Budget...Ugh!

Most people cringe when they hear the word budget because they feel like it is some type of restraint. I like the idea of having a budget. Since money is tight, I want to make sure we spend it wisely, and a budget helps. However, I still cringe when I hear the word budget just because I don't like creating one. The process of making a budget is what I hate. I don't mind the living by a budget part.
For all of our 5+ married years, Paul and I have probably created 6,529 different budget plans and have yet to really stick to living by any one of them. That is about to change. It has to change. Since money is tight, we are going to have to be dilligent and be good managers of what God has entrusted to us.
This time around we are taking a different approach, the one we should have taken all along. God's will for our lives is to bring Him glory. Everything we do should be an act of worship to God. All that we own by the world's definition of ownership really doesn't belong to us. It is all His. He doesn't owe us anything. So, why haven't we consulted God in how to manage what is rightfully His? So many times we just sat down and logically created a budget. We'd punch some numbers in, and with the little we were working with, it never seemed to work out right. (It is truly by the Lord's blessing that we are not in debt up to our eyeballs. I don't know how He did it, but He has taken care of us financially when it seemed impossible. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!) A few days later, the budget might as well have been in the trash because we weren't really using it.
Again I ask, why haven't we consulted God in how to manage what is His? That will be the difference this time around. We are giving our budget over to God. We are seeking His wisdom (James 1:5). We are asking for God to transform us by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). I know this means that we are going to have to make some major changes in how we think and live, but I know that we will be better off.
I just want to add that creating a budget is not about finding security in money. I struggle with that. I'm learning to find my complete security in Christ. Creating a budget will help us to be better stewards of what we have been given, and therefore, we will be able to better invest in the Kingdom work of Christ.
I'm putting this out there not to bore you to death but for accountability purposes. I know this won't be easy. So, if you would like, pray for us as we create the budget. Pray that Paul and I will be of like mind with Christ. Pray that God will reveal areas that we haven't surrendered to Him. Pray that God will give us the strength to surrender all to Him. Pray that our minds will be focused on things of eternity and that we will view our "possessions" as avenues to invest in those eternal things.

"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for who I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ." Philippians 3:7-8 (Go read that chapter. It's good stuff. Seriously, go read it.)