Finding Your Financial Path

Lately I've been I've been losing sleep doing a financial plan on the "Holy Bible" app on my phone and I've really really enjoyed it and thought that some of you may find this interesting. It's a 28 day long plan to help you along any type of financial journey you may be traveling right now. Every day there is a devotional to read as well as different scriptures, questions to ask yourself, and a prayer that you can say. This is going to get kind of religious, preachy, Christiany, churchy, or whatever you'd like to call it and I'm sorry if you're offended in any way I'm sorry, but I've learned A LOT from this plan and I think people who don't consider themselves as religious could get a lot from this information too.

I started this plan on October 15th and I am 15 days into it. This post will be kind of long because I have so many days to catch you all up on - I'm sorry in advance. I will basically sum up what the content is saying and then add the prayer (they are very short, sweet, and to the point), scriptures, and questions to the end of it so that you may choose to follow along with me if you would like to.

Day 1: Following Jesus is Radical

Jesus asked Matthew, a tax collector, to follow him and Matthew sold all of his things and followed him. As a result of this Matthew became one of Jesus' closest friends. One day a rich man told Jesus he wanted eternal life and Jesus told him to sell all his things and give to the poor. The rich man went away because he wasn't willing to trade his lavish lifestyle for the lifestyle God had planned for him. Jesus gives everyone the same invitation to follow him that he gave to Matthew and the rich man. He calls us everyday to submit all aspects of our lives to him including our finances.

Questions:

1. Have you ever made the decision to follow Jesus?

2. What area of your finances is God calling you to surrender to him?

3. What is one way you can follow God's will for you life today?

Scriptures:

Matthew 9:9-13

Matthew 19:16-26

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, give me the courage to follow You wherever You lead.

Day 2: Everything Belongs to Jesus

When we work hard for something like a paycheck, new car, house, smartphone, etc. we feel a sense of ownership over it. The truth is that the earth and all things in it belong to the Lord. Everything we have is a blessing from God, and what we do with it matters to Him. Jesus tells the story of a master who gave money to several servants and when one servant didn't do a good job managing it he took it away and gave it to the other servant who had been diligent over his money. We must prove that we are trustworthy with what God has given us to that we may be trusted with more!

Questions:

1. Have you ever thought about the fact that everything you own belongs to the Lord? How does that change the way you make financial decisions?

2. If God were to look at your finances today, would He see you as a faithful manager? Why or why not?

3. What is one thing you can do today to be a better manager of the wealth God his given you?

Scripture:

Matthew 25:14-30

Psalm 24:1

Prayer:

Jesus, everything I have is Yours and everything I am I owe to You. Help me to be a good steward of what You have given me.

Day 3: It's Not About Me

In ancient Middle Eastern culture, servants were a common part of the household. They were treated like employees but sometimes, if the master was kind, the servants would be treated like a privileged member of the family. No matter what kind of relationship they had though the servant was always responsible to the master. It was the servant's job to complete tasks that the master wanted accomplished. Before you meet Jesus you are a slave to sin but he saves us through his death and resurrection. We are no longer slaves to sin but through Jesus, we are servants to God. God welcomes us into his family and gives us His inheritance. Which means we get to be part of His kingdom. He calls us to be faithful servants and it's not our job to question His plans. Our role is to obey Him and joyfully do the work He's given us.

Questions:

1. Do you think of yourself as God's servant? Why or why not?

2. When it comes to money, who's the boss of you bank account? How can you put God in charge of your spending this month?

3. What three changes can you make this week to be a more faithful servant?

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 4:1-2

Galatians 4:1-7

Prayer:

Jesus, thank You for making a way for me to join God's family. Help me to trust You as my master. Help me to be a good steward of what You have given me.

Day 4: Jesus Says We Should Tithe

When it comes to honoring God with our money, the first step is to tithe. Tithing is bringing your first 10% of your income back to God through the local church. When we bring back a percentage of our money, we thank God, show hat we trust Him and fight against greed by putting God first in our finances. Many believe that they "can't afford to tithe." The truth is everyone can afford this. God promises to provide for our every need and asks us to trust Him with what He's already given to us.

