Remembering Gifts and Blessings From God

This past week I started reading One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, by Ann Voskamp. It's a really great book, and because it is written differently than most books today it makes you have to focus on what you are reading and really pay attention. So far it is has talked about Ann's life, what happened to make her who she is, and what began her journey to name 1,000 gifts from God. I think I am going to go on this journey, to acknowledge all the gifts I receive from God, and while I want to wait until I finish the book to officially start I was reminded of one HUGE gift tonight. After dinner the hubby and I were discussing what we had to do. His list, as usual, was WAY longer than mine, and so I offered to mow the lawn. I've only used our riding lawn mower a couple of times, and had to re-read the instructions just to get it started.

As I was driving like a mad woman all over our lawn—and quite enjoying myself—I was reminded what a chore mowing the lawn was the first summer we were in our home. We have close to an acre of lawn to mow—around the house, garage, and chicken coups, around the garden, the utility pole, a few rocks and trees—and the first year we did it all by hand. Yup, all we had was a little 18-inch Lawnboy, a VERY old one. It took us anywhere from three to five hours to mow the lawn depending on our energy level, how high the grass was, and how well the mower wanted to work. Then the next summer we were given the gift of our riding lawn mower, which you can about read here. Instead of taking me three or five hours, I was able to mow it all in about an hour and fifteen minutes. Not only has our awesome John Deere riding lawn mower been a wonderful gift but it has also given us the gift of saving time and energy. It's nice to be able to enjoy the outdoors without completely exhausting yourself, too! I know I said I wanted to finish Ann's book before I started counting God's gifts, but, oh well... looks like I've started already! Keep pinchin' :-)

A Brush With Bambi - Fully Illustrated!

I never saw the deer coming. All I heard was the sound it made as it connected with 75mph of moving steel. I saw an explosion of hair tufts and dirt and its mangled body being tossed up over the hood of the tow truck that hit it, but that was all. It was over in about two seconds.

Me in my Mr. Miyagi car minding my own business.

The "Dwayne The Rock Johnson" of tow trucks coming up behind me.

It was Monday morning, June 2, 2014. I was on my way to work when I saw the tow truck coming up behind me. It was a thick beast of a truck, kind of like what Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson might look like if he were a Transformer. The truck was moving pretty fast, too—but, then again, I'm on this whole "how much gas can I save?!" kick so I was only doing about 58mph in a 65mph zone. Still, The Rock truck must've been doing 70 or 75.

The Rock moved into the left lane to pass me. I had plenty of time to see if a deer was coming before the truck obscured my view of the roadside, so when that animal came bounding up onto the highway it must've been bookin' it, otherwise I'm pretty sure I would've seen it. When the two connected The Rock jolted from bumper to bumper. The truck slowed and I pulled ahead of it, glancing back to see if the driver was ok. The truck wasn't even dented, and a moment later it sped back up and went on its way.

Bambi was dead on impact. At least I hope she was. In my 32 years of living in New England I've had more close encounters with roadside deer than any other animal. They are creatures of darkness, more dangerous to man's highway travels than any other force of nature.

Bambi always looks innocent until she's leaping in front of your car.

"The Rock" truck turns Bambi into an aerial acrobat at 75mph.

So, first, a confession. I'm embarrassed to admit that it took a couple minutes for it to even occur to me that at the speed that deer was moving it would've crossed into my lane and right into my windshield had that tow truck not been there. That tow truck came at just the right time. Chances are my little Suzuki would not have fared as well as The Rock—my CX4 is more akin to Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid; it's a tough little nut, but it's no match for 125 pounds of charging animal.

It got me thinking of how many other times God chooses to protect me and I don't even know it. How many times does a car problem or a delay at work or an ignored alarm clock keep me from harm? How many things does God do behind the scenes to protect me?

I think I almost take it for granted, because—ok, second confession—I didn't even think to thank the Lord for his protection until later that afternoon. When I finally did I felt ashamed and humbled, but extremely grateful for His grace.

I know He doesn't always choose to protect us, but many times He does. Do we take it for granted?

Keep pinchin' :-)

A Childhood Memory

Dani here. To expound on Jake's story from yesterday about our lawnmower, yes, we both prayed for God to give us a new lawnmower. I distinctly remember my prayer—"Lord, if You could just GIVE us a lawnmower, that would be great!"—and here's why.

