Chapter 12 “Who Said?”

This week I purchased three copies of Supernatural Childbirth, which you can find on our Recommended Reading page, for three weddings that are taking place this year: my two sons and also a dear friend, who, by the way, is in her mid-thirties. She never believed she would marry, but not only is marrying, but her husband wants children right away! Isn’t that so God?

Yet, as the set of books sat there I couldn’t help but want to share them with my daughters, so that when they see all the women screaming on television shows or in movies they will be able to dispel the fears that birth is both painful and dangerous, since “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Instead, as believers, He said we have been set free from curses and sins.

So I began reading from the book to my daughters, but it wasn’t until I had begun interjecting my own faith as we read that I realized God had led me to share this truth about childbirth for the same reason that we taught our children about Creationism—so that they could snicker (rather than agree) when they heard “billions and billions of years ago”—knowing the truth regarding the age of the earth is closer to just 7,000 years.

In this final chapter, I want to focus on just one thing, Who Said? Who said was the response that the author of Supernatural Childbirth heard from her future husband. Who Said? is something I believe we all should ask ourselves—especially anytime we, or someone else, tries to limit our lives with why we can’t do something or why something can’t be done (like trusting God with our debt).

“Who said?” was the question Jackie Maze’s fiancé asked just after she had told him that she couldn’t have children. Rather than accept this as fact, his response was, “Who said?” And as he went on to say, and the book goes on to say, this question really matters since most of what we say, and what others say, is NOT what God says (about us or our situation). When Jackie and her husband married they chose to believe what GOD said and as a result had four children—along with supernatural, pain-free births!

So when people say that single moms like me, raising four children alone, means struggles and difficulties that will adversely affect my children’s stability and future. And even though these were dear friends, Christians, who asked, expressing the sentiments with gloom in their voices. Each was surprised that my children always respond gleefully when asked “How IS your family doing?” they answer “Great!” with big smiles.

Most have only heard the rumors, so I can only imagine if they knew the details (like no child support, and having our resource warehouse emptied out and stolen by my ex-husband). Because I’m sure they would be more than just a little surprised—they’d be shocked wondering how we could possibly be doing “Great!” That’s only because, like the world, most Christians believe what they see. And what they typically see are Christians who live in despair and lack just like the world does. They believe, as the world does, that it takes a husband, two incomes, earning or working hard to make it—not simply because of God’s promise that He says He will supply all of our needs when we trust Him to do so.

So let me ask you:

Who said you don’t have enough to pay your bills?

Who said you can’t afford that new dress, to eat out, to take a vacation?

Unfortunately, oftentimes it’s we who are the ones making these negative statements never realizing that what we say, therefore, will become our reality.

When it’s someone else who is speaking this way about us, then it’s time to stop discussing our present situation with people, even Christians, who don’t believe God’s Word. Remember, faith comes by hearing, and if you are not speaking, then you’ll be listening and hearing the Word of God spoken about your situation. You will no longer find that His promises and abundance are eluding your life. So often it is when I hear myself say something negative that it pierces my spirit: I almost can feel it take hold of my heart.

The reason our words have such power because it says He lives within each one of us, as believers. This means, we, too, have the power to speak powerful effects into existence in the same way God created the world, and the way Jesus calmed the storms, or broke a few loaves of bread to feed thousands. Do you remember what the disciples said about feeding the masses, not once but twice, saying that there wouldn’t be enough? But God said He would supply.

So, the question must always be, “Who said?”

Isn’t it time that you and I choose to break free from the poverty mentality and prove the greatness of God?

There is a world of desperate people out there that are full of needs, and we are the ones who hold the keys to their hope.

To change the world, it will take us believing to the point that we live in the fact that God will provide for all our needs. It does not say that He might supply some of our needs, does it? As a matter of fact, it doesn’t seem to have a condition to this promise at all—it simply says, that He will supply. *True, the enemy does have permission to come and steal, so be sure you keep what He gives by your tithes and offerings.

