We're slowly gearing up to 2018, and just had an impromptu budget meeting for January and wouldn't you know it, we found 300 DKK that we can save on a yearly basis.

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The benefit of monthly meetings

We would never have been able to cut those 300 out of our budget if it wasn't for our monthly meetings. You see, I'm the budget nerd in our house (who would have thunk it, right?!) and I've always been against this particular expense. It's a charitable donation we make each year and it's a been to a charity I've never felt called to support but it was laid in my husband's heart to do so while he served in the military. Both out of plain respect for him and his wishes as well as from my duty as a Christian wife, I folded after having voiced my thoughts once and having a talk about it with him.

Since then I've paid the donation each year, praying that the Lord will use it as part of shaping me as a better wife and believer. It's been a great exercise in trusting my husband's leadership.

I don't bring it up as an issue of debate anymore, I simply tell my husband that it is due for the upcoming month. This year was the first I didn't even complain about it on the inside. I just noticed it was there, told my husband and scheduled it to be paid.

Then my husband said something interesting: I don't think we should pay to that charity anymore... I asked him why and he said he wasn't sure but something had changed for him and he no longer felt called to do so.

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Adding it to the independence fund.

While this particular 300 DKK was part of our charitable giving and thus doesn't qualify as such for the independence fund, we still went ahead and added it, because it's part of taking care of your own family first - a biblical principle which we deeply believe in.

Lesson learned?

I can't say for sure why my husband felt called to give to this charity and I can't know for sure why he no longer feels that calling. All I can say with certainty is what I learned. I learned to trust my husband's judgement, even when it differs from my own. I learned that being submissive is difficult when you really disagree on something. I learned that prayer is a powerful tool and that our Father can fully change a heart. I never got used to the expense, I didn't get numb to it, but this year, for the first time, I fully submitted to my husband's wish. Not just outwardly, but in my soul too and this was the year our Father decided to take away the calling from my husband's heart. It makes you wonder, doesn't?