The Counselor Who Never Checked the Market

When the 2008 financial crisis gutted retirement accounts across Denver, Margaret Alston did something her neighbors found baffling. She kept her phone off financial news channels, drove to her office at the community mental health clinic, and saw every client on her schedule — half of them pro bono. Her husband David did the same at his accounting practice downtown, offering free tax help to families facing foreclosure.

Their friends panicked. Portfolios evaporated. Two couples on their block put houses up for sale. But Margaret told her small group one Wednesday evening, "The Lord hasn't changed His mind about us since Tuesday." She wasn't naive — she and David had lost a third of their savings overnight. But they had spent thirty years building something the Dow Jones couldn't measure: a reputation so trustworthy that when families in their church fell apart under financial stress, they came to the Alstons' kitchen table first.

A decade later, their two sons both serve in ministry. Their home is still the place where neighbors bring their worst news. And Margaret still doesn't check the market before deciding how much to give.

Psalm 112 describes exactly this kind of person — one whose heart is steady, who will not be afraid of bad news, because their trust is anchored in the Almighty. Their generosity doesn't rise and fall with the economy. Their righteousness endures because it was never built on a portfolio. It was built on the fear of the Lord.