I've referred to our... uh... how shall we say it - lack of funds? - in recent posts. At first it was kind of fun, seeing how long we could go without spending anything and seeing how long we could make the food in our cupboards last (and it made us even more grateful that usual to be invited for dinner!). We have tried to keep positive, but lately, I gotta admit, the stress of wondering how we were going to pay the rent was getting to both of us.
We certainly didn't move to Cornwall to climb the career ladder or to make money. We knew it wasn't going to be easy financially. Knew that some would see our decision to move down without jobs lined up for us a little bit stupid. When I told someone about us moving to Cornwall and the fact that we didn't yet have jobs he was like 'ah that's cool man, long as you got money saved up to keep you going for a few months you'll be fine... you go for it!'. I didn't tell him we didn't have any savings.
Maybe it was a little bit stupid. We have definitely taken a risk. But we wanted to. We wanted to step out and be a bit uncomfortable. We didn't want to wait and wait and wait until everything was 'safe' to go ahead. I don't think that adventures ever feel safe. Don't think they're meant to. We wanted to take God at His word a bit more literally and trust Him for provision. I don't know if that's testing God. I hope it doesn't sound flippant. Leaving steady jobs and moving to the other side of the country probably isn't always the wisest idea and probably isn't right for every body or at any time. And when I say 'trust God for provision' I don't mean sit around doing nothing and expect money to fall into our laps. We're doing some cleaning, I'm doing some waitressing, and Llewellyn is applying for jobs every day. But there's a couple of things we want to learn, and we're definitely getting some intensive lessons right now: 1) not to make money our primary concern and 2) not to be defined by our paid work. The second point is part of a much bigger journey for both of us in different ways, and I'm sure some of you are on it too. I'll probably write more on that another time.
The reason why God is a big part of all this risk-taking and my thinking is that if there really is a God and if He is Creator of everything AND if He has good plans for our lives AND if He likes to be involved in our lives if we let Him - all of which He says is true, then money, or lack of it, shouldn't be the main driving factor in how we live out our lives and what kind of people we are and become. I figure He's big enough to provide for our needs. And to know what we need. I'm not saying money isn't powerful and money doesn't affect things because of course it does. It is hard not having a lot of it. And I know that things don't 'always work out' for people money-wise, whether they believe in God or not. So again, I'm not trying to sound flippant here. I just want to learn to have a healthy perspective on it. Or perhaps a 'Godly perspective' - which might appear a bit ridiculous sometimes but I'm trying it on for size...
And, on the first part of this journey, I want to give a reason to celebrate. Yesterday all-in-one-go we got enough money put into the bank to pay for all the rent, bills and to have enough left to not have to worry about feeding our guests this weekend beans on toast for every meal! Hooray Hooray Hooray. I nearly cried when I heard. What a relief!
And you know what, the money hasn't come out of nowhere, it's money earned and it's some benefits come through. Nothing miraculous in that sense. But, for us, considering the timing and considering the amount we got, and considering the amount of praying we've been doing... it is a miracle. And we are thankful.
We certainly didn't move to Cornwall to climb the career ladder or to make money. We knew it wasn't going to be easy financially. Knew that some would see our decision to move down without jobs lined up for us a little bit stupid. When I told someone about us moving to Cornwall and the fact that we didn't yet have jobs he was like 'ah that's cool man, long as you got money saved up to keep you going for a few months you'll be fine... you go for it!'. I didn't tell him we didn't have any savings.
Maybe it was a little bit stupid. We have definitely taken a risk. But we wanted to. We wanted to step out and be a bit uncomfortable. We didn't want to wait and wait and wait until everything was 'safe' to go ahead. I don't think that adventures ever feel safe. Don't think they're meant to. We wanted to take God at His word a bit more literally and trust Him for provision. I don't know if that's testing God. I hope it doesn't sound flippant. Leaving steady jobs and moving to the other side of the country probably isn't always the wisest idea and probably isn't right for every body or at any time. And when I say 'trust God for provision' I don't mean sit around doing nothing and expect money to fall into our laps. We're doing some cleaning, I'm doing some waitressing, and Llewellyn is applying for jobs every day. But there's a couple of things we want to learn, and we're definitely getting some intensive lessons right now: 1) not to make money our primary concern and 2) not to be defined by our paid work. The second point is part of a much bigger journey for both of us in different ways, and I'm sure some of you are on it too. I'll probably write more on that another time.
The reason why God is a big part of all this risk-taking and my thinking is that if there really is a God and if He is Creator of everything AND if He has good plans for our lives AND if He likes to be involved in our lives if we let Him - all of which He says is true, then money, or lack of it, shouldn't be the main driving factor in how we live out our lives and what kind of people we are and become. I figure He's big enough to provide for our needs. And to know what we need. I'm not saying money isn't powerful and money doesn't affect things because of course it does. It is hard not having a lot of it. And I know that things don't 'always work out' for people money-wise, whether they believe in God or not. So again, I'm not trying to sound flippant here. I just want to learn to have a healthy perspective on it. Or perhaps a 'Godly perspective' - which might appear a bit ridiculous sometimes but I'm trying it on for size...
And, on the first part of this journey, I want to give a reason to celebrate. Yesterday all-in-one-go we got enough money put into the bank to pay for all the rent, bills and to have enough left to not have to worry about feeding our guests this weekend beans on toast for every meal! Hooray Hooray Hooray. I nearly cried when I heard. What a relief!
And you know what, the money hasn't come out of nowhere, it's money earned and it's some benefits come through. Nothing miraculous in that sense. But, for us, considering the timing and considering the amount we got, and considering the amount of praying we've been doing... it is a miracle. And we are thankful.
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