When I was a little girl, probably not more than four years old, my family struggled with finances. We lived in town and had only a small yard to mow, however we didn't have a lawnmower. I don't remember if our mower broke or what happened to it, I only remember that whenever it was time to mow the lawn my dad would walk down the street to my grandparents's house and borrow theirs. He'd push it down to our house and return it when he was done. I don't remember how many summers this went on, but I clearly remember what happened next.

One Sunday after church our family drove into our driveway to see a big box waiting for us. Inside the box was a brand new lawnmower. As I recall, there was a note on the box that read simply: "From God."

I always thought that this story was so awesome, not just the fact that someone would meet a need we had, but that they would choose not to reveal themselves and instead let God get all the glory. These are stories I want my imaginary kiddos to grow up hearing about. I want them to know that God meets our needs and our wants and that He uses His people to do it.

Some day I hope that Jake and I are in a place financially that we can do something similar—bless someone we know that has a need or a legitimate want, but meet that need in such a way that God gets the glory for it. That's part of why we penny pinch. It's why we are on this journey to debt-free living. As long as we have debt we have something that is hindering us from being fully used by God, and I don't want debt to have that kind of power over us.

So I will keep pressing onward, through the good and the bad in order to be free from the enslavement of debt.

Keep pinchin' :-)

The Crazy Story of Our Lawnmower

In our pursuit of the "American Dream" Dani and I bought about four acres of property. About one whole acre of that is occupied by two things: buildings and lawn. Lots, and lots of lawn. The lawn isn't flat by any means, and, moreover, it's interrupted in numerous spots by trees, bushes, stones, and other large objects. So when it comes to mowing it can be quite a chore.

When we first bought our property, my grandfather generously gave us an old Lawn-boy push-mower—the very same mower that I cut my teeth on as a teenager helping him take care of his grass. The thing was pretty old and it smoked like a chimney, and with only an 18-inch blade it took about four or five hours to mow all of our property. As hard as it was mowing everything on that ancient little push-mower, it was harder on my body. But that didn't matter, because a new lawnmower wasn't in the budget. So, alas, I resolved to just continue to use that little Lawn-boy until I had run it into the ground... that is, if I didn't have a heart attack first.

Dani and I had started to pray about our lawnmower situation, asking God to help us find a good deal on a lawnmower that would A) be large enough and durable enough to handle all of our property, and B) have a decent amount of horsepower to take care of some of the other tasks we had in mind, like gardening, hauling leaves and wood, and pushing snow.

Now, we're not sure which one of us prayed the following—Dani remembers praying it, but I also remember laying in bed next to her one night, staring up at the ceiling in our bedroom, just comically calling out to God, "And Lord, if you could just GIVE US a new lawnmower that would be awesome!"

Two weeks later.

I was sitting at my desk at work when I got a call from Lowe's. The gentleman on the other line said he apologized for the inconvenience, but they were very busy with deliveries and wouldn't be able to deliver my lawn mower until the following week.

"Um, but I didn't order a lawn mower," I said.

"Oh," came the reply. "Is this Jacob Grant?" He read off my address.

"Yeah."

"Well, I've got a brand new John Deere D-140 here with your name on it."

He went on to explain that the lawn mower had been bought and paid for, but he didn't know by whom. We arranged a delivery date and time and then I hung up, still a bit confused. I called Lowe's directly and asked to speak with the gentleman again just to be sure it wasn't some kind of scam, but, no, it wasn't. There was indeed a brand new $2,000 John Deere D-140 riding lawnmower, bought and paid for, sitting at Lowe's with my name on it. Twenty-two horse power. Forty-inch cutting radius. Full length welded steel frame. *insert Tim Allen grunting here* In short, it was a beautiful lawn mower, and it was more than enough to handle everything we had in mind.

We never found out who gave it to us, but we have our suspicions. Ultimately we decided that since the gift was given anonymously it would be disrespectful to the giver to attempt to find out who it was.

In the end, we have to give God the glory. We prayed, and He answered. What's interesting to note is that our prayers weren't any kind of long elegant discourse. We weren't bowed on our knees, and I don't even think my eyes were closed.

