Have Mercy on Us, Lord.

Hurricane Sandy has officially passed our area in NJ.  I praise God for His mercies on our home and our area.  We barely got any rain - no worse than any other rainy day.  Though we did get strong winds at times, and it seems some sort of generator exploded right infront of our house - we never lost power! God is so good.  I was praying to Him that He would protect this whole street for our sake and for His glory. That even if we got some flooding, to let us not lose power as I wouldn't know what to do with four young kids and no power, not to mention all the food we'd lose in the fridge and our basement freezer.  And to His glory, not only did we not lose power, but our flood-prone basement is bone dry!  I praise His holy name. He is awesome and powerful and I feel blessed to have felt His mercies tonight.

But others weren't so blessed. I pray for those who were affected by this storm. Especially the Lower East Side of Manhattan that have been in a black out since late last night.  My mom, MIL, brother, and BIL are all in that area (they actually live in the same building). Praying for all those who had to be moved from the NYU hospital because the backup generator didn't work.  Praying for all those fires breaking out - especially the huge 5 alarm one in Breezy Point.  Lord have mercy on these people.  That's all that I can pray. Have mercy - over and over again that's my prayer. Have mercy. Have mercy. Please, Lord, have mercy!  I pray that His powerful strength and healing comfort are all felt throughout the East Coast.  I pray that people who are lost would turn to Him and focus on His goodness, on His everlasting mercies.

I wake up this morning with praise on my lips and prayers in my heart.  Father, thank you for the mercy You have shown already.  I pray for more mercy. Have mercy. I pray Your Holy Spirit would move about NYC and the surrounding areas and would spread Your Hope, Love, and Mercy.  I pray that Christians all over show your love by extending their hands out in grace and love.  Show me how we can help.

In Jesus,

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Taking over the finances...

Recently, after more overdrafts in one month than I've ever had in the 9 years of being with my bank, I decided to take over our finances.  I've been banking with our institution since I was a college girl.  My husband and I just recently, in the last year or two, combined our accounts to one bank account.  We decided to go with mine because of my history with them.

As a new homemaker, I was finding it hard to balance cleaning, cooking, bill paying, kids, husband, and high expectations.  It was just too much and so I told my husband to take over our finances.  He always seemed more than capable since he was always asking me if such and such bill was paid and telling me what was coming up that needed to be paid, etc.  Well, God bless my husband, he's a great provider, husband, and father - but financier he is not!  He just started paying bills without checking to see what other bills were automatically going to be taken out that month.  Needless to say, we over-drafted.  More than once. Not by small amounts.

And after much prayer, I really felt the Lord was leading me to take over the finances.  He really spoke to my heart and impressed on me that all the years I worked in an office setting, dealing with department budgets, managing my time, dealing with difficult bosses and difficult clients, all that was preparing me to manage my home - including my finances.

OK, Father. I get it. Thank you.

So I began reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and implemented that in our finances just this week.  Hubby is all for it - and was actually the one to tell me to read the book.  Some areas are really strange for us - like paying our gas and food shopping with cash! That's crazy! I never pay cash - other than yard sales!  There was a time when I was working that I would never have cash on me.  Never. Everything I paid on my debit card.  But strange as it is, we get the point and we are committed.

Anyone else read Dave Ramsey's book or take the Financial Peace University class?  My church actually offers the class, but I'm in the middle of taking another class so I'll just have to wait until next time.

In Christ,

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