By Velma Darbo Stevens
[Editor's Note: This article is about a time of learning in the writer's life from a few years ago. The dollar amounts discussed reflect a different era, but the spiritual truths told are quite timeless.]
When we pray and trust God for answers, that involves trusting him at every step. That is not always easy. We want to take back the steering gear even after we have said we will let God take control of our lives.
I learned in this discipline when I was starting out on preparation for a career in a church-related vocation.
A pastor in Louisville, Kentucky had offered me a job as his part-time secretary working thirty hours a week so that I could go to seminary taking a limited number of classes. The proposal was very attractive. I had wondered how I could get this training when I had no money and no way of earning enough on my entry-level job. So I gladly accepted his offer, on condition that I could get a suitable class schedule at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, located in Louisville, near my home. I found that I could get a ten-hour-a-week class schedule, which would mean working three days a week and going to school three days a week.
There was one problem left: making ends meet on half the wages I had been making in a full-time job. (Now I need to talk in very small amounts - which were in place in 1943.) At the time I left my full-time job, I was making $100 a month. My new job would pay $40 a month. I could attend seminary without any tuition, and there was no cost for living at home. But I still needed bus fare, lunches (I paid my mother $5 a month for those), books, and fees.
I had been a faithful tither for years, and had been happy to contribute $10 a month from my full-time job. Could I now give $4 a month to the church and still have enough to live on? I was strongly tempted to forego my tithe for the three years I was living on a part-time salary and take it up again when I was making a full-time salary. For several weeks I struggled with this problem. But then I decided to go on with my small tithe and felt much better.
A few days later I received a call from the pastor for whom I would be working. He had just finished talking with his Youth Council. They had decided to provide more direction for the church's youth group, and he was asking me to take over that job on a weekly basis - every Sunday after church. The church would pay me $10 a month for this service.
Since I was very interested in working with young people, I gladly accepted. And the extra monthly salary would be extremely helpful for my monthly budget! In fact, it gave the money I needed for my bills, along with $5 a month for my tithe ($1 more than I was counting on in my church secretary job).
Actually, through the three years I was in seminary, I moved from church job to church job, with a better salary each year. By the time I graduated, I was earning what I had made in my full-time job.
This experience taught me some valuable lessons which have been underscored and deepened in my Christian experience. A major lesson, of course, was to trust the Lord in all circumstances of life. Another was that God does not just drop the needed funds in my lap. In all cases I have gotten what I needed by working for it. And God never gives beyond what I need.
These lessons help me trust the Lord even more. I know that our Father loves us just like an earthly father would, and even more. He wants us to grow in trusting him, in becoming more mature as followers of Jesus, and in putting our gifts to work in his kingdom.
# # #
ArborlawnUMC.org
[Editor's Note: This article is about a time of learning in the writer's life from a few years ago. The dollar amounts discussed reflect a different era, but the spiritual truths told are quite timeless.]
When we pray and trust God for answers, that involves trusting him at every step. That is not always easy. We want to take back the steering gear even after we have said we will let God take control of our lives.
I learned in this discipline when I was starting out on preparation for a career in a church-related vocation.
A pastor in Louisville, Kentucky had offered me a job as his part-time secretary working thirty hours a week so that I could go to seminary taking a limited number of classes. The proposal was very attractive. I had wondered how I could get this training when I had no money and no way of earning enough on my entry-level job. So I gladly accepted his offer, on condition that I could get a suitable class schedule at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, located in Louisville, near my home. I found that I could get a ten-hour-a-week class schedule, which would mean working three days a week and going to school three days a week.
There was one problem left: making ends meet on half the wages I had been making in a full-time job. (Now I need to talk in very small amounts - which were in place in 1943.) At the time I left my full-time job, I was making $100 a month. My new job would pay $40 a month. I could attend seminary without any tuition, and there was no cost for living at home. But I still needed bus fare, lunches (I paid my mother $5 a month for those), books, and fees.
I had been a faithful tither for years, and had been happy to contribute $10 a month from my full-time job. Could I now give $4 a month to the church and still have enough to live on? I was strongly tempted to forego my tithe for the three years I was living on a part-time salary and take it up again when I was making a full-time salary. For several weeks I struggled with this problem. But then I decided to go on with my small tithe and felt much better.
A few days later I received a call from the pastor for whom I would be working. He had just finished talking with his Youth Council. They had decided to provide more direction for the church's youth group, and he was asking me to take over that job on a weekly basis - every Sunday after church. The church would pay me $10 a month for this service.
Since I was very interested in working with young people, I gladly accepted. And the extra monthly salary would be extremely helpful for my monthly budget! In fact, it gave the money I needed for my bills, along with $5 a month for my tithe ($1 more than I was counting on in my church secretary job).
Actually, through the three years I was in seminary, I moved from church job to church job, with a better salary each year. By the time I graduated, I was earning what I had made in my full-time job.
This experience taught me some valuable lessons which have been underscored and deepened in my Christian experience. A major lesson, of course, was to trust the Lord in all circumstances of life. Another was that God does not just drop the needed funds in my lap. In all cases I have gotten what I needed by working for it. And God never gives beyond what I need.
These lessons help me trust the Lord even more. I know that our Father loves us just like an earthly father would, and even more. He wants us to grow in trusting him, in becoming more mature as followers of Jesus, and in putting our gifts to work in his kingdom.
# # #
ArborlawnUMC.org