"Lord, if you could just GIVE US a new lawnmower that would be awesome!" That's what was said. We simply cast our cares upon Him, stepped back, and let Him work. As usual He chose to work through His servants by impressing upon someone's heart to meet this need for us. It was awesome to be the recipients of such a generous gift, but even more awesome to be able to tell this story again and again and give the glory to God the provider.

Keep pinchin' :-)

Why It's Important to Have A Budget

Having a budget is more than just good practice. It's smart. It helps protect you and your family. It creates a plan for your money that would, otherwise, just evaporate over time.

Moreover, did you know that budgeting is recommended in Scripture? Odd as it may seem to some, the Bible is rife with good advice—advice that most people accept as common sense today.

• You've heard it said that misery loves company, that positive people are more uplifting to be around? Well Proverbs 17:22 says, "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."


• Most people are familiar with the story of Ebenezer Scrooge. His dour outlook is exactly what Proverbs 28:27 says will happen to those who close their eyes to the poor.


• Physical fitness is a big deal in our world today, but we know that over-emphasis on physical attributes tends to lead to shallow character. 1 Timothy 4:7-8 says physical fitness is all well and good, but it doesn't hold a candle to the eternal value of grooming good character.


• We all know the value of a good reputation, yes? Well the Bible established that fact in Proverbs 22:1 where it says a good name is worth way more than great riches.

There are literally hundreds of other examples of modern, practical advice that we could glean from Scripture. This advice has been passed down from the Bible for centuries because it works.

So when the Bible starts telling us about the value of budgeting, that it's important to know the state of our wealth (Proverbs 27:23), our ears should tune in.

"Don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first getting estimates and then checking to see if he has enough money to pay the bills? Otherwise he might complete only the foundation before running out of funds. And then how everyone would laugh! 'See that fellow there?’ they would mock. ‘He started that building and ran out of money before it was finished!’" —Luke 14:28-30 (Living Bible)

In other words, don't go buy a car unless you know you can afford it! Do the math! Check the numbers! Being diligent about our finances is what God wants us to do.

And there's a dire warning in 1 Timothy 5:8 to those who don't take good care of their affairs:

"If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."

Whoa. "Worse than an unbeliever." That's heavy. There should be no doubt in our minds that God thinks it's pretty important for us to not only know the state of our wealth, but form a plan for our finances. One reason for this might be because God knows that life has its ups and downs. Scripture advises us to "store up grain" so that "we may not perish during the famine," (Genesis 41:35-36).

Budgeting is something God suggests we do to help keep ourselves and our families safe. And, according to Proverbs 21:5, blessings abound for those who are diligent with what they have. So...

Keep pinchin' :-)

Is It A Lack Of Faith or A Lack of Prayer? ... A Followup

On Friday, I wrote about how our finances ebb and flow in Is It A Lack of Faith or A Lack of Prayer? I had noticed that Jake and I had kind of grown lazy in asking the Lord to provide extra work and extra money for us. Whether our tight finances this month are a consequence of that or not, who can say?—but a really funny thing happened.

In my mind, I took this before the Lord. I knew Jake and I hadn't been praying very consistently for God's provision, but then within 24 hours of writing that post I received two babysitting job offers through a website where I advertise my service. I have only ever gotten one job offer from there in the past. When I told the hubs about this, he told me that he had been contacted about two photography jobs, a book illustrating job, and a graphic design job—not to mention the very generous and unexpected Christmas bonus he received from his employers.

At that time Jake had yet to read the blog post. So he read it. Then he told me to stop praying because too much extra work was coming in. :-)

How awesome is our God?! I could have whined and complained about the lack of extra income. I could have doubted that God is for us in our debt-slaying adventure, but instead I tried my best to have faith and hold on to things I know to be truth, and He completely exceeded what I would have asked for.

I don't know if this is always how God chooses to work for us, but I will choose to continue to trust in Him, no matter what happens. I will choose to have faith that He has good plans for me. I will choose to believe the truth that He is for us and not against us! Once again it's all about choices!

Keep pinchin' :-)

Is It A Lack of Faith or A Lack of Prayer?

Back in September, Jake and I spent a lot of time in prayer, asking God to guide us with our finances, to provide extra income, and bless us in our efforts to get out of debt. And He certainly did!