Questions:

1. Are you tithing? Why or why not?

2. What does it say about God that He owns everything, but only wants us to return 10%?

3. Who are you trusting to provide for your family? What would it look like to trust God to provide?

Scripture:

Malachi 3:1-10

Matthew 23:23

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, give me courage to always put You first in my finances. Thank You for giving generously to me even though I don't deserve it. 

Day 5: God Doesn't Need Our Money

When it comes to giving gifts, the point isn't the gift itself. The point is the heart of the giver. When you meet Cain & Able in the bible you will see that Cain begrudgingly gave leftovers from his harvest but Abel gave God his most valuable animals in his flock. Abel's gift came from a love and desire to please God, Cain's did not. God gave Cain a chance to change his heart and warned him of the sin waiting to overcome him, but Cain grew angry and became jealous and murdered Abel which led him to being condemned in God's presence. Giving is a heart issue. God doesn't want us to give to Him so we can check off a task. He also doesn't want us to give less then our best. He wants us to give from a faithful heart that desires to please Him. God doesn't need our gift, He wants our heart.

Questions:

1. Are you giving to a local church? Why or why not?

2. What is your motivation for giving?

3. Do your reasons for giving reflect a heart that loves God? If yes, how so? If not, what needs to change?

Scripture:

Genesis 4

Prayer:

Jesus, thank You for caring more about the condition of my heart than the size of my gift.

I will stop there for now on this post and will do days 6-10 on my next one! I don't want you all to get super bored. If you would like some free resources and also a free monthly and weekly budget planner please click on the link below.

Budget Website

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this and hopefully join my on this plan. It's helped me out tremendously and I hope it does that same for you

xoxo

-k

He Works in Mysterious but Amazing Ways

Since the last time I posted there have been quite a few changes made in mine & Ross' lives. First off, we started going to church! I've always wanted to go but ever since he was little and had bad experiences with judgmental people in his church he never wanted to go. I met a lady named Rachel at my work and on her last day we started talking about God and going to church. I asked her what church her and her family attended and she said "The Bridge." I had always been interested in attending that church because it wasn't your everyday traditional type of place. She said we were welcome to join them anytime and I told her I would ask Ross but to not hold her breath. Much to my surprise he said yes!! He said he still wasn't into the while religious aspect of going but he wants to meet more good people and start becoming a better person himself. That's good enough for me :)

I've went three times now and he's went twice and we LOVE it. I was so shocked and he said we could continue going back every Sunday! When you get there you're greeted in the parking lot, they serve donuts and coffee, and you start the service off with a live band and beautiful current worship songs (as well as some traditional). The pastor used everyday experiences in his sermon which is so so so nice. He also uses scripture from the bible but says them in ways that aren't hard to understand. There is always so much power in that room when he speaks and when everyone is worshipping! I truly feel like God brought me and Rachel together to help us make a change. 

Another big thing that happened is we got moved into the new house! Not our new house but Ross' parent's new house. They are letting us have the entire basement to ourselves, which includes a shower, sink, complete kitchen, living room area, and even a separate bedroom! We're so blessed. We moved most of our things in yesterday and basically got the living room and kitchen all set up, just have a few more things we have to get taken care of before moving into the bedroom.

We also celebrated out 5 year anniversary on the 24th of September! To recognize that day we decided to get professional photographs taken since we've never had that done before. If you're in the Southeast Iowa area I HIGHLY recommend Leslie Cook. She is very affordable and so much fun to work with, not to mention our pictures turned out amazing! Click HERE to check out her website. I will be posting some of our pictures once we get the CD purchased from her. I can't wait for you all to see them.

We're still in school and we just hit the midway point. It's hasn't been too hard up until now but I can tell that the second half of the term is going to be much more stressful then the first half. I have to pick up more/longer shifts at work due to losing some employees so that's going to be hard for awhile trying to juggle that plus get my homework done, and still get up at 6:45 to go to school. Oh well, you do what you got to do I suppose. I just keep thinking of the end result and how much happier I'll be after it's all over and knowing that I stuck with it.

Question Time: It seems like the hardest thing for me to do is time management. What are some ways you guys deal with a heavy schedule? How are you able to juggle school, work, homework, plus a family, friends, working-out, etc.?

xoxo
-K