Tag: Obamacare

Everything We Need

We got our propane tank filled a week or so ago…and the rest of my hospital bill (from when I had Wryder) came in the mail Monday…and we’ve made a few trips to the doctor and the pharmacy lately, so today was budget day.  Always a good time, yes?  No.

I got out the computer and the bills, and opened our online bank account and my budget spreadsheet and went to work.  I am so thankful for Wrex’s job.  I’m not sure my words could ever adequately describe how it compares to our previous situation.  Night and day, people!  (In a GREAT way!)  He loves it and he’s darn good at it and he has a lot more time at home than his former job.  Is it the highest paying job on the planet? Nope, but we have an income – that’s more than a lot of people out there.  Plus, he’s always finding little ways to make a few more dollars for our family.  Every chance he gets, he’s out doing something extra to support us.  He is a great provider and would work four jobs before we were ever left in want, this I know to be true.

So, I sat there with the bills and the calculator and my spreadsheet and was doing some  inserting and deleting and adding…and a lot of subtracting…ahem.  I was trying to figure out if we could pay those big two (propane and hospital) without transferring money from savings (because that money is off limits in my mind) but because it’s a big, yearly purchase like that, (propane) I just couldn’t make it work.  And I hate taking money from savings.  Ugh.  And I feel like we’ve had to do that a lot this year…for all sorts of random things…as we don’t have a ton leftover at the end of every week/month.

We’ve revisited the budget a lot since Wryder was born and it can be depressing.  We’re to the point where there just isn’t money for eating out on Sunday’s after church or for grabbing a pop when we go to town or for going to Denver every other month to see friends…it’s just not there.  Tithe and formula and diapers and groceries and check-ups pull rank, ya know?  And Wrex and I both have generous hearts (if I do say so myself).  We love to give and bless and surprise and come alongside and help…and we haven’t been able to do that kind of stuff (outside of tithing) as of late…and we miss it and long for it.

So, I’m sitting there with my head swimming with questions about what to do and how to make it all work and what we need to cut back on so that we can not steal from savings and so we can give more?  I’m kicking myself for spending money going out to eat and on a pop now and then.  My heart is screaming about the injustices of it all; that American mentality of entitlement that tells me I deserve certain things in life.  Why CAN’T we eat out on Sundays??  Why CAN’T we grab a pop now and then?!?  Why CAN’T I buy a few things at a thrift store?!?!  And the tears started to come, because it’s a weird place to be in and it feels unfair!

And then…

My sweet little, stuffy nosed girl comes in the kitchen and hands me a paper leaf for the thankful tree.  She said, “Mom, can you write on this for me?  This one is for Wryder.  He said he’s thankful that we have everything we need.”

BAM.  Brought back to reality by a wise beyond her years 3 year old.  “We do indeed, sweet girl.  We do indeed.”

As I wrote those words and stuck the leaf to the tree, my heart softened and my attitude of gratitude swelled.   Lord, I have so much to be thankful for.  Thank you for reminding me of that, again.  You have always provided for us.  Even in our darkest hours and driest of bank accounts, you have always provided.

I’m thankful we even have a little kitty to dip out of…I’m thankful my husband has a job PERIOD and with a great company, no less…I’m thankful our insurance hasn’t changed, even with this Obamacare crap…I’m thankful that my family is healthy and whole…I’m thankful we have a roof over our heads and some room to roam…I’m thankful I even have a family and that I’m not still waiting on Mr. Right or waiting for the Lord to open my womb to have children.

We have everything we need.  Help me not to be a slave to a bank account, Lord.  You are everything we need.

A Little Gloom for your Friday

This weather looks like my heart feels.  It just feels so heavy, sinking really, for our country.  I watched this video last night after I had scrolled through the latest headlines.  While it’s a funny take on the state of the union, it’s not really funny, right?

We live in a broken society with a broken system in a broken world and all the public policy in the universe won’t be able to “fix” us.  (Ever been to the DMV or wondered why UPS and FedEx can be profitable organizations but the USPS can’t?!  Our government has yet to prove that it can do anything with excellence.)

We need Jesus.  We need our Congressmen and women to need Jesus.  We need our Senators to need Jesus.  We need our President to need Jesus.  We need people to lay aside their pride and be willing to humble themselves for the greater good instead of their party or for the instant gratification of “what can I get for myself for ‘free’ TODAY.”  We HAVE to look further down the line than just 2013 or 2014 or even 2020.  What kind of financial decisions are we making today and how will they impact us in 10 years?  20 years?  50 years?  We HAVE to look past the short term and towards the long term.  This is one of the plights of our society; we all want everything that makes us happy and we want it NOW.  Who cares what that looks like in 10 years – I’m living in today and that’s what matters.  Uh, no.  We live in community, not a vacuum; every choice I make affects someone other than me and vice versa, and those effects can be felt today or 20 years from today.  We have to look past the short term and towards the long term.

It’s not JUST the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that needs to go revision.  It’s our budget, it’s our gun legislation, it’s our social security system, it’s our abortion laws, it’s our tax laws, it’s our prison systems, it’s our welfare system, it’s our farm subsidy system – it’s our government, in general.  Now, I’m not saying I want it to be perfect.  That’s a completely unrealistic goal because it won’t ever be – see paragraph two.  But I do think they owe it to the people to function as designed.  It was created to be FOR the people and BY the people; it was created to ensure that we weren’t subjected to tyranny ever again…and dare I say, we’re close?  And we’re partly to blame.

We can’t keep just handing over right after right after right to a broken system.  The return on our input will be broken.  And we?  We will be a people who got something in the short term that didn’t really benefit us because it didn’t benefit us in the long term.  We can’t continue to  keep the mentality that, “someone else will say something” or “this is so wrong/off/ridiculous/out of line, surely it won’t pass” or “we’re so far gone, who cares.”  We have to take a stand for our freedoms so that we can continue to have those liberties.

I don’t mean to sound like Debbie Downer here.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE America and I praise the Lord that He chose me to live here but we HAVE to make choices to continue to ensure our rights are protected.  There is no freedom when you’re saddled in debt.  (I’ve been there.  I would know.)  There is no freedom when you have no free will or choice.  (Read the Word.  It’s pretty clear about that).  There is no freedom when when you don’t EXERCISE that right to free choice.  We can’t stand idly by and think that someone else will fight for us.

I encourage you to take a stand today.  Write an email or letter to your senators/congressmen and women.  Let them know how you feel about what’s going on in Congress and with the Affordable Care Act and with other legislation.  Encourage them to think about the long term effects of the decisions they are making.  Inspire them to make decisions that unify us and not divide us.  They may not receive, or respond to, your messages until after the shutdown (sigh) but let your voice be heard regardless.

Nebraskans, find information to write your Senators here:  http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=NE

And here’s contact information for your Congressmen:  http://www.contactingthecongress.org/cgi-bin/newseek.cgi?site=ctc2011&state=ne

Coloradoans, find information to write your Senators here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=CO

Congressmen, here:  http://www.contactingthecongress.org/cgi-bin/newseek.cgi?site=ctc2011&state=co

Above all, pray for our nation.  Pray for our President.  He has a BIG job, yes?  Pray he does it well; with humility, common sense, respect, unity, mercy, grace, forethought, thought for the future, thought of our kids.  He’s a broken, sinful, self-deceiful human being just like his Supreme Court, just like his Congress, just like his Senate…just like me.  And just like me, they need Jesus.  He IS the only answer, the only “fix,” the only policy or legislation that can repair the system.  Pray we choose Him.