What a difference. . .

I don't know if I ever stopped to realize how detremental my financial situation really was to me. Now that things have slowed down a bit and I'm in a position where I feel very comfortable and in control of my finances, it's a bit refreshing to look back. I feel more peaceful, I awake without having to worry about bills to pay. Therefore, I don't drag as much in the morning, which helps me get out the door for work on time. Since I'm hitting the road on time, I get to work early, which means I'm not rushing to log onto the phones. That makes me a bit calmer and in a much better mood during the day, which also means I don't have the urge to come home and just fall asleep after work. It's so odd to look back and see how much stress was caused just by finances.

That's the one thing no one prepares you for when you move out, although your parents may have tried to teach you to be responsible from day one. No one tells you just how alluring credit cards are. How quick the month ends and those payments can become do. No one told me anything about interest rates or loans that I could take to free myself from debt. No one explained to me that the collections officer could be your best friend or worst enemy.

It's just another thing I had to learn. And I guess that's what the hardest part was. It wasn't a lack of Faith; if anything, God consistently proved himself faithful as I struggled. It wasn't blaming my parents; they had taught me all I needed to know growing up. It was the adjustment that comes with living under responsibility. It was learning that money isn't just a thing to blow on DVDs or CDs anymore. It's something that, over the past year, I've really learned the value of. It's something I hope to be more responsible with, grateful for, and less dependent on.

The common complaint from people my age (and I've voiced this many times as well) is that we're not given any guidebook once we turn 18. We think once we become adults that suddenly we'll have all the answers. We think that our parents were just born with the knowledge they had and that we're being cheated. We don't realize that so much of life is learning. So much of it is on-the-job training, so to speak. Like Indiana Jones said, we're making this up as we go along. We're winging it.

I, for one, like that idea. Because I believe we're not really winging it too far. God has written our days out for us. For now, we need to take it one step at a time and trust that he'll provide us with everything we need for the next step. But we should never stop learning.

Well, that's it for now. Weekend sort of starts tomorrow, although I'm picking up another Saturday shift, although it's only 7:30-4:00, so it's not too bad. Tomorrow night we may get dinner with my sister before she leaves, and then Erin is going to come over to watch the Olympics. Saturday after work Jeremy Camp and Sanctus Real are in concert, so me and Christina are going to go check that out. Sunday is church and then we start all the fun over again!

C.D.