Being young, having two kids and trying to finish up on school is tough. We don't' make a lot of money, actually combined we make less than $30,000/year. However we make it work and even though we don't have all the things we would like to, we still feel very blessed! We have a place to live, two healthy children, a nice car, and we have the love of our friends and family. Everything else is just the details of life. Every once in a while I feel overwhelmed, wonder where the money will come from to pay some of our bills but then I stop and pray and remember that God is in charge and He always takes care of us. Thinking back, I can not think of a single time where we were desperate and God didn't come through. He always comes through and usually in a really big and unexpected way. This year's tax season was no different.
When Pat got his W2, I started worrying a little bit since he claims "4" and they only took out $55.00 in federal taxes last year. I, on the other hand, wasn't having any taxes taken out because I didn't make enough, so I had them with hold $50/paycheck just in case. I didn't want to owe anything at the end of the year and so when I saw Pat's W2, I started stressing. I made sure to calm myself, pray and trust that God was in control and he was going to take care of this. I just knew we were going to owe money to the IRS and on top of trying to move (which is expensive), and working less hours (Sam's is cutting hours) and Pat's company is soon going to move to a further location which means more gas money and so on. These are the things that started going through my head. Thank goodness we are children of God!
For the past 3 years we have taken our taxes to The Old Tax House in O'Fallon. Even though our taxes aren't that difficult to do, they do a good job and honestly it's not something I want to mess with. I would rather pay the money to have someone else do them. Anyway, they have a thing where you can drop them off and then when they're finished, they call. To my surprise, I dropped them off on Tuesday and received the phone call that they were finished on Thursday. We went and picked them up. I about fell on the floor when I realized not only do we NOT owe any money, but the refund we are going to get is phenomenal. It is so true that you can never outgive God!!!
Wow! I'm so close to home with this post. Justin and I make next to nothing as well and its very hard to live in a house, have 2 car payments, student loans, etc. I'm so happy that you're getting a great return. Last year I made about $4,000! Can you believe that!
ReplyDeleteI've given up on God lately because everything seems to be in the crapper. Because of this post, it just reminded me that I'm not the only person on this earth and God has a lot of work to do! I will be thinking about this a lot I'm sure.
Thanks for the post and thanks for reminding me that we're all in the same boat and God is here to make sure we don't sink.
I'm glad that it has helped. Since I posted this, Pat lost his job and instead of getting upset or freaking out about what's going to happen I have been trusting God to lead us to our next step. I just assume that God's saying it was time for Pat to move on, especially since he graduates with his BA in June. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us next and even though sometimes it's hard, I choose to trust in Him.
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