Lip Balm Blessing

When my husband and I decided that I would be a stay home mom we knew that decision would come with making some sacrifices. When I worked full-time I was a big contributor to our household income. Since I've been a stay home mom we've made some cutbacks in certain areas of our spending and we have even cut some things out. We are now more mindful about budgeting, spending, and saving. For example, one area that we now have a set budget is monthly groceries. In the past I just went grocery shopping with no budget in mind and just purchased whatever I felt like cooking or experimenting with in the kitchen. Although this is new for me it is great having a budget set, because I do tend to overspend on frivolous things. I must admit that I am still learning not to over spend on the food budget! I recently had an incident happen to me that opened my eyes to know the importance of listening to my husband, listening to God, and to be faithful to both.

Since we are a small family, a family of three, with another baby on the way, I do not shop at Costco frequently. However, I do make a monthly or every other month run to Costco for some key items that we use in our home. Every time I tell my husband that I am going to Costco, or any store for that matter, he reminds me to only spend what we need, do not buy anything extra. If you have ever shopped at Costco or any warehouse type store you know how quickly the numbers can add up at the register! On this particular trip to Costco I needed toiletries and food items. While shopping in the toiletry aisles I found a 5 pack of Eos lip balm for $10! I was so excited because one Eos lip balm can cost me $3 at Target, so I didn't want to pass on a $5 savings for this product. I didn't think twice about putting the item in my cart. As I was walking away in my mind I could hear my husband in my ear saying, "Do not buy anything extra, only get what we need!" I tried justifying putting the item in my cart by thinking to myself, "It's only $10, we can afford $10!" Then I proceeded to another aisle to continue my shopping. Before I left Costco God spoke to me and said, "your husband said, do not buy anything extra, only get what you need." I circled the aisle a few times debating my purchase; I took the lip balm out the cart, put it back in the cart again, telling myself "it was only $10." Then God said, "Remember what your husband said. Think about it, do you WANT this lip balm or do you NEED it?" In that instance I realized I didn't NEED the lip balm, but I wanted it, and that God was right, I needed to listen to what my husband said, "Do not buy anything extra, only get what we need!" I put the lip balm back on the shelf and proceeded my shopping to get only what we needed and nothing extra. I'm guessing by now you are thinking, what's the big deal, it's only $10 lip balm! Right? Well no, for me it was not only $10 lip balm.

I know that my husband wants the best for our family and me, I trust his financial judgment, and I know that he's always looking at the bigger picture on where we are now and where we envision our lives to be in the future. Yes, my husband is better with saving money than I am. Yes, it's only $10, yes we can afford $10, however I do not want to take away from the nest that my husband is building, I do not want to work against him, I am on his team and want to continue to be a team player. Imagine this, two people are building a brick home but one of them keeps taking a brick away every once in a while. Yes, in the small scheme of things one brick missing isn't a big deal, but over time one brick becomes multiple bricks and starts to create a hole in the brick house that you are building if you keep taking away from it. So in short, on this day I realized that I didn't want to take away from our nest egg by buying frivolous things that we do not need. I listened to God and I was faithful to what my husband asked of me by staying within the budget that day.

Fast forward a couple of months later. I was sitting in a mom's group that I attend every other week. During this mom's group we do raffles where fun prizes are given away each week to a few moms. This week the prizes were favorite things from the group leaders. Some of the prizes included Starbucks gift cards & coffee mugs, money, nail polish, lip balm, Trader Joes goodies, etc. On this day my raffle ticket number was the first to be called and an Eos 5 pack lip balm was one of the prizes! I was super excited and danced and clapped as I went up to claim my prize. I had a choice in what I wanted to pick from all the wonderful prizes on the stage and of course I picked the Eos lip balm. The entire time I was thinking, "I've been wanting this for so long and now I have it, yippee!" In that moment I thanked God. I thanked Him for using such a simple way to teach me to be faithful to my husband's words and to be faithful to what God says. I thanked Him for reminding me how important it is to be faithful, obedient, and patient.

Someone may read this and walk away thinking, "all that for a $10 lip balm variety pack?" As I stated earlier, for me this extends further than a $10 lip balm variety pack. This opened my eyes and reminded me of the importance of building with my husband, the importance of listening to him and being faithful to my commitment to stay within our shopping budget, it reminded me to be submissive and allow my husband to be the leader of our household as God has called him to do so. I was reminded of Ephesians 5:22-33. This moment solidified for me how faithful goes beyond my commitment to my husband, but it also extends to being faithful in my role as a wife, faithful in my life as a child of God, and faithful in keeping my word when my husband asks me to do or not do something, especially when it's in the best interest of our family.