Jun 24, 2015

How Am I Gonna Pay My Bills?

As most of you know, I am starting a new job in a couple of weeks.  You may also know that this job comes with a pay cut.  I talked about this in my blog post Wait,what? I prayed so hard for this opportunity and when God opened the door wide open I was so happy and thankful.  When news came on what my compensation would be, that’s when it happened – that big blow to my stomach that knocked me down to my knees.  Wait, what?  That was my reaction.  God, why would you open this door and then provide me with compensation of 10k less?  I couldn’t wrap my head around it.  I felt discouraged.  I was confused. 

I know life is not about making the most money, or collecting all these expensive trinkets and gadgets.  I know that – BUT, in the back of my mind, I had this hope that God would just open the door to not only an advancement in my career but he would also open the floodgates of increase of wealth in my lap.  That my friend was the selfish and greedy side of me. 
When I got the news, believe me, I was so discouraged.  I battled with questioning myself, “Well should I still take this job?”  “Will my family survive on less income?”  It was all too much for me to handle.  Immediately, I reached out to my sisters in Christ.  After their outpouring support through texts came through, I knew in my heart that God had answered my prayer even though he didn’t answer it exactly how I’d hoped.  He knows why he does what He does and looking back, he always has a bigger purpose in why things unfold the way they do.
Today, you may be facing the same struggle.  Should I take the job that pays less?  I’m unhappy where I’m at but I’m scared to make a change.  I won’t ever be able to find a job that pays me what I’m making now.  I’m getting older and competition is stronger so I think I’ll just stay where I’m at.
I’d like to encourage you – if you don’t like your job or if you feel your aren’t following your purpose/calling, try to walk out on faith and ask God to put you where He wants you to go.  You may have to take two steps back, you may take a hit in finances, but you’ll never know how happy you will be until you take that chance.  If you put God in center of your job search, believe me, He will open doors. 
To give you some motivation and encouragement I’d like to share some of the messages I received that day. The first text message I received was from my friend, sister in Christ and fellow Gentlewoman, Jessica Yanez-Perez:

Definitely pray and think of these questions:
1.       Does this opportunity feel like a God opportunity?
2.       Is there room for growth in experience and salary that you may not get in your current position?
3.       Although this position won’t fill your pocketbook in the same way, will it fill your passion and allow you better opportunity to fulfill your passion?
4.       How will this affect your family not only financially, but will this allow more or less time to spend with them? 

Answering these questions allowed my mind to adjust and know hey, you’ve got this great opportunity, don’t be scared on the figure.  Think about what it will do for you as a whole.
Among all the other texts, there was this one text from my other sister in Christ and fellow Gentlewoman, Rani Chavez that ultimately confirmed my decision.

When we lived in Denver, Luis was in a similar situation.  The position he had that brought us to Denver came with a significant raise.  However, he grew into a position similar to yours with his managers.  He ended up leaving and took a job that was much less.  He actually ended up making less than I was.  But God saw us through.  He provided when we thought we would never be able to.   To this day, Luis and I don’t even know how we were able to cover all our bills and still have money left over.  I know it feels like a disappointment because it felt like that for us, but Luis was so much happier with the less paying job than he had ever been making almost six figures.”

After reading that text, my eyes filled with tears and my heart felt peace.  I heard God tell me, “You are going to be fine my daughter.  Remember you made it on less last year through tithing?  Do you not remember how I blessed you? You have no idea how much I can do in and through you.  Don’t doubt.  You will be fine.”

Today, I have fellow guest blogger, Rani Chavez who will give you a little bit more insight to the time when her husband went from almost six figures to about a 1/3 of that. 

How Am I Gonna Pay by Bills?  By Rani and Luis Chavez

Making the decision to take a pay cut in your career is never an easy thing. So many concerns pop into your mind when the idea of taking a pay cut becomes an option: How am I going to pay my bills? How am I going to pay for groceries? How will I be able to provide for my family? When the concerns pile up, the anxiety and stress set in, and the fear is real. So you take a step back from the ledge, and you never make the leap of faith.

Believe it or not, Luis and I were in that position once. At one point in Luis’s career, he was a Director of Operations, making a salary on the verge of 6-figures. Between the both of us, we easily made 6-figures collectively. It was more than enough to cover our basic needs and then some. Not only did we tithe God’s 10%, but we also felt the tugging of our heartstrings to give more to His house, which we did. But with a large salary came a large amount of responsibility, particularly with his position. We learned as a family that making that insane amount of money came at a price. Luis literally worked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If he was not in the office, he was constantly getting calls and needing to make calls. Our date nights, meals, and simply just time together were riddled with the relentless ringing of his phone. Luis worked so much that just to be able to spend time together, I would often go to work with him and help out in any way I could.

Over time, Luis grew overworked and stressed beyond belief, and found himself at odds with his management team due to decisions they were making that did not line up with Luis’s moral compass. For any person in this position, the obvious answer is to get out. It was a difficult decision for us as a family to make, and those concerns flooded our minds over and over. But for the sake of sanity and happiness, we took the plunge. Luis resigned and accepted a position with a different company which had a significantly large pay cut. His new salary was about a third of what he was previously making, which made me the breadwinner – my salary was actually more than his.

Now, living in one of the most expensive cities in the U.S. (Denver), it’s difficult to believe our new collective salary was enough. As a family, we were making probably about HALF of what we previously were making before Luis’s pay cut. Realistically, we could not have afforded to tithe, make rent, buy groceries, pay bills, and still have money left over. But when you remain faithful to God and His commands, you begin to see the supernatural happen.

Since the beginning of our relationship, Luis and I have always remained faithful in giving back to God what is His. Why? Because He says that if you honor Him with the first part of your income, He will bless you financially (Proverbs 3:9-10). This is His promise. For some, when money is tight, they believe they can't afford to tithe. And we will be completely honest and transparent – we fell back on our tithe for a time or two because of how tight money was for us. But the moment we fell back, we felt the enemy closing in, and we were blocking God from fulfilling His promise to us. This was probably the moment in which we began to believe that we can’t afford NOT to tithe. Staying faithful and obedient to His command of tithing allows for the blessing(s) to be released. This remained true for us – even though we were making significantly less, we made sure we were still obedient to give God what was His, and continued to believe in His provision and protection. In return, He saw is through what most would see as a difficult financial period. To this day, Luis and I don’t even know how we were able to cover all our bills and still had money left over, but the Lord provided when we thought we would never be able to. 


Mark 12:41-44 New Life Version (NLV)

The Woman Whose Husband Had Died Gave All She Had

41 Jesus sat near the money box in the house of God. He watched the people putting in money. Many of them were rich and gave much money. 42 A poor woman whose husband had died came by and gave two very small pieces of money.
43 Jesus called His followers to Him. He said, “For sure, I tell you, this poor woman whose husband has died has given more money than all the others. 44 They all gave of that which was more than they needed for their own living. She is poor and yet she gave all she had, even what she needed for her own living.”
 

 

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