If you’ve lost your job, if your house is in foreclosure, if credit card debt is eating you up, the stress is genuine. You can’t take two aspirins, go to bed and wake-up the next morning, feeling better. The stress will be there, waiting for you.
What can you do? Maybe, you can try the following:
Twenty years ago, I received a letter from the State of Kentucky stating that I owed $40,000 in back taxes. They gave me two weeks before they would begin law suits and placing liens on our home, auto, first-born child, second-born child and whatever.
I phoned the Kentucky Tax Commission and discovered that I had failed to file a Kentucky State Income Tax form for seven years earlier. I apologized and told them that at best I owed them five hundred dollars. And of course, they said, “Prove it.”
Sadly, I had thrown out our Kentucky tax stuff when we moved to Iowa. So, I was forced to call the Federal IRS center and ask for copies of our past forms. They said they would put the info in the mail.
Well, as you know, federal bureaucracy moves very, very slowly. It took ten months for them to finally tell me that all tax forms over six years of age had been destroyed.
In the mean time, the state of Kentucky was beating on my head like a bongo drum. Their final offer was that they would settle for $5,000 and gave me fourteen days to come up with the money.
Owing $5,000 is better than owing $40,000, but when you have $0, it doesn’t really make much difference. The end result is still the same.
So, I fasted and prayed. After a while, the Lord gave me this plan:
(1) Write a letter to the State of Kentucky offering to pay them $500. Not one penny more. Take it or leave it.
(2) Also, write a covenant letter to the Lord, stating that this problem had been placed in His hands, according to the dictates of 1 Peter 5:7. And that He needed to take care of it because it was no longer in my hands.
I sent letter #1 to Kentucky and placed letter #2 on my bedroom dresser. Whenever fear hit me – which was often – I would run into the bedroom, place my hand on the letter and remind the Lord of our covenant. Peace would instantly drown out my fears.
What happened?
The state of Kentucky offered me a better deal than I offered them. They allowed me to pay four monthly payments of $125 and interest-free.
Will this work for you? Why not? Our Lord is a covenant-making God who wants us to cast our cares on Him because He cares for us ( 1Peter 5:7).
Larry Who 
Pingback: Economic Worries? Try This. « Larry Who