This season has been a little bit more stressful than many before. My wife and I became parents in February of this year and it has been a great time. Our son is awesome and this season has brought my wife and I even closer together, which I know isn’t always common with new parents. We love our new family and we’re excited for it to grow in the future.

But as young parents, 21 and 22, there have been some financial concerns that have not only been on our mind since we’ve had our son, but also the months leading up. Before he was born, my wife and I both had full time jobs, and we had quite a bit of margin in our budget. We saved well beforehand, but also had money to get food, and spend a little more freely. We knew this was going to end at some point, but didn’t expect the stress that finding another solution and job situation was going to have. We prayed to the Lord for months for wisdom and some special opportunity to fall into our lap. But sure enough, nothing came up.

There were countless nights that I stayed up for hours, just staring at the wall and thinking about money. I was worried I would send my family into poverty and debt. The one thought that felt constant, was the thought that I was a failure for not already having a solution, and I was bound to fail my family too. I know, I was being a little dramatic, but it was the way I felt.

I ended up relying on a few scriptures in this time. Some of these passages include

“I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread” (Psalms 37:25).

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

”“Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers” ‭‭(3 John‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬).

These verses not only comforted me through this time, but they also helped me realize that even when it seems like the Lord isn’t working, there are more things going on behind the scenes. They built up my faith as I started to pray them over our lives.

After our son was born, I continued to work full time, and my wife took a few months to fully recover. In this time, there were moments that we worried and even a couple of times that we had to tap into our savings, but we would comfort ourselves with the Word and with these verses. Before my wife found a part-time job, we got ourselves to a place where we were at peace with the path and jobs that the Lord would lead us to, no matter what they were. We finally came to the full realization that the Lord would provide no matter what, and that it may not look like we want it to.

Now that we’ve been in this position for some months, we’ve seen much more margin than we planned on. We’re not millionaires, but the numbers we planned for have definitely been surpassed, and we haven’t had to pinch pennies just to make sure groceries got put on the table like I thought we would have to. Truthfully, we don’t steward our money 100% perfect every month (we love our gas station soda runs), but the Lord has still blessed our hand, and given us more than we need and for that, we are very grateful.

This may not be the most dramatic story of provision, but it was the one the Lord gave us. We worried for months about how this season would look, and now that we’re in it, we’ve seen as young parents that the Lord has not forsaken us, and we have certainly not had to beg for bread. We were anxious and afraid, and He gave us comfort and so much joy.

I know that there are a lot of people struggling in this season, and I hope this can be comforting if you are in that position.

”Thank you, Lord, for your goodness and kindness towards us. I pray that you would help us to steward our time, money, and resources for your good, and for the good of those in our lives. Amen.