{"id":95,"date":"2003-06-01T21:26:35","date_gmt":"2003-06-02T02:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=95"},"modified":"2012-04-24T21:43:53","modified_gmt":"2012-04-25T02:43:53","slug":"in-defense-of-childlike-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=95","title":{"rendered":"In Defense of Childlike Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life\u2026\u201d Matthew 6:24-25<\/em><\/p>\n

Some years back I vacationed in San Antonio with the pre-teen children of friends. We had a good time. We spent one day at Seaworld. Another at Fiesta Texas. We floated on inner tubes on the Guadalupe River. (See L.O.G. dated March 2002) We watched the bats fly from the old train tunnel east of Fredericksburg. I can\u2019t say we did anything overtly spiritual, but the Lord sure did speak a lot of things into my spirit during that trip.<\/p>\n

One thing I noticed was the kids\u2019 relationship to money. To begin with, they didn\u2019t carry any. Oh, maybe five or ten dollars each to buy trinkets. We grownups held the cash, which we doled out as the need arose. \u201cHere, go get\u00a0something to eat. Yes, you can buy that, ride that, watch that. Here\u2019s the money.\u201d For the kids, it was all about having fun and the money that made the fun happen was\u00a0inconsequential to them.<\/p>\n

The Lord spoke to me in that. These kids had a godly attitude toward cash. They didn\u2019t try to hoard it. They didn\u2019t depend on it to make them feel safe. We, the adults, were who made them feel safe. The money was just sort of there, in the background, fueling the old vacation machine.<\/p>\n

Like many of you, I was reared on post-Depression values when it comes to finances. That means something different to each of us. To me it means I would feel most comfortable with my debt at zero, three month\u2019s salary in a savings account, and a positive cash-flow (preferably a big one!). I have spent many years worrying about how I might reach these most elusive financial goals. I haven\u2019t yet.<\/p>\n

A few years after that San Antonio trip I was alone in a hotel room in Chicago. I remember clearly it was late afternoon and I was complaining to the Lord that I had always had to take care of myself. That I had never had anyone to take care of me financially. I did not have a husband to relieve me of the burden of worrying about money, to strategize, to plan, to tell me what I could and could not spend. It was in that moment, in the stillness of that summer afternoon in the AmeriSuites, that the Holy Spirit spoke. \u201cI\u2019ll take care of you.\u201d It was no audible voice, but it was so clear in my spirit that I had, and to this day have, absolutely no doubt\u00a0I heard the voice of God. As the prophet Isaiah spoke, my Maker is my Husband.<\/p>\n

I resolved from that day forward never to worry about money again.<\/p>\n

I wish that I could tell you\u00a0in the years since that afternoon my three-step financial comfort zone has become a reality. Wouldn’t that be a nice testimony?\u00a0I have neither zero debt nor three months salary saved. But what I have gained in these years is an attitude toward finances that much more closely resembles a child\u2019s than it does my parents\u2019 or grandparents\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If we\u2019re admonished to approach the Kingdom and its ways as children, and if faith is action, then maybe I\u2019m on to something. Maybe this attitude is the beginning of not only my financial wholeness, but of me becoming a wellspring for others. Time will tell. I’m on vacation from my worries for a long time now. I\u2019m not eager to return to them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life\u2026\u201d Matthew 6:24-25 Some years back I vacationed in San Antonio with the pre-teen children of friends. We had a good time. We spent … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Mo02-1x","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":474,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=474","url_meta":{"origin":95,"position":0},"title":"Taking on Debt","author":"lsimonds","date":"July 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, \u201cSacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 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