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“Stop Being Anxious”

“Our bank account was wiped out along with the savings we held in the names of our children. For many months we were without income.”

● I was running a school in a rural area in India, and it was doing very well. At one time approximately 500 students were enrolled there. Then, a prestigious school in the city began sending buses to our area, and they made admission into their school easy. Understandably, many of my students transferred to the city school. In fact, the number of students at my school dropped from about 500 to about 60. Making matters worse, near that time a school official backed out of a financial agreement we had, and he still owed me money. With a large number of school staff to pay, I faced a financial crisis.

We sat down as a family and discussed the situation. We all showed a self-sacrificing spirit as we strove to follow Jesus’ admonition to keep a ‘simple eye’ financially—in other words, not to take on more than we could handle. (Matthew 6:22, 25) For a time we had to stop using our car because of the cost of gasoline and maintenance. We lowered our food expenses by shopping in the late evening, when the price of remaining foodstuffs is reduced. We also cut back on the number of items we ate for each meal.

We are Jehovah’s Witnesses, and as such we feel it is important to gather together with fellow believers at Christian meetings. (Hebrews 10:25) So although our financial situation was difficult, we resolved not to miss meetings and assemblies—even if it meant traveling long distances. Our ministry—which involves teaching people about the Bible—includes going to distant territories. We used a motor scooter instead of a car for this work. Of course, no more than two could ride the motor scooter at a time.

But this didn’t mean we spent less time in the ministry. On the contrary, both my wife and our daughter began spending more time talking to others about the Bible. They sometimes walked four to five miles [six to eight kilometers] each way to conduct home Bible studies with interested ones. My son and I also made efforts to spend more time teaching others about the Bible.

Things are now a bit better for us financially. From our ordeal, though, we have learned as a family not to place too much importance on material possessions. We also learned not to be overly anxious about things over which we have no control. We have found Psalm 55:22 to be particularly encouraging. It states: “Throw your burden upon Jehovah himself, and he himself will sustain you. Never will he allow the righteous one to totter.” Those words proved to be 100 percent true during our period of financial stress!—Contributed.