Did you ever have a financial miracle?

amother

Lotus

Wed, May 24 2023, 4:15 pm

amother Petunia wrote:

I had an unplanned pregnancy and I'm on partial bedrest. I need to hire cleaning help and a mother's helper and I have medical expenses and I can't drive (also expensive)

I'm on SNAP. I can't afford help.

And someone asked to rent my falling apart almost 15 year old minivan, which I now can't drive, for $900/month. Which almost exactly covers my extra expenses.

If that's not a miracle, I don't know what is.

Our landlord refuses to do fixes so we had to do one ourselves and take it off rent (legal in every way). He didn't like that so he deposited a check he wasn't supposed to have, draining our account.

Around paycheck time the following month (a very lean month since I had only one week's paycheck, having come back from maternity leave), we received a surprise deposit of nearly 5k - negative income tax (for 2021) that I'd filled out a request for online, a week and a half earlier. We'd never expected to receive it so quickly - his request for 2022, sent in a few months ago, is still pending.

I'm praying for a miracle that the money the IRS owed us and sent us a check for actually arrive. I think it got lost in the post. It's over $2k, so pretty significant.

---

A couple years ago we decided to move to a more expensive city. DH found a job there, my job is remote, but we still didn't know how we'd afford the increased expenses. Just as we were wondering this, about a month and a half before the move, my boss told me I'd be getting a raise of 12.5% - pretty much making up the deficit we hadn't known how we would cover.

amother

Pear

Wed, May 24 2023, 4:16 pm

Yesssss... many, many times.
Usually from the least expected places.

Apart from being meticulous with maáser, as mentioned above (we calculate every penny of our income and tithe 10% at the least...), a big segulah for increased parnassah is to say Birkas Hamazon after meals with carefully, with extra intent, and with a deep feeling of joy/gratitude.

I've also heard that when/if you are ever challenged with a stressful situation in which your natural instinct is to feel angry, then that can sometimes mean Hashem wants to send you shefa and the satan is doing his best to prevent you from receiving that brocho, for the "vessel" that holds blessing is Shalom - peace.

amother

Aquamarine

Wed, May 24 2023, 4:20 pm

I don't know...I haven't seen any miracles... Always struggling to pay bills.... Not even possible to give maaser as we never have enough just for basics... The one time I thought I might see a miracle, an uncle passed away and we were supposed to get a small yerusha, it got held up in court and we haven't seen anything....I always wonder what Hashem wants from us, chassidish lifestyle is very expensive, expected to have lots of kids, no education, getting married without the man having a job first.... Doesn't make sense.

amother

Lemonchiffon

Wed, May 24 2023, 4:42 pm

We have been meticulous to maaser 20% of our earnings for a few years now and I have also been reciting birchas hamazon with more kavanah, however, the bracha has yet to come.

I keep reminding myself that Hashem can do anything, k'heref ayin, and I try hard to keep believing that we will be zoche to a financial miracle soon. I hope to be able to share the good news with all of you in the near future.

amother

Ballota

Wed, May 24 2023, 4:57 pm

im still waiting for mine. I have to be out of my apartment at the end of June. I have no money to move and nowhere to move to. I believe that hashem will find us a place to go. but for now I feel pretty hopeless. although it was pretty miraculous that I got erap, and figured out how to pay for other small expenses.

Highstrung

Wed, May 24 2023, 5:02 pm

Like I mentioned above , I notice Hashem’s hand even when I appear to have losses . It’s not only when I see the positive miracles. The losses are miracles too, all designed by HaShem. Just last week I was thinking to myself “Baruch HaShem one of my kids tuition installments was the final one for the school year and now I have an X amount of money to pay down my CC bill. “. But HaShem had other plans and suddenly the valve on my toilet broke , this caused the water bill to sky rocket by $200 this month, plus a plumber came down to fix it for another $100 for the minute it took to fix and he needs to fix something else which he quoted $500 for plus parts . Basically the amount of the tuition installment. I could be bummed and say , “I always have losses” or I could look and see “Wow! HaShem really calculates and arranges everything so perfectly. It’s this month that I don’t have to pay the tuition for this kid , so in this month he sent me just enough issues to have bills that amount to that monthly payment . And now I have the monthly payment to cover it . Even though deep down I planned to use the funds the way I saw fit. HaShem wanted me to use it this way. When we notice HaShem’s hand , even with the sky high bill, the broken toilet and the leak in the boiler , it makes it so much easier to live when you struggle financially . We are always in the red . We have been for decades. Yet , I see the miracles and I know HaShem wants it to be this way. And I thank HaShem for giving me the ability to see the amazing hashgacha. It’s a blessing in itself .

