God's mercy to an irresponsible steward

In the middle of our house craziness (finishing up old house, moving and fixing up new house) our budget got lost in the shuffle.  We didn't go hog wild, but suffice it to say we weren't watching things as carefully as we should have been.  Much of this was expected as we knew there were things we wanted to do on this house that would cost us.  Some of it was unexpected (some medical stuff) and some was just careless.


About a month ago I started getting really nervous and feeling really guilty.  Because I'm the one who "manages" the money here, and the carelessness and convenience spending was starting to get the best of us.


So we had a reckoning day and have tightened up our belt as much as possible and are already seeing the fruits of it.  I feel less guilty, more relieved and more obedient.  


One morning this week I was asking the Lord to mercifully help us pay off the small amount of debt that we have accrued.  I'm wanting to send money to Haiti, sponsor a Compassion child (or ten!) and several more things, but I feel like every dollar we sign up to spend is really money we don't have.  And I want to be free to give and to go!  So I asked Him to help us be diligent to pay this off quickly.


He graciously delivered!  Just that afternoon I looked at our banking stuff and saw that Robert's company had paid him bonus they'd owed him for a couple of months!  


I've also been really nervous about doing our taxes for all of the above reasons.  Because of Mattie's adoption, we have a carryforward credit left over, so we don't have any income tax withheld b/c we know we have that to use up.  But I really couldn't remember how much we had leftover, so for several months I've been afraid it was gone and we'd get hit really hard come April 15.  So tonight I sat down with all of our paperwork and nervously got started.  Much to my surprise, we're getting a pretty major refund!  Praise the Lord!  And we still have enough adoption carryforward credit for the future!!

I feel soooo relieved and am enjoying an unreserved exhale!  I'm so thankful for the Lord's mercy and faithful provision for us, even when I am not a good steward!