Worthy is the Lamb: 02/17/17

Friday, February 17, 2017

DON'T LEND YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS MONEY - WHY NOT GIVE IT TO THEM?

Tonight, I came face-to-face with a huge dose of reality. The Holy Bible says, I think, "neither a borrower nor a lender be." Sounds harsh, doesn't it? After all, we all get in binds and need a few bucks here and there to tie us over. However, many families today are barely scraping by. I don't care what the government says, I see many people living today not paycheck to paycheck but day to day. Their paychecks barely cover the basics IF they even meet them. We lived in abject poverty for 3 years in North Carolina as my well-abled husand, with awesome work ethics, went jobless for 3 years. He couldn't even get a job at a grocery store. He worked all his life, gave 4 years to sacrifice part of his life to protect this country and our people. Us getting out was nothing but a pure miracle, a TRUE miracle from God. If I only had the time to tell you, there is no way you could deny the existence of a loving and merciful God whose timing is ALWAYS perfect.

Unfortunately we had to borrow money from my sister way too often and my son had to pay our car payment each month, although we paid as much as possible too. The problem is, we could never pay her back. Oh, we wanted to but there was never enough and the few times we could, we ended up having to ask again. It became a vicious cycle. Now, she and her husband was very gracious to us, helped us get in a new apartment before he lost his job. After his unemployment ran out, by God's grace the VA gave him $1500/month as long as he was enrolled in school, which they paid for but the program only lasted for 15 months (or a year, I forget). Yes, we got a small amount of food stamps out of desperation. Otherwise, we had about $20 month for groceries IF we didn't pay our bills completely. We got into a bad cycle. We NEVER had enough money. When I say we lived without any extras, renting a movie at Redbox once a year was our ONLY extravagance. I never had new clothes and my one pair of shoes was worn slap out I had to hope I got a pair at Christmas. Unmentionables? I did a lot of handwashing of them.

My sister married money. She got to live an easy life and could afford THE finest of everything. If I got a $2 shirt at the Dollar General, I felt blessed. A book? The library was my best friend. We had to have the internet so my husband could go to school, otherwise we lost the $1500. When it ran out, we were left with zero income. Two months later, the VA sent us a check for $2300 and we moved to Florida. He was employed, making a living wage (although very humble) within 4 days. I prayed us to Florida and God heard our prayer.

My point is this, if you are blessed with money and you know your sister/brother/mother, etc. is struggling just to breathe and they need money, even if it's $20 and you have it, do NOT lend it to them. Do them the biggest favor (and yourself) and GIVE it to them, even if it's every week/month or however often. If they can't buy a hamburger off the dollar menu at McDonald's, how do you think they'll be able to afford to pay you back? If you love your money that much, say no. They'll find a way as God always provides one...always. Maybe He is using YOU for HIS will. Besides, if you cannot afford to lose the money, you can't afford to lend them money. Money perishes and tomorrow it may be you who needs some money. No one is guaranteed wealth and prosperity and a tornado can render you homeless in 3 seconds.

Also, if you do "lend" or even give them the money, shut up about it. They know they owe you money and if you think they enjoy asking you, especially if they have to beg and make promises they know they can't keep but are desperate, you are very wrong in at least 95% of the cases. Of course there are leeches and dishonest people out there, even your family. Say NO to them. Don't be used but when you constantly throw up how much you "do" for them in their face, they start to feel as if the only color you care about is "green" and "red" means nothing (meaning money/blood). It is not worth losing your family over and often times, to others, you look like the bad guy in the situation.

Borrowers, there are some awesome ways you can earn a few bucks honestly. Sell CDs, DVDs, pawn things you don't use and have yard sales. Scale back. We left everything we owned back in NC except what would fit in our car. Sure, there's a few things I wish I still had but there's something awesome about being able to walk away from your material possessions and be fine. It is complete freedom. Never be so in love with your "stuff" that your world would crumble if it was gone. Leaving everything behind gave us the life God wanted for us. I miss my family but I love my new one.

This is not meant to be about people who use you but if you have a struggling family member or friend and even if they need a few dollars each month to survive (we're not talking about even thriving) then remember that Jesus gave His ALL for you. Does He throw that in your face or make you feel shame? No, He forgave you everything. What if He had said yes but...you gotta pay me back? Think about it. "For ye are saved by GRACE not works".

Besides, red is a much brighter color than green. Blood saved us, remember? On a cross on Calvary! The blood ran red!