Mice + Lab Work = Lesson in God's Grace

I hate mice! They are dirty, nasty, repulsive vermin!

We have been in this house for almost 4 1/2 years and we have heard mice in our attic in past years but not in the main house. Well a couple days ago that changed. I was up feeding Ellie and saw one run along the edge of the wall.

Needless to day we are in all out war against this little pest because the thought of sharing my house with a rodent repulses me.

Yesterday morning I took Will to have his annual lab work done for his allergy testing. The test requires them to draw two vials of blood from his arm which is obviously not pleasant. I held Will on my lap as the lab tech poked started getting things ready. Will started whimpering in anticipation and when she put the needle in the tears flowed and through his tears he cried out, "Mommy" pleading with me to have it stop.

As I was driving home I found myself thinking about how much I despise mice and how I strongly desire him to end up dead in a trap. It was then that my feelings about the mouse and the recent events in the lab collided in my mind.

To a holy God I am dirty, nasty, repulsive vermin!

I thought about how I held my son as he wept and pleaded for me to stop the pain. The only reason I allowed him to be hurt was because I knew it was for his own good. I certainly would never have allowed him to have his blood drawn or be injured in any way to save the life of a mouse. I mean the very thought is ridiculous! I mean that mouse doesn't love me, it's only goal in life is to seek his own good, it destroys and defecates on my property. That mouse deserves death and I want it to die!

My eyes welled with tears as I was reminded anew of the sacrifice God made when he sent his son to suffer and die for me.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23

Christ died for me, dirty, nasty, repulsive vermin, so that I can live!

WOW!

Because of Christ's death I am no longer dirty, nasty, repulsive vermin. I am child of God.

So the lingering question is why continue to live like a mouse?

"Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts." Romans 6:11-12

The End of Our 6 Month Challenge

Yesterday, September 1, officially ended our 6 month challenge. God has been so very good to our family!

When Scott and I decided to do this challenge we set the goal of paying off $10,000. That would be a little over 1/3 of our total debt. We thought that it would be quite challenging to reach that amount but we wanted a challenge so we set the number high (we are a one income family and $10,000 is about 1/3 of our total annual income).

The beginning of March I put up a piece of graft paper. Each small square represented $10 of debt. I divided it into larger $1,000 squares. I labeled these squares 1-10 (for our $10,000 goal). The paper had two extra squares that I left blank (the magnet is over these extra squares but they were not numbered). Since our goal was $10,000 and knew that would be a stretch so I only numbered ten squares.


Well THREE MONTHS into our challenge we went over the $10,000 mark! Several times in those first few months God provided money for us from unexpected sources.

At the end of our 6 month challenge we have paid off $12438.06! Our entire graph chart is full plus an additional $438! (I know there are a lot of exclamation marks in this post but we are very excited!!)

This is what our chart looks like today at the end of our challenge.

We still have quite a way to go before we are debt free. This challenge has been such an encouragement to us to see the many ways God can provide. We have learned many valuable lessons on frugality and many money saving sacrifices we chose to make have now become habits and no longer seem big sacrifices (although I am very thankful that we were able to find a good deal on internet so I can try blogging again).