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We have been married 8 months. Sam recently started a knife sharpening/repair business after a 10 year career in the food industry. Emily currently works in the print industry. Together, we’ve experienced God’s grace, faithfulness and providence in planning/getting married during a pandemic, finances, and in our marriage.
Sam, being in the food industry since 16 years old, had always faced precarious employment, low pay, and harsh working conditions. However, he loved cooking and doing it professionally. Emily found full time work at a small flexographic plate production company that lined up with what she studied - graphics communications management at Ryerson. Throughout our season of dating and later engagement, finances had always been difficult to talk about because of the perceived lack of financial security to sustain a prospective marriage and home, but over time, God in His grace helped us come to a place where we both felt a clear calling to get married. Much of this was through how God was working in our relationship, our time reading the Bible, and wisdom/encouragement from friends, family, and church.
Having made the decision to go forward in getting married, we got engaged in July 2019. We weren’t sure how to start financial planning or budgeting for a place to live, but God provided as we spent much time in prayer about their concerns, but most of all, that we would trust and love God no matter what happened.
We wrestled with anxiety and fear... but God even still showed us His power.
First, a church friend, who works as a mortgage specialist, helped us with financial education, planning, and helping to secure a mortgage that we could afford when we thought that buying a home was impossible.
Next, a real estate agent, who works with honesty and integrity, held our interests and needs as top priority. He helped us find the right home within our budget.
Finally, friends and family who, in their love and generosity, gave financial gifts prior to and after we got married. It was all in God’s timing where there was a small window of opportunity in the beginning stages of the pandemic that allowed us to purchase a condo that was significantly less than its market value just 6 months prior. What transpired was markedly different from our own expectations just a few months prior.
We’re thankful and encouraged by God’s faithfulness and providence during uncertain times. We wrestled with anxiety and fear, but God even still showed us His power. In our weakness, God's love was made known. It’s not to say that God will always cover our material needs, but in showing us His power and provision in some seemingly impossible situations within the last year, it helps us to trust and love God in all situations rather than trust our own wisdom and plans. All we have is clearly not a product of our own work and planning, but truly God’s. It has allowed us not to cling so tightly to the temporal nature of financial security and material things.
Challenge: What makes you feel secure? Do you find your security in worldly things?
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