Curses and Blessings

So Catie and I had a good night last night. We are going through this series about financial curses and blessings. I was skeptical at first but honestly the more I heard (it is a audio series), the more everything lined up with Catie and my lives. The man speaking, Arthur Burk, is really interesting and runs a ministry named Plumbline (somewhere in California). He talked about the reality of curses and blessings and spiritually in peoples finances (so often we just cut spiritually out of parts our lives). It was really interesting. I began to listen harder as he described how some people just never seem to have real favor in the matter of their own finances. Things just happen to them that don't usually happen to other people. He gave an example of having your credit cards paid off and then your transmission fails, or someone gets sick and you don't have insurance (and I a lot more). Now I realize all of these things can happen to anyone at anytime but he also spoke on it happening usually at the same time each year (and it happens almost EVERY fall for Catie and I since we got married). The words he spoke just hit on many things we were feeling.

Yet, he also talked about the reality of people spending money unwisely.... and that is why they have a hard time with money... it may not be a curse... it may be a problem of greed. Catie and I think ours is a little of both. We have made some stupid moves with credit cards in the past... and we are now paying for that (literally). But also there have been so many things that have happened that seem to set us back every year. From jobs, to landlords switching our contracts to force us to pay more, to hospital visits (literally every time someone in our family doesn't have insurance we have a trip to the ER... it is really weird). And usually this always happens in the fall... it is really strange.

Arthur talked about it happening at the same time every year as being a sign of a curse. It just seemed to line up really well. And he back almost everything with scripture... he talked about the Israelite's enemy the Moabites, and how each year at the same time they would come and take food after the harvest... they would come in, take, and then leave. The main idea was that someone along the line forgot to claim their birthright in Jesus Christ. They forgot to claim that they are a part of Christ Jesus... finances and all.

Anyways, there is a lot more to the whole thing... it is hard for me to explain.. but it was really good for the first series. I learned a lot and was able to basically go through a freedom appointment for my finances (or the start of one). It was also really good to take time and pray and study with Catie... it has been, probably 5 years or so since we really did that. I loved sharing that time with her thinking and praying. Just that was worth it.

So we continue on tonight. It will be good. I am excited to heard more and learn more and spend that hour and a half or so with Catie.