Just recently I have found that my greatest desire is to have everything that Jesus, my Husband (and yours), died to give me, and in turn, teach this truth to as many people as I can. Most believe only that Jesus died in order to make it into heaven. Yet, it’s much more than what happens when we die! What He left us is so much more that only a very few ever realize. It’s not about what happens when we die, but how He wants us to live—live as His bride—and live this life abundantly!!

Trying to explain this to my younger children, I told them it is much like people with a new cell phone. Some, like my sister who’s in a group home, can place a call and get one; unfortunately, for her to see if someone called her, or if someone left a message, is beyond her capacity to understand. Nevertheless, the cell phone she has does many more things that she could benefit from if she knew how to use it. Then there are my children who can do more on a cell phone than I can, and I believe this will be true for their Christian journey as well.

Our Husband can do much more for our lives than a new cell phone, but so few are willing to break away from the way they have always believed, by simply listening, learning and thus believing Him for more. To help our children, loved ones and women in this world, you and I must break free from the poverty mentality that speaks and believes in a life of lack. No, not so we can boast, brag, or flaunt what we have. Instead, we are simply to let our light, our lives, shine so that others know that our Beloved, lived and died in order to set us free from not having enough—to live a life of abundance.

This has become my one passion.

Personally, I don’t want one drop of His precious blood to be shed in vain, but to be used to prove that He not only exists, but He longs to love and cherish each of the lost who have yet to meet Him personally. To gather together all the brides who long to be loved and taken care of so they, too, can be caught up into His loving arms and embraced the way I am each and every day.

As we have learned throughout this book, the poverty mentality is not just about money, instead, it is breaking free from the bondage of lack. Being rid of the fear of lack of money will set us all free from lack in every area of our lives—due to fully understanding and experiencing His love.

Either HE is all we need or He isn’t.

I say He is more than we could ever need or want—therefore, my life must reflect this belief for me to break free from the poverty mentality and learn to move mountains. Want to come along?

My Twelfth and final of Many Financial Testimonies

“By Your Words”

Once again, as I mentioned with the last chapter’s testimony, I had so many testimonies to choose from for this final chapter. My dilemma was which one should I share with you? So, as I began discussing this problem with my Husband, then waited for Him to show me, He, instead, gave me a NEW and extremely exciting testimony. Something wonderful that blessed me and what I believe will bless you too!

It was almost a year ago, during Spring, that I began landscaping our home. When my ex and I moved it, it was a new home which had never been lived it, and therefore, only had sparse grass around it. What my Husband began to do was incredible as it began to unfold. Without having a plan, He began to lead me to find a few small plants, a small tree, and some decorative rocks so my sons and I could landscape our home just like you’d see in a magazine. Each time I’d look outside or drive up to our home, my heart felt like it could burst, it went way beyond the desires of my heart. As amazing as this was, He was not done.

Our backyard is what everyone sees first since we were on a corner, and our builder had said it still needed a lower deck built. So, because he told us that when we purchased the home, I also thought it’s what was needed to finish it. Yet, that’s not what He said. Since my ex left, and I became His bride, I have discovered that my Husband is also interested in decorating our home and that He has things for us that are way beyond what we could hope or imagine ourselves. All He asks is that we simply fall in love with Him, because He longs, yes, longs, to bless us as His bride far beyond our wildest dreams!

It didn’t take long for my Darling to show me that a deck was not His plan for our home, so I refocused and found a young man that went to my son’s church who specialized in patios. Basically, using stone rather than wood as the foundation. It was all set for him to get started while I was away in South America, Africa, and Europe, but then just before I left he got a huge client and he had to reschedule my job for later in September when I would be returning home.

Yet when I returned home, I had no money. It wasn’t the cost of the trip, which had been paid for by a dear friend more than a year earlier… didn’t I tell you that God would provide for all your needs and whatever He calls you too? I’m not sure what caused the funds to not be there, nor did I ponder for long. I knew that it’s by not having money for something that God redirects us and teaches us new things. He’ll use this to unfold His plan for our future. That’s why we should never, ever panic or listen to the lie that says we don’t have enough due to Him not supplying our needs. Waiting for what we hope for never means no. Instead, it means that He has something even better waiting for us when we simply rejoice and trust Him.

