Faith is not something we only exercise when we are in trouble. Faith is a lifestyle of living in a trusting and harmonious relationship with God. These are some strong words I took from my notes at church on Sunday. The title was: Back to the Fundamentals.
The Pastor started out talking about the Dallas Cowgi.. err, Cowboys! (For those of you sports challenged like me, they are not doing good at all this season) Pastor says that the head coach announced that they need to ‘Get back to the fundamentals’ Back to the basics. He said they will probably hold up a football to tell the guys what in fact a football is. Then he went on to say when we are not liking the outcome of our situation then something must be wrong! Dave Ramsey (& I’m sure someone else said) You will keep getting what you’ve been getting if you keep doing what you’ve been doing.
I know God is the source of everything. He is the reason I am here & he is the reason for my complete being. I started this Dave Ramsey class with very right intentions. I want to spend my money wisely & ultimately have more money to give!
‘For everyone who has will be given more and he will have abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him’ -Matthew 25:29
The thing I have found to be struggling with these past couple weeks is… faith! We filled out our ‘basic quickie budget form’ and then completed our ‘full blown budget’ and ‘monthly Cash flow planning sheets’. I recheck it once a week to make sure I haven’t made any errors. We are strict in our envelope approach & things should be smooth sailing from here, right? Sure! If we had enough to fill even our basic envelopes! Our at least that’s what I’ve been complaining about anyway. With Jared’s job, his income is unpredictable so we cannot allot where money goes until we actually get it. (FPU has a great Irregular Income Planning sheet for people like us) Long story short we went about 3 1/2 weeks waiting for a ‘check$’… something seemed to keep happening to delay the check from making it our way so we could fill our envelopes!! And our envelopes are very basic right now(groceries, gas, baby needs, etc) since we are on the ‘hard core debt free’ plan. I have found when my envelopes are not full I get very grumpy. 🙁 I should not be grumpy. One of my favorite verses is in Matthew 6:25-34 ‘For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, & the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
All this grumpiness/worry & low and behold, Jared gets another check that pulls us out of last month and almost completes the month of November. Duh Rachel, God will provide!! Just like I know He is providing for us to get out of debt, I know he is meeting our basic needs too! Do NOT think you can do FPU alone. You can try, but it wont work. Your heart has to be in the right place. And if it’s not, God will give you a little nudge to get you on the right track.
SO FAR THIS MONTH, GOD HAS PROVIDED AMPLE OPPORTUNITIES FOR EXTRA GET OUT OF DEBT MONEY!! AND I’M THANKFUL…
-$55 – Jared sold some dragon stuff he used to collect
-$15- I sold some birthday figurines that I bought at a garage sale forever ago
-$32- Motivational signs we had as decoration in the house
-$10- An old wii game we no longer play
-$45- Baby Bjorn, I decided I like my Moby better and will never use the BB again
-$100- Jared’s guitar, he doesn’t have much time to play right now anyway
-$134- leftover from our electric fund this month! woohoo
-$50- Photoshoot
This is not all for this month! We are hitting gazelle intensity every single month! To find out about gazelle intensity
Click here!
If I haven’t said before, we have started a small class for my sister & her fiance to do FPU before they get married. We are on week 4 and we had class last night. Lesson 4 is one of the MOST motivating! I love it. It talks about gazelle intensity. And I was very excited to have my sister come to class with her envelopes. Awww!! They love the class too!
I’m working on prayer right now. I’m reading a book “Get off your knees & PRAY” by Sheila Walsh. I’m really horrible at it (I feel like) & I want to be better, so that’s where I’m starting. BACK TO THE BASICS. 🙂
