God and the Envelopes

I don't know how you do finances in your family, but Steve and I work off of the envelope system. Every two weeks we go to the bank with Steve's check and get out a certain amount of cash in SMALL bills (small is important later) and we divide them up among envelopes that say Grocery, Haircuts, Clothing, etc. and we use that cash to live on. The other money goes into the bank for tithing, savings, bills etc.

So...there are times when certain expenses come up that are unexpected and it is in those times that I say," Ok, God, we've got this expense...where is that money going to come from?" It is amazing to watch God work this out.

I had one of those experiences this week.

Ben outgrew all of his jeans (except one pair) overnight. So...usually what I do is pray, God, we need (blank) item of clothing and I don't know where it is going to come from, so I'm gonna give you a week to provide before I use the envelope money. Usually when I pray this prayer someone walks into Steve's office with a bag of hand-me-downs but that didn't happen this time. This time we went to a youth worker meeting at a friend's house and as we were walking out the door, my friend said, "Oh, wait...I've got a pair of jeans that Ben left here a few weeks ago when he spent the night." They just so happened to still fit as well. Yea, God. Thanks!!!! So now I have 2 pair that fit. I waited and prayed a week this same prayer in hopes that another pair or two would show up. Meanwhile Ben wore dirty jeans (please don't judge) and I did a lot of laundry to keep the jeans that fit washed up. So...this weekend, I told Steve I've got to go to the store and buy Ben some new jeans. (My mom says that we only had two pair of jeans when we were little, but she must have been SUPERMOM. I just can't keep two pair clean and boys are messy. ) So...I survived a week on 2 pair of jeans for him and then I was at my wits end and had to go shop for some new.

Steve had just gotten paid, so before I left for the store I had to divide up the money to go into the envelopes so that I didn't spend the grocery money on jeans etc. So, I went to get my purse and get the envelopes and I remembered that I had been working out of two different purses. So, I found both purses and started gathering envelopes to sort money.

When I reached into the second purse to pull out the envelopes, there was a crisp $100.00 bill stuck in between them.

I have no idea when the last time was that I have even held a $100.00 bill (remember we get small bills at the bank.) So, I ran into the house to tell Steve that God had provided once again and happily went to the store to buy my growing boy some jeans.