I grew up in a small town in W.Pennsylvania. My father was a coal monorail and my mother was a full time housewife taking care of us six children. We lived on my fathers meager income and our $.05 cent weekly allowance did not go far. We never had much but never missed what we didn’t have. However we always had a roof our heads nor did we ever miss a meal.
My father taught us of hard work. We never had anything done for us but learned to do them for ourselves. I had worked in our garden all summer, took the vegetables around town in a wagon to raise money for school clothes. These were the days when if we wanted a car we had to get a job and pay for it. New cars were out of the question. We only purchased what we could afford to pay for ourselves and contribute to the household expenses.
My father not only taught me hard work but about giving. We only had one vehicle growing up. for my first date my dad let me use the car and gave me $3.00. $1.00 for gas and $2.00 for a good time. This was on a Wednesday and payday was on Friday. I didn’t realize until later the he had given me his last $3.00 until payday.
I carried these work ethics and giving into my career. It took a lot longer for the giving part to come but when it did, it became the most important aspect of any prosperity I have ever experienced.
With only a high school education I was limited in career opportunities. I became a highway inspector, lab technician a a Plutonium laboratory and then into sales with a large insurance company. I became fairly successful in working 13 years of the 19 years in working 60 to 70 hours per week.
I then started my own Insurance agency from scratch using the skills I have learned. During that period with the large insurance company I had taken bible classes and achieved a degree enabling me to obtain my ministers license. I have been bi-vocational ever since.
I decided to specialize in church property and liability insurance with a christian company which God had used to bring blessings into my life that would prove to be beyond my imagination.
When having to balance between my Insurance business and ministry for many years of struggles I have put the Insurance business. I justified that by telling myself I had to make sure I had food on the table and roof over our heads. I had come to a very low point in my life where I was considering bankruptcy. It was at that time I made a decision to put God first. when I did that in word, thought and deed that God really began to bring great blessings and prosperity into my life.
If you have ever been there or facing hard times financially please don’t go through another school of hard knocks. Get a copy of my book, Should Christians Prosper, and learn how He can do the same for you.
Author, Minister, Insurance Agency Owner, Real Estate Investor, Retired,Public Speaker