Financial Future

The bill collectors are calling. When you are within the 10 day countdown, final payment is due on lots of things: cake, venue, photographer, flowers. People are getting paid for services about to be rendered. It can be overwhelming for the one holding the purse strings, because all of a sudden all your penny pinching, all you've scraped together, all you've saved is now flying out the window in many directions. Some big gulps are taken as you watch the savings account dwindle, then realize it's not over when you need a little here and a little there for those last minute bits. For some of us, you are left with little at the end, but hopes for a beautiful, wonderful memorable day.

Unless you have saved for years and years for this or are independently wealthy, this is the nature of the wedding beast, unfortunately. Weddings are expensive. There are many folks who go into debt to pay for them (not the best practice for starting a marriage and budgeting). But I know my kids. I know they've worked hard to make wise wedding choices and purchases and to stay within budget. And knowing it's time to ante up just means the wedding is right around the corner, and it's almost time to celebrate.

Post wedding you will have new financial things to think about:

1. Merging bank accounts and changing names on utilities and other now common responsibilities and property.
2. Creating a budget for the two of you.
3. Creating an emergency fund for when the unexpected pops up. Financial advisers recommend three or six months of your salary in savings for this.
4. Setting goals for your future. Will you start saving for a house or a car or vacations ... or children. What kind of retirement plan do you have?
5. Avoiding debt. Zero debt is the goal, but not always a possibility (especially with house purchases), but make every effort to eliminate outstanding debt and prevent new debt. 
6. Pray. Give God your finances and every decision you make with your money. Remember every penny is His to start off with. Ninety percent of it is yours to do with what you want. Those first fruits, the full tithe, is His (Malachi 3:10).
7. Be content with where the Lord has blessed you financially (Philippians 4:12) and be sure to give whenever you can. Know that the Lord has blessed you to be a blessing to His children.

Well, my darlings, we're down to the wire. We are keeping you close in our prayers, hearts and minds and look forward to finishing up plans and celebrating soon. Find joy in every moment of this last week before your wedding. On this day, in one week Rob and Ayla will join as husband and wife. And we cannot wait to glorify God with you in it.

And then start putting money away for the next wedding!

Discussion: Did you anticipate correctly how much your wedding would cost? How difficult has it been paying for parts of the wedding? Do you have a financial plan for after the wedding?

Prayer: Lord God, all we have is yours and we thank you for it. Father, we pray you are praised and glorified in the wedding. We pray your children in attendance will see you everywhere in be in awe of you. Father we ask for your direction on our future finances, that we are wise with what you have blessed us. In Christ we  pray, Amen.

The Sure Foundation

 Ayla and Rob have a home. Rob's former boss and roommate will be moving out of the house he owns sometime this fall and he has offered the Sarasota home to Ayla and Rob to rent as their first home together. It's a load off for both of them, since they knew they would need to find a home together sometime within the next 87 days. Turns out this home that Rob has been living in since he moved to Sarasota is just 8 minutes from the beach and 15 minutes from where they both work. It's in a nice neighborhood, has plenty of room for them, two bedrooms, a good-sized yard, storage facility and precious patio. It will be a wonderful first home for this couple. Daddy and I are excited that they will soon be able to put their own stamp on the home, figure out exactly what pieces of furniture they need and start making this house a home.

Just last Sunday I was teaching my Sunday School folks about God's call in Genesis 12:1 to Abraham (then Abram) to “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you." Later standing next to an oak tree in Shechem, the Lord tells Abram to look around, because all that he saw would belong to his descendents forever. What is significant about this location, is that hundreds of years later, Moses' successor, Joshua, who led the Israelities into that Promised Land, asks them to make a very important decision in that very same place. He says to them, "Choose this day whom you will serve ... as for me and my house we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15). In this place where God told Abram he was home, Joshua asks the Hebrews to solidify what the foundation of that home was. 

No matter what Rob and Ayla's home is built of, what colors are painted inside, what furniture fills the room or decorations are on the wall, none of that will compare to what foundation it's built on. If the foundation is remotely shaky, the whole structure is at risk.

It's the same with our spiritual lives.Our foundation is Jesus. 1 Corinthians 3:11 says, "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." Jesus tells us He is "the Way, the Truth and the Life" in John 14:6 and that "No one comes to the Father except by Me." He wants us all to know that the door to the Almighty goes through Him. He is one that makes it possible. If we have Christ as the cornerstone of our lives (Ephesians 20) we are set to come face to face with our Creator. We build on that by our actions and love, building a temple to our God, with the Holy Spirit dwelling within.

My sweet ones, you will have a home, but we pray your home's true foundation will be in Christ. That each room will be blessed unto Him. That what happens in that home will be to His glory. That in it you be will loving towards one another and that guests will feel warmly welcomed. Psalm 119:54 says, "Your statutes have been my songs wherever I make my home." Praying that God's Word will always be a sweet song in your home. Choose this day whom you will serve.

Discussion: What makes a house a home to you? How can you make sure Christ is the foundation of your life? Will people be able to tell by looking at you and looking at your home, that you belong to the Lord?

Prayer: Father God, we pray that every home that Rob and Ayla and Anton and Kayla occupy that it will stand a s a sanctuary of worship to you. That Your presence will be felt, Your grace displayed and love shown. In Jesus, Amen.