How to Overcome Being Broke
During their first year of marriage Josh and Liz saved enough money to move from Indiana to Redding California where they enrolled in Bethel’s school of ministry. But before long they were running out of money. Josh says, “We went with a lot of faith that God would do great things and it actually turned out to be very hard and I was stressed out about finances like most of the time.”
“Josh kept trying to get jobs while we were in Redding California and no jobs were coming.” Says Elizabeth.
“We really felt like if we didn't get financial provision, we'd have to go home down to – less than $5 and starting to get behind on some of the bills.” Says Josh
When there was income, Josh and Liz were always faithful to tithe. A discipline they both practiced since they were young. “We were both tithing like our whole life, so it wasn't ever a question of "should we stop tithing." No, we knew, like you honor God first and then uh he'll take care of everything else. So as long as there was income there, we tithed.” Says Elizabeth
With only a few dollars left and bills continuing to mount they stayed up all night praying for a miracle. The next day in class God answered their prayer when their teacher Chris Vallotton made an announcement. Elizabeth remembers, “’Anyone that is going to go home if money doesn't come in, uh stand up.’ And so Josh and I, of course, we stood up.”
“And then Chris Vallotton asked the other students to give money to the ones that needed it.” Says Joshua
“And a bunch of students swarmed us and we got a ton of money. And then from then on we had, you know, more miracles and just a consistent flow, miracles just kept coming.” Elizabeth recalls.
Josh remembers “I mean it was a direct answer to prayer. So we got enough money to encourage us and to keep going”
“He definitely showed up, Yeah!” says Liz.
They finished the year of school and moved back to Indiana where josh got a job in construction. Still they lived paycheck to paycheck. Frustrated, Josh turned to the Bible for answers. He says, “I'd get uh verses on financial provision, write them on 3x5 cards and-and memorize them, meditate on them. I saw it was His will in his Word to provide and bless his kids and I started to have faith for that.”
So, with new confidence they once again they turned to God for help when they needed an idea for a second income. Elizabeth says, “We both knelt down together by the bed and we asked God for a second income. I saw a picture in my mind of a honeybee and Josh saw a picture of a honey stick, and we saw it separately, and we'd never talked about beekeeping before.”
“What God was speaking to me was – that was honeybees would be a second income.” Says Josh
They began keeping bees and selling honey, they then moved to the Atlanta area and Josh added bee removal services. Soon, the business was thriving. He says, “At the time I had no idea what-what it would become. It was just almost started like a hobby more than a second income, but it grew it beyond my wildest expectations.”
Liz says, “Well, so what happened is we tripled our income, so – from what we had before.”
Josh and Liz believe their success stems from their commitment to trust God and tithe. One ministry they give to is CBN. Liz says, “We know in God's word that it says ‘give and it shall be given to you, pressed down, shaken together’ and so for us it uh – when we give to God and we look for good ground where we like ‘that's a good ministry to give to’ we know we're going to reap a good harvest. And when we have access to his generosity and we can ask for anything, we end up becoming generous. And we end up seeing that we could never out give God, ever.”
As they look to the future, Josh and Liz believe God will continue to provide, as they trust him with their lives and finances. Josh says, “I’m just confident that he'll-he'll provide and I don't have to worry. He says seek first his kingdom and everything will be added unto you. And I found that to be very true.”
