Sometimes I ask why?

Growing up I watched my parents struggle financially. My mom was a stay at home mother of 5 kids and my dad was in the ministry so there was never alot of extra money. We paid bills and survived pretty much. But we never went without either. But in order to help out my parents started putting alot of stuff on credit cards. And I've watched them struggle to get out of debt now for years. And I swore that once I was out on my own and/or married I would never go into debt other then "safe debt" like purchasing a home. When I moved out of my parents home I lived with my grandparents and had a part time job while I went to school, and I never used a credit card, not once. I didn't have a lot of extra money but I had enough to take care of what I needed too. When my hubby and I got married we both decided that we never wanted to be in debt and that both of us would do whatever it took to keep us out of debt. Things have been very tight at time, literally down to our last dollar yet God has always provided for us. We've never been without! Even though we only have one car it's completely paid for, no car payment! We don't own our own home yet but we pay out rent every month. We are never behind each month. All our bills are paid on time and with cash. Quite a feat when you have a child and I don't work. I do "odd jobs" and help my parents out with stuff for their ministry to earn extra money to help out but for the most part my hubby pays for every thing with his job. He works hard, long hours and I am so proud of him. And I'm very proud of the fact that we have managed for fours years to stay out of debt. In fact, up until a few months ago we didn't even own a credit card. We do now simply because we want to build credit in order to purchase a home in the upcoming future. But we only make purchases we know we can pay off each month. It's hard sometimes when you see other people, people your age, doing things, purchasing things, going places that you can't. But at the same time I know that we don't have to worry about all the money we owe to someone else. I'd rather be patient and purchase what we want when we have the money in hand. I know that the whole idea is a novel concept to most people my age but it's a good thing! We can't expect to have everything right away, we have to earn it and work for it. That's how it used to be done. I hope and pray that we can instill that concept into Gianna. Don't get me wrong, there are days I wish I could snatch up the credit card and run out and buy clothes and jewelry and shoes and new Cd's. There are days I wish I could snatch it up and go out to eat when I don't have the money. I wish I could take it and buy Gianna's lots of cool toys and new clothes. But somehow I would just feel guilty walking around in clothes or playing with toys I knew we hadn't actually paid for...or that in the end would probably cost me double what they were. Some days I'm embarrassed to say "No, we can't...." because I know we don't have any money. Or that what money we do have is going to pay bills. But somehow I've never felt like we were really poor! We have a nice place to live, a car that runs well, clothes on our backs and food in the cabinets. It angers me to hear people say "Oh I know exactly what you mean" when I know they don't. When I see what they spend and how they spend I know they have no idea what it's like not be able to just do whatever they want, whenever they want. I'm learning so much patience, yet I think I appreciate the new things we do buy and the times we do get to go out even more then other would!!! I'm thankful we are living debt free!