Do you remember the testimony of the ring in chapter 6? It was during this same draught, “For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit” (Jeremiah 17:8), when, if I had had the money to pay for the patio stone (or the ring) back then in September, things would have turned out much differently, and, there also would have been no testimony to share with anyone. Isn’t this what our life is all about?

Our lives are to be living testimonies of how His abundant bride lives—in order that the world will know—just how wonderful He really, truly is. This is what will ultimately cause most to open their hearts to Him and His love too! Yet, for this to happen, people must see our trust in Him, showing others that He will go way beyond just providing for our needs, but instead, our Bridegroom longs to give us the desires of our hearts when we simply trust that He will.

When I didn’t have the money for the patio, I called the young man who more than understood my desire to wait to see what the Lord wanted to do. Fall led to winter, then spring arrived again, when I sensed that my wait was just about over, so I started to speak to Him about it once again. Waiting, then sensing it was time to speak to Him about it, led to me seeing a much grander picture when one day I spotted an outdoor living room set at my local membership warehouse. It was a gorgeous shade of red that took my breath away. So I grabbed a brochure with a picture, took it home, so I could look at it regularly and to ask my Husband for it.

If you read my book, Facing Divorce Again, you may remember in Chapter 11 “The Danger of a Poverty Mentality” that it took me asking for my front load washer and dryer for my Husband to give me something that each and every single day I think about and thank Him for—and a testimony I share with everyone I meet!

However, due to my older son’s concern about the amount of our rising debt, which our family now owes, I’ve spoken to my Husband about it every chance I get—mainly due to the magnitude and enormity of this ever-rising crisis. Though I can’t elaborate on it now, I promise that by the end of my next book Moving Mountains, you should be able to understand fully the amount of debt that He has promised HE will throw into the sea, which will happen by faith and understanding the scope of His love. This is how I know it will happen.

Dear bride, will you join me in believing it too, for your situation? Rather than haphazardly throwing our faith around helter-skelter, we must be careful to believe what He says, not what we want Him to say. And the reason is simple—because misguided and false faith, believing what we want rather than what He’s truth revealed to us, damages the faith of all those who are watching. Okay, now let me get back to my testimony when we were talking about the outdoor living room for the patio I didn’t have money to pay for.

After looking at the furniture, speaking to my Husband about it, the furniture ended up being paid for by my tax refund— which covered the entire cost! But the testimony wasn’t getting a tax refund. What got my children’s attention was that this was the first time that I filed taxes!! Remember the last chapter’s testimony, when I said that our taxes, due to our complicated situation, were a feat that my ex-husband never attempted to do and he was good at things like that? Everyone told us that our taxes had to be done professionally since they are far too complicated than most. Just pulling all the information for the accountant took my ex-husband three months—months, that my children remembered him yelling and was so angry throughout the process due to the stress.

Yet, when the taxes were left to me, my Husband told me that He would guide me to do them myself. My children watched as their new Father, my Husband, guided me step-by-step—finishing in less than 8 hours!! I didn’t even take off homeschooling my children. Instead, their Father told me to simply homeschool two half days, and when I was done, in the afternoon, He and I did the taxes together. Not only was it not stressful—it was a wonderful time where we became closer—when I could fully feel His love for me.

May I say too, like so many things, to gain the spiritual strength to do them, He told me to wait, because as we should know that’s it’s those who “wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31. So I waited, and waited, then with only two days left, I started, then finished on the day my taxes were due. Even now I am in complete utter awe at what transpired!

Okay, once again, let me get back to my testimony. Our patio began to unfold on a Friday when I sensed He was showing me to go and rotate my car’s tires at the discount warehouse where I’d seen the outdoor furniture. Since they said the wait would be more than an hour, I told my children and my sister (who was with us) that we should go sit on that furniture “we were getting” so we could enjoy our time while getting excited again about whatever it was that He was going to do. (This was before my tax return, which by the way, never once has our family ever gotten a tax return.)

