“Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said: ‘one can’t believe impossible things.’ ‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.‘”
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
For with God nothing shall be impossible.
Luke 1:37
“It’s impossible.”
I looked at my budget and my bank balance, but I saw no way for the two to ever be reconciled. I had been doing a Bible study on finances at church. The first step was to write out a $0 budget, but I kept coming up with a negative number. The second step was to save $1,000 for an emergency fund. Every month was an emergency. I couldn’t even pay all the bills in one month, much less come up with extra to store away. It was impossible.
17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. 18 He said, Bring them hither to me. 19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.
Matthew 14:17-20
The disciples were up against a similar issue: too few resources. They had a multitude of people, over 5,000, and only 5 loaves and 2 fish. How would they ever feed that many people when they had such limited resources?
Jesus said, “Bring them hither to me.” When they were considering their resources, they forget their greatest one: Jesus. When I looked at my finances, I only saw what I could contribute, but I forgot my greatest resource as well.
Then, they did what Jesus said, he blessed it, and it multiplied miraculously. Impossible! To mere mortals, it was impossible, but with God nothing is impossible. So, the multitude ate and there were leftovers. Bonus!
I looked at my finances again, and I held up my budget to God. He took it, blessed it, and multiplied it. Within a month, I received a raise at both my jobs and I cancelled an insurance plan that wasn’t useful to my circumstances. I also switched streaming services and cancelled a few other things. All combined it equaled a balanced budget.
While that was a definite improvement, I still saw the $1,000 emergency fund as impossible. I was finally paying my bills but there were no leftovers. Then, unexpectedly, the government sent a check, which combined with a few writing jobs added up to almost $1,000 in my savings account. The impossible became possible.
Recently, I had to take the emergency fund to put as a down payment on another car, but I know now that nothing is impossible with God. So, I held up my budget and my bank account again to my greatest resource and asked for guidance. In the meantime, even when I am tempted to skip my tithe check because things look impossible, I find that it is in those times of giving my 5 loaves and 2 fish that I see God move in the most amazing ways because before God can do anything we have to give it to Him first.
Sometimes God asks us to dream big for Him, and we reply that it is impossible. But, if the dream of writing or of another ministry or a new job position comes from God, remember that we have a resource that never fails. He is the one who makes the impossible dream…possible.
You keep praying and believing in yourself as much as we believe in you Ms. Linda. Let God handle the details my friend. God’s blessings, and keep believing!