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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