October and November were a whirlwind of blessings: we got lots of extra income from odd jobs that sprang up, and our Penny Pinching rap video caught the attention of Katie Couric and earned us an all-expenses paid trip to New York City and a stint on her national TV show! (You can read about all that awesomeness here!) We spent these months in stunned amazement at, not only how quickly God had provided, but how much.

In December, however, our extra income dropped to next to nothing. What should have been some extra money from a photography job actually cost us money when the client's check bounced, not to mention the added expenses of below-freezing winter temperatures and Christmas time.

I began to wonder, what happened to all of the blessings? Things had been going so well for us. We were sending in lots of extra money toward our mortgage, and then it seemed like the faucet was turned off. We had been so busy praising God for His goodness, but I can't recall many prayers for continued blessings in our finances.

Now, I don't think we earned less this month because we forgot to keep praying for God's blessing on our finances. Prayer certainly doesn't hurt, but God is faithful, and nothing I can do or fail to do will change that. But as I look back over this past year I can see how I've failed to make my personal quiet time with the Lord a regular occurrence. I can blame the chaotic changes in my work schedule, the lack of Christian accountability in my life, or all the extra jobs I work, but at the end of the day the truth is that I just don't make God a priority like I should. I want to do more than just ask for his blessings. I want to do more than rejoice in His goodness. Why? Because I want more of Him—more of His goodness, more of His blessings, more of His joys and gifts! And I believe the key to doing that is not just making petitions in prayer, but seeking Him, because when He's not priority in my life everything else suffers.

As 2013 comes to a close and I look ahead at another year, I am thinking about what I want to be focused on. I like the idea of coming up with a theme word for the year, and maybe a verse that goes with that word, and then trying to focus on it throughout the year. I'll let you know what I come up with.

Bottom line: I want my faith in my Savior to be stronger. I want to thank Him every day for his blessings. I don't want to fear or worry when things aren't going as easily as they once were. I want to seek Him more and more so that even when things aren't as easy, or aren't going as "planned," I won't waver in my trusting in His provision, but know that He desires to do exceedingly above all I could ask or think.

Keep pinchin' :-)

How Faith Comes Into Play

There's this moment that happened to me after about six weeks of following our financial plan. After going through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, developing our budget, and making some serious cutbacks, I remember sitting back on my couch and wondering: "How in the world are we going to do this?"

Between me and Dani, I was the one who liked spending money. I was the one who was used to buying stuff. I was also used to not having a wife to care for or a family to plan on. I felt like a mason was quickly laying a wall of bricks on my head, and each brick had a name on it: Electricity bill. Mortgage payment. Car replacement. Baby planning. Grocery budget. Clothing fund. And the bricks just kept piling up.

I'm pretty sure Dani felt some of this, too. There were many times that our budget meetings ended with her in tears and me frustrated. We began praying about our finances more and more while we diligently worked at being responsible with what little we had. As we began to turn our finances over to God, careful to recognize that He owns everything we possess, that we are simply stewards, we began experiencing "money miracles."

• I remember the day we got a letter from our mortgage company regarding our taxes. Apparently they had taken out too much for our escrow—about $1,500 too much! It just so happened that Dani and I had been struck with over a thousand dollars in car repairs that month, and before we could figure out how to pay for it God had provided the way.

• I remember Dani and I praying for a new lawn mower. We were praying very conversationally one night when we jokingly asked God to "just give us one." A couple weeks later I got a call from Lowe's asking where to deliver our John Deere D-140 riding lawn mower. We assume God prompted someone to bless us with such an amazing gift, but to this day we don't know who it was.

• I remember little things like friends treating us to movies when we didn't have it in our budget. I remember God providing us gift cards to our favorite restaurants. I remember photography work flooding in at a time when we really needed the extra cash. 

• I remember making a crazy rap music video with my wife, which caught the attention of Katie Couric who invited us to be on her daytime talk show, on which we played a game and won $... actually, I'm not supposed to say how much money we won until the show actually debuts, but the amazing thing is I didn't have any extra work that month and Dani's babysitting jobs were minimal. We really needed extra money and God provided by putting us on national television!

Turning our finances over to God has been key in making this whole plan work. Dave Ramsey's steps to "financial peace" are a great, common sense approach to managing money, but that's only because of the biblical principles they're based on. God owns it all anyway! And the more we humbly recognize that and submit to his authority, the more his blessings will flow.

Keep pinchin' :-)