Just minutes after we sat down, a friend whom I hadn’t seen for more than four years came walking up. She sat with us and my joy began to spill over. I told her so many things the Lord, my new Husband, had been doing for our family. That’s when I mentioned about the furniture that we were sitting in, that I sensed we would be getting as soon as we knew how my children’s new Father wanted us to create our patio. That’s when she told me that her husband, a contractor, was close friends with the best concrete man in the area and he’d be happy come over to help us!!

Though everyone was excited, I knew the cost would surely be high. (The truth is, I still have a bank account that is filled due to the car I never bought for my daughter. Money, I am still waiting to see what my Husband wants me to do with it. And as I said in a previous chapter, I do have an insurmountable amount of debt to pay off, but unless my Husband shows me what to do, I simply wait.) Once again, knowing my older boys’ concerns, I could sense that their Father had a plan that was beginning to unfold.

The very next morning, a Saturday, the only day of the week to sleep in, I woke up just after 4 A.M. wide awake with a tremendous urge to go to the post office, envisioning opening my post office box. However, I told myself (I didn’t say this to my Husband, though I know He was next to me listening to my thoughts), that I didn’t want to go to the post office, how crazy I was to think such a thing, and to just go back to sleep! That’s when I heard my daughter’s new puppy being taken outside, once again, so I got up and took her for my daughter so she could sleep in. Notice how gently our Husband will nudge us when it’s something He doesn’t want us to miss?

Once up, I decided I would beat the crowds and go shopping (taking the puppy with me of course). The night before while lying in bed, I remembered that when we take just a tiny step in the right direction of obedience to the Lord’s promptings, our miracle will suddenly appear.  Remember, it was when Joshua took that first step into the Jordan River that it parted? So as I drove, like always, I began talking to my Husband. “In all your ways acknowledge Him [He’s sitting right there beside you so why ignore Him?], and He will make your paths straight [saving you so much time having to figure it out]” (Proverbs 3:6). That morning He led me to go get the rock for the flowerbeds, and that was my first step in my Jordan.

Just as I was heading straight for the rock quarry by our home, I made a quick right turn and headed to the post office. When I got there I began opening letters one-by-one. When I came to the last one I stood there reading the note enclosed first, and then, I looked at the amount of the check that was from a dear friend who said she’d been blessed and her Husband told her to send me half “as a thank you for me introducing her to her Husband.” The check was made out for thousands of dollars—more than enough to pay for my patio and so much more!! I was so excited it felt that my heart would burst!

Though I wanted to rush home and wake everyone, my Husband wanted to be alone with me for a bit longer, so we continued to the quarry so I could purchase the rock, and then I headed home to share the awesome news with my children who were already awake when I returned.

When we sat down to eat breakfast, that’s when I told them what had happened that morning, from not wanting to get up, to being nudged by hearing my daughter taking out the puppy. Each and every detail was part of God’s plan, their Father’s plan, even us having breakfast! It had been months since we were able to all eat Saturday breakfast together so I’d mentioned it to their Father the prior week.

After our big breakfast, we all went outside on our patio wooden deck just off the kitchen, which a few weeks later became the ceiling for the outdoor living space. Since then we’ve spent many afternoons talking in that space, and evenings roasting marshmallows over the fire pit. Almost always our conversations begin by talking about how that special space came to be and about the new Husband and Father we’ve been blessed to have!

Darling reader, please always remember this, our Husband has a plan and will build each of our testimonies. To do so, He very often will withhold funds at times to redirect us and ask us to wait while He creates those miracles, which happen in His perfect timing. He may use a puppy or something else, like a rude phone call, to wake us up if we are determined to sleep in, and finish by gathering those we love when the testimony is ready to be shared!

Never underestimate His love for us, since it is our faith, hope, and trust in our Husband that unleashes the miracles that He longs to do every day in our lives! Live with great expectations and you, too, will break free of the poverty mentality and begin to Move Mountains!