Financial hardship teaches dependence on God.
I once heard a Bible teacher query her students from the platform. “Do you trust your checking account balance more than you trust God?”
Ouch!
As the one who manages the books for my husband’s company, I continually monitor the contents of our checking account. It’s my job. And lately, it’s been a stressful job.
In our little company, there’s no such thing as paid time off or paid sick leave.
If my husband and I are not working, we’re not earning.
“When did you have your hip surgery?” My husband, Steve, asked when we returned to our studio after the long Independence Day weekend.
“April 6th,” I answered. “Why?”
“Because we haven’t had much work for three months now.” He sounded worried. “I figured God kept our calendars clear so I could help out while you recovered from your hip and then thumb surgeries, but now you’re better and we still don’t have work. I’ve been praying and asking God to send us business, but he’s not answering.”
The next morning, God answered loud and clear.
Steve heard legit marching orders from God and immediately took action. Approaching me shortly after his morning routine, Steve said, “We need to get your audiobook recorded and edited. When can you start narrating it?”
Stunned, I responded, “Are you kidding me?”
My book released July 2020. My publisher, knowing that my husband and I own a digital media production company, gave me permission to produce and market an audiobook.
Steve and I are regularly in the studio together, with me behind the microphone as a professional voice talent and him at the controls as the audio engineer. I knew we had the resources and expertise to produce an audiobook. I’d even put it on our production calendar several times. But my husband had not shown interest in spending the hours and hours required to turn Longing to Belong into an audiobook.
Until this moment.
“I feel like God is telling me that I need to produce your audiobook and get it ready to upload, and then I’ll start getting business again.”
We spent the next two weeks recording, editing, and mixing the audio tracks for my book. As narrator, I completed my job after the first week. God sustained my voice through consecutive days of reading for hours at a time.
We turned off the air conditioning so the hum would not suddenly kick in or out during the recording sessions. By mid-afternoon the temperature outside our Central California studio soared into three digits, while I sat in the audio booth with sweat dripping down my back.
The day after Steve started the post-production phase of the project, I received a call from a client interested in hiring us to redesign one of his websites. The large project would involve several weeks to complete. I gathered information, conducted preliminary research, and worked on the proposal while Steve continued mixing the tracks for my audiobook.
After a couple of phone conferences and revisions to the proposed scope of work, the client and I came to an agreement. The moment after I opened the estimate in our bookkeeping program, changed the status from “pending” to “accepted”, and sent an invoice for the deposit, Steve walked into my office.
“Your audiobook is done.”
I marveled at God’s timing. “And we just landed our next big project.” Then I couldn’t help but tease. “I wonder if we could’ve avoided that dry spell if you had produced the audiobook back when I first asked.”
Steve shrugged and nodded. “Maybe so.”
“I’m glad you were obedient.” I grinned. “Obedience pays well!”
The client’s deposit on the new project arrived just in time to cover our payroll, and I marveled at God’s provision. As I drove to the bank, God challenged my tendency to trust my checking account balance more than him, and I realized something…
