Money Matters: Reaching Our Savings Goal and Trusting In God

We did it! We reached our goal of saving 3 months of expenses! Don’t be fooled, it took us longer than 7 months. We had 35% of our goal saved at the beginning of the No Spend Year. But, by cutting out unnecessary spending, we were able to fast-track saving the remaining 65%.

Our journey towards saving money began 7 years ago when we took a Financial Peace University course at our church. We were newly married and trying to navigate finances together. The course created opportunities for us to talk about money, develop long term financial goals, see each other's strengths/weakness around finances, and find ways to work together when it comes to money. We began working on the Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps right away. After 7 years we just accomplished Baby Step 3- Save 3-6 months of  expenses. We opted for 3 instead of 6 months because of the Parable of the Talents (or Bags of Gold) Matthew 25:14-30

This parable speaks of the master giving 3 servants all different amounts of gold. Two servants received a larger sum and put the money to work and doubled the money. The third servant, who received the least amount, dug a hole and hid the money because he feared losing it. When the master returned, he was furious with the third servant who hid the money instead of putting it to work because it was not his to store up. 

I know myself and my reactions with money, I am more like the third servant. I cling to money out of fear of losing it or not having enough. My mentality is we can never have enough saved, if we set the goal to 6 months expenses in savings, then I will want it to be 9 months of savings, then 12 months, and so on. My trust would shift from knowing God will provide to relying on myself and the money in the bank. 

God tells us to be wise with finances, to save but to not hoard. Three months expenses in savings is a good balance for me, it provides some financial security to get us through difficult times while not replacing my reliance on God. I am excited for this next stage of our financial journey, to not be fearful with taking risks with money, to see where God will take us, and how we can work to honor him through our finances.

What is your relationship with money and how are you using it to honor God?