Reader Stories: What to Do When You Are a Struggling Single Mom?
Sometimes the words single mom and struggle seems to mean the same thing. It’s hard to say one without thinking about the other. Everyday I read/hear about single moms who are struggling to make ends meet. I have been there and know how hard it is to look my kids in the face, knowing there is no money in the bank, no food in the cabinets, and no gas in the car. I know what it’s like to have the lights turned off and bill collectors calling. You may be facing this now, so I really want you to read the story below. A single mom sent this powerful testimony to me and wanted me to share it with you. What do you do when you are a struggling single mom? Pray…
God’s hand on a single mother…Karen’s Story
I will never forget Saturday morning January 12, 2013. I woke up with no money in my pocket, my bank accounts were negative and my fridge was so empty you could hear the echo if I stuck my head in it. I was on day 6 of reading my bible for 90 days and could feel the strength of God on the inside of me growing but the outside seemed hopeless.
I decided months ago that just paying my tithe every pay period wasn’t cutting it so I signed up for a program at my church called “Money Wise”. A part of this program is to have you meet up with the director so she can ask you some questions and pray to see which one of the many volunteer counselors she would be able to match you up with.
Well this Saturday my counselor was coming to meet me to discuss my finances which were just a mess. We sat down for 2 hours as I displayed the part of the bible that says “ my people perish for a lack of knowledge” because I didn’t know anything. All I knew was that I was in so much debt all built from being a single mother and not trusting God . You see, I was a survivor and never living or experiencing God as my Jehovah Jirah but today that was about to change.
That morning I woke up and prompted by a vision I went downstairs to explain to my children how the money I made came in and out of the house by demonstrating with monopoly money. They seemed to understand so we moved on to have some family time when my daughter said, “mommy what’s for breakfast?” I literally had nothing but a can of corn. Thank God she loves corn because that day that is what she ate a can of buttered corn, while me and my oldest ate nothing and my two youngest went to ask one of their friends for a package of noodles.
I told my kids that I was not being a good manager over the 90% that God was letting me keep and that the bible says if you’re not a good manager of the little, even the little would be taken. So I told them from this day they had one of two choices either get on the bandwagon with me to serve God by surrendering or get out. By their silence I believe everyone chose to get on the bandwagon with me. My oldest son said a simple prayer, “ God we don’t have anything, we need something, take care of us. Thank you. Amen. We continued on our day reading the bible, praying and just praising God we had forgot that we didn’t have dinner that night.
As I said earlier my counselor was coming over to discuss money management. She showed up and for 2 hours we discussed, planned, budgeted, set goals and I repented for my lack of knowledge, faith and no seeing God as my source. As we finished praying and my counselor was about to leave, she said to me, “We don’t normally do this but I am feeling led by the Lord to ask you how much gas do you have in your car? I said it is on “E” only enough to make it to the highway to pull over and wait for the local roadside assistance to give me a gallon of gas.
She said, “follow me”, and we went to the gas station where she put gas in my car. She then proceeded to tell me to follow her to the store and there she made me go up and down every aisle picking up the things I needed and wanted in multiples of two. By the time we got to the register I had two carts full of groceries!!!!! God is good but he didn’t stop there…
I went home, put those bags on the table, and me and my children took a moment and said, “Thank you God”. I asked each one of my children how they felt and one by one they expressed how amazing it was to see God’s hand move first hand. We had tacos and pizza that night and the only reason we had pizza was because it wouldn’t fit in our fridge.
Sunday came and we did our normal routine went to church, volunteered, and enjoyed the day as a family when I received a call from my counselor again asking me to meet her at a nearby Starbucks. Once I got there she handed me an orange envelope with my name on the front of it inside of the envelope was 200.00 of gas cards and 200.00 of groceries cards… Are you serious God!!! Ephesians 3:20 says God will do exceedingly and abundantly more than you can ever think of or ever ask. And God still was not finished.
On the outside of the envelope were the words “electric”, “water”, and “lease”. It meant that I would not have to worry about my electric bill that was behind a month, my water bill that was behind a month and my rent for next month would be paid as well.
God is good!! Awesome, amazing and he loves us. Here I am a single mother of 5 children, 4 that actually are home with me, one income that is being garnished at 35% for an upside down car note because I had to buy from a “buy here ,pay here” place. I had to just throw my hands up and say God I surrender. The moment I did God said, “thank you for moving out of my position”, and did the unthinkable.
I don’t know where you are as a single mother but I know it can be frustrating and embarrassing at times but trust me God wants to do things for us if we would only surrender and let him. It was so hard for me to throw up my hands up, but I am so thankful that I finally did and thank God because that was my last can of corn.
I am excited to finish in my journey of the money wise program to see how God is going to move on all of these debts and my one crave that I am asking God for daily is to get rid of this horrible car note that I got myself in to do the unthinkable again and have this $10,963.45 balance removed from my life.
Thank you God for looking down on a single mother and being faithful!!
On the outside of the envelope were the words “electric”, “water”, and “lease”. It meant that I would not have to worry about my electric bill that was behind a month, my water bill that was behind a month and my rent for next month would be paid as well.Do you believe in the power of prayer? How has it helped you during the times you struggled the most? Talk about it in the comments below.
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