This “draft” was written in 2017 – so long ago, but it is actually something I think about quite often. A great example of how trials often work out to be blessings! The cover photo was taken during our plasma-selling years. I don’t know how well it will show up so I will add it at the end… which is good since this post was never completed – it ends mid-sentence…. You can make up your ending, but make it a happy one!

The title is terrible.  I came up with it, I don’t like it… and there’s nothing else.  The blessings I am contemplating are actually those of greatest value.  It’s just that some of them come from having a low budget.

Do financial setbacks seem to haunt your life?  I have a dear friend who fits this description.  However – a couple days ago she shared with me a new aspect of her situation.  Not long ago she was praying about finances and she had the impression that this was for the benefit of her children!  How is that for a fresh look at things?  Just like that… this “trial” has become a blessing!!  I felt myself lightened with the prospect… and it isn’t even my trial!  The fresh outlook has brightened many aspects of my own life the past few days.

I have a lot to say about blessings – but I thought I would first reflect on some blessings that have resulted from our low-budget days.  A little background – we were both full-time students when we married.  I graduated two years later but our first baby was born a week after graduation.  I worked for a year, but then went part-time as soon as I could. I had another baby a year before Mark finished graduate school.  We were committed to having mom at home full-time and we lived on a very meager budget for many years to make this happen.  Here are just a few of the results that we count as our blessings:

Since we made it on our own at college, we know that our kids can do it also.  Those were great years for us and we see them working hard and enjoying the rewards of making their own way in life at a young age.

Even the 0.99 cent menu would have killed our budget – so we simply never ate out.  This has been a great blessing!  Of course I had to learn to cook with simple ingredients.  I was already raised this way and just carried on.  My kids ate healthy foods and were well behaved.  Any parent who doesn’t think fast food and prepared snacks affect their kids’ behavior?  Try life without it for a month – I guarantee you will see change.  We used to use these other foods as a special snack – but I could almost always see the negative impact on their behavior.  Now that I am older, I love the fact that I don’t like to eat fast food.  Yuck.  I also don’t like to spend money eating out – we do it rarely and usually with good friends.  I don’t mind going out – but I have to force myself to spend the money!  I still think about how many gallons of milk we could be buying.

When I had two little boys I used to take them to Target.  We would have a lot of fun going up and down the toy aisle.  We never bought anything and they never knew they could ask for anything.  We just had fun together.  They have never been the type of children who ask for things.  To this day their “wish lists” for birthdays are so sweet.  They make me smile.  They are also careful with their own money.

Those are just a few blessings that I have observed from what we call our early years.  We used to wait until the last minute to turn on lights and go to bed early to save electricity.  Gasoline was used sparingly.   Coupons were clipped.  We dreamed of the day we could buy ice cream along with our other groceries.  My sweet husband used to walk, in his suit, to sell his plasma during his lunch hour.   This was our grocery money.

GOOD TIMES!

I can say that now – but we used to be incredibly stressed over our financial situation.  We were very happy, we laughed and had fun, but we could not see the end.  We didn’t realize the blessings that this trial would bring to our future family.

So many of us say that two of the greatest blessings would be health and financial stability.    We’ve learned that health trials are the source of rich blessings.  Financial issues can bless our