I was desperate that day. We were in a really tough place financially. And I didn’t know what to do.

So I fell on my knees in our apartment closet and cried out to God to please help me figure out anything I could do to bring in some more income.

I had tried so many things — babysitting, working as a mother’s helper, mystery shopping, working as a virtual assistant, teaching creative writing classes, selling on eBay.

I tried to start a business teaching violin lessons (what I had done for years before we moved after we got married). I put ads in various newsletters and then waited — and didn’t get one single call.

It sometimes felt like God had abandoned me. Didn’t He see how hard we were working, how diligently I was applying to every single opportunity, and how many sacrifices we were making in order to stay out of debt and be wise with our money??

I pasted Scripture about God’s faithfulness above the kitchen sink where I spent so much time washing dishes. I would read the verses and pray them back to the Lord — reminding Him of our great needs and of Who He had promised to be.

And you know what?

While money was super tight in those years, we saw God answer our desperate prayers time and again — sometimes in the form of a really amazing deal at the grocery store, sometimes with a side job to cover the bills, and a few times it was even random cash that showed up unexpectedly.

God is rarely early but always on time. And that was true again and again.

In addition, we learned to practice gratitude, become so much more deeply content, and think way outside the box.

In fact, it was in those years (and because of our need to be super creative to stretch our income!) that I first discovered this thing called the Drugstore Game — where you could get paid to buy all sorts of household products at CVS and Walgreens by stacking sales and coupons and rebates. Guess what??

Over time, I started helping friends learn how to play the Drugstore Game, and one thing led to another, and I eventually started this blog to teach others how to play it, too. I thought the blog was going to be a small side thing I did in addition to all the other things I was doing.

Little did I dream that God was going to blow up the blog to much to use those hard years and what I learned as the catalyst for a blog and online business that would eventually be our family’s full-time income!

If you are in a desperate place right now, I want to remind you: God hasn’t forgotten you. He is working in the waiting — possibly in ways that are far beyond what you could ever dream or imagine for yourself.

He is rarely early but always on time. And He can be trusted!

If you want to read more of our story and a bunch of the really outside-the-box ways we made do and stretched our dollars, I share our story in depth in my new book, The 7 Habits of Financially Healthy Women.

My heart and hope is that this book not only gives you inspirational encouragement, but also serves as a step-by-step guide for how to move from a place of financial stress to financial confidence.