amother

Purple

Wed, May 24 2023, 5:37 pm

We were down to $500 in our bank account and we had a bigger deficit each month even though we were living so simply.
My washing machine then overflowed and I called down a homeowners insurance appraiser who decided to give us money to replace our entire floor in the whole house because we lived in a ranch and if one small spot was ruined the whole thing would have to be replaced.
We got a $12,000 check. The floors were basically fine and we only had to spend $700 on them.

amother

Pansy

Wed, May 24 2023, 5:38 pm

All the time. DH's job is commission-based and I'm freelance. Every time we pay our rent it's another miracle. You can argue that it's not much of a miracle, but being that there are leaner months, the fact that we have rent, utilities and food every single month is a serious miracle.

Years ago when we were really struggling we once had to drive somewhere and the car was almost out of gas. We parked at the gas station, turned off the car, and just waited. We didn't know what to do. The bank account was empty, the credit cards were all maxed out, and we had already borrowed all we could from the pushka. Less than 5 minutes later we got a notification on my phone that someone had paid us.

amother

Leaf

Wed, May 24 2023, 6:03 pm

Yes bh we’ve gotten a few times from seemingly no where money when we’ve least expected it. (FYI think Covid Stimulus checks). A few years ago we made a decent amount from a car accident where bh none of us were hurt but our insurance paid each adult a few thousand for pain & suffering and we had to sign a paper we won’t sue. Our car was also totaled so we made a decent amount on that by quickly buying the title from the company (it was a lease) and the insurance paid more than what we had to pay for the title to the car.

amother

Diamond

Thu, May 25 2023, 1:24 am

yep.
was newly divorced and had just gotten fired from my job. bank account was getting lower and lower and I didnt know how I was gonna continue covering my bills. out of the blue I got checks for over 3k in the mail from my mortgage company; I had just refinanced and apparently there was some overdraft or something I hadn't known abt.
a couple months ago I started being on top of maaser and I somehow out of nowhere started getting extra money every month.
and like 3 weeks ago I was in between jobs again, and again started getting nervous that my account was getting low. then I got my tax return super quickly, for a significantly higher amount than I was expecting.
theyre not very "dramatic" stories, but every time it happened I felt this wave of serenity, like Hashem was reminding me to stop worrying abt my finances cuz He was taking care of me.

amother

IndianRed

Thu, May 25 2023, 4:27 am

amother Indigo wrote:

I have always heard that being scrupulous with maaser is the key.

I also heard that in order to be scrupulous, you should give 20% of your income, which is extremely challenging.

My husband's business had a slower year last year. I decided to try giving 20% to tzedaka to see what would happen. B"H his business this year has picked up tremendously.

I wouldn't call this a "miracle" because it says clearly in the passuk, "Asser taaser" - bishvil she'tisasher (Give Maaser - Rashi - So that you should become rich)."

A miracle would be winning the lottery or applying for a job that pays you a ridiculous salary that you are unqualified for and getting it.

I feel like giving maaser (not just tzedaka, but actual maaser) is something that many people can do and will absolutely help.

Hatzlacha rabbah.

When ppl give maaser or a chomesh is that after expenses or on their salary? We were told maaser is after expenses, but wondering if that's not enough (tough times for us, would love to turn this around by giving more tzedaka)

Also what about expenses that come out of your paycheck, like health insurance premiums? Do you consider that income?

Also when rashi says that, does he mean literally rich or rich in mitzvos?

amother

Red

Thu, May 25 2023, 6:52 am

Yup,
Had a medical bill to the tune of thousands and rhousnds of doallrs that should never have come to us, should have been paid in full by insurance
After months and months of fighting them, one morning we called them again and they said, oh your bill was covered by insurance
And an unexpected amount had just come in from an investment- the exact same amount we would have needed!