enough, Nick.” Nick was so certain that God wanted us to do this that he asked me to keep praying. I got off the phone thinking the whole thing was over when I had this impression that I should check my wallet. Inside I found a couple of checks and some cash. When I counted it all up including what we had in the bank, we had the exact amount of money that Mark needed down to the very dollar. At that moment, I knew we were supposed to do this.

Several minutes later I was in the car on my way to the bank. This is so crazy, I thought, I am going to have a baby next month and I am about to give away all of our money.   Suddenly I realized that there would be a wiring fee at the bank to send the money to Kenya. We didn’t have enough money for the wiring fee. But having a strange sense of peace that it would somehow work out, I continued on. Just before I went to the bank, I stopped by our church because I had gotten an email that we’d received a package and needed to pick it up. At the church I got a large brown box and some mail. Looking at one of the envelopes, I noticed that it was from a family we had worked for the previous summer. I opened the envelope and inside was a check for some money they’d never paid us. It was enough for the wiring fee. Soon, I was sitting across from the teller at Wells Fargo asking him to send all of our money to Mark. It was a strange experience, but again, I had a peace that stayed with me.

Once I was back in the car, however, fear began to take over. Would we have enough money for food, gas, and supplies? Why in the world did I just give all of our money away? Back at home I was stricken with anxiety. Without even thinking I began to open the large box I’d picked up at the church having no idea who it was from. My mind was racing with thoughts of “what ifs” while my body was slowly opening the box. What I saw inside completely took me by surprise. There was food, “welcome baby” decorations, and a plastic bag full of cards. My childhood friends from California had put together a baby shower box for me. I felt a sense of relief when I saw the boxes of food and I started to cry. Then I began opening the cards in the plastic bag. Each card was from a friend and every card had a Target gift card inside of it. All of the cards together totaled $250. As I opened each card I went from crying to full on sobbing as I saw the provision of God. He had asked us to give away all of our money already having a plan in motion of how He would provide for us. This was when the idea that my money belonged to God and I could trust Him with it became real.

I later read a quote from Ellen White that says, “Money is a trust from God. It is not ours to expend for the gratification of pride or ambition. In the hands of God’s children it is food for the hungry and clothing for the naked. It is a defense to the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, a means of preaching the gospel to the poor.” From that point on, I firmly decided that this is how our money was going to be used. Our friend, Mark, that we sponsored in Kenya has since finished his theology degree and baptized hundreds of people. We have never for a moment regretted giving our money to him.

And after Nick and I gave all of our money away, we never missed a meal and we were never unable to buy something we needed. In fact, two years after we gave all of our money away, we saw that our savings account had grown seven times. Nick didn’t work an extra job during that time, but God had grown our money and we didn’t even realize it.