A Story of Wisdom & Blessing.
When my husband and I got married, we were praying that at some point we would be able to do missions work in Africa without having to raise support. We also wanted that the money people would have sent to support us be used for ministry instead.
As we started our jobs and careers in the US, we didn’t know how that dream would come to pass. But, at age 21, we decided on a few financial principles:
1. We decided that we would live on less than one person’s salary and save the other. That way, one of us would be able to go to school, stay home with kids, or pursue volunteer work. My husband was able to complete two master’s degrees in theology, stay home with our children for several years, and work two positions as a volunteer at different times.
2. We would never pay any interest on a credit card. That meant never overextending our purchases, and also paying bills on time, in full.
3. We would buy a house as soon as we could to avoid paying any more rent.
I found a job with a company that had a terrific matching program for their retirement plan. If an employee contributed 10%, the company would not only match it, but add 2 ½ percent on top. That meant that a person could save up to 22 ½% of their salary each year. At 22 years old, even though the salary was quite low, I maxed out the retirement plan from the first month I was eligible. As I worked, I took every opportunity to benefit my company and then ask for a raise. One year, after a couple of big successes, I asked the company to increase my salary by 50%, and they actually did. Since my retirement savings were set up as a percentage of my salary and were directly deposited, as my salary increased, the amount deposited each month into the retirement account increased automatically.
After working for 13 years, we were actually able to “retire” at age 35. While our friends were spending money on ‘happy hour’ after work and contributing virtually nothing to the retirement plan, we were stashing away enough that now, at age 35, we will never have to contribute another cent. If our retirement savings, which are invested rather aggressively, grow as expected over the next thirty years, when we reach age 65, we can receive an income of 4.4 m Ksh per year.
So retirement savings were covered, but if we were going to be able to minister without having to make a salary, God was going to have to provide daily manna. Early in our marriage, we lived in the smallest, cheapest apartment we could find while saving for a house. At one point, we actually made a huge financial blunder. As we started investigating buying a house, our real estate agent used high pressure tactics on us to buy a particular place that we loved. Against our judgment, we succumbed. After we had put down the initial deposit on it, we immediately knew we had made a mistake. The house payments were going to cost us so much money that we would both have to work to pay for it, which violated our principle. We tried to back out of buying the house, but the real estate agent refused to return our deposit, thinking she could force us to buy. We swallowed hard and gave up that money, knowing that in the long term we would benefit. (We actually got the deposit back 6 months later when another person purchased the house. Thankfully God decide to teach us that lesson a bit softly!) We knew that when we did buy a house, we would need to find one with a guest wing that would help cover most of the costs. A couple of years later, we found a house that fit the description and bought it. We were able to rent out one unit at below market rate to a needy family and still have enough to make our house payment on one salary.
We were still only 25 years old and our mortgage seemed like an enormous sum. But we were fairly sure that the housing market in our area was near the bottom and should improve. It turned out that when we sold the house, the market had soared. The increase on that house went from 10.2 million Ksh purchase price in 1996 to a 45.2 m Ksh selling price in 2005. We couldn’t believe it—God had just poured 35 million shs in our laps!
By investing all of the money we gained from selling that house (minus what we spent on a celebratory dinner), we knew we would be able to move to Africa, and live using only the interest from those investments. We are now receiving an annual investment income of about 2 m per year. As long as we keep our spending low, we do not need to touch the principle on our investments.
We also separately invested 10% of the money from the house sale to use as a tithe. That tithe money has turned out to be SOOO much fun! It’s been great to bless people with large surprises (like a car) and small surprises. We are also able to tithe on a monthly basis from our investment income. We have been able to assist one Christian worker who is bringing people to the Lord and discipling them each week, preaching at her church, and ministering to women with AIDS. We have also been able to pay school fees for one orphan, and are starting a matching investment program with our house-helper so her young son will be able to get a good education.
Now that we have seen what God has done, Pst. Oscar’s sermon series has further challenged us in this – he asked us to pray for God’s financial blessing on the ministries we support. One of my friends runs a home for 40 Kenyan boys who had been living on the street. Expenses to pay for school fees, a house parent, a counselor, a car and food run to about 2.9m Ksh per year. That ministry is constantly hand-to-mouth and wondering where the next round of school fees is going to come from. I’ve have been prompted to pray. If God raised up 44 m Ksh, a 7% interest from that investment would cover all costs for those boys indefinitely and they would not have to ask for more money (except for a “dream account”). I received anointing oil on my hands two weeks ago and I’m trusting God to continue to bless the work of my hands, and the hands of our extended families, to serve kingdom purposes. |
