This weekend I have the wonderful priveledge of speaking with my Mom at a Women’s conference on the East Coast. I will only be getting back in late Sunday night, so I promise to have a fresh and creative budgeting idea for you on Monday. Have a wonderful Sunday.
All things considered…
A dear friend of my parents left a comment yesterday that he was going to be taking the weekend to tackle his piles of filing. I have been thinking and praying for grace for him this morning and it occurred to me that many of you might have been waiting for the weekend for the time to face the mountain. If that is you and that is what lies before you today, then it is just in my heart to encourage you today that there is grace for today. There isn’t grace for tomorrow yet. Just take each moment as …
Finishing Things
My sister-in-law passed this e-mail along to me yesterday, and I just have to share it with you: “I am passing this on to you because it definitely works, and we could all use a little more calmness in our lives. By following the simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace. Dr. Phil proclaims that, ‘The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished. So, I looked around my house to see all the things I’ve started and hadn’t finished, and before the …
A Place for Everything
My Dad has the most beautifully organized garage of anyone I have ever known (but, no this is not a picture of my Dad’s garage). It has always been tidy, my entire life, but honestly I had never really thought much about it until the other day. A good friend and I had had a play date with our kiddos at my parent’s house. As we were walking through the garage on our way out, she stopped and looked around and said, “This is beautiful!” I honestly didn’t know what she was talking about, but she said it again, “Your …
A Plan for Freedom
“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for good and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 I have always loved this verse of scripture. To me it has always been such a comforting thought that the God who made me has a plan for my life. However, not just a plan, but a plan for good, a plan filled with hope and purpose. When these words were originally written, they were written to a group of people in absolute poverty, hopelessness, and actual captivity. They had been forcibly …
Binders, Files and the Battle of the Sexes
I am passionate about finances. It is one of the reason’s I am so excited about writing this blog. I love helping people and problem solving in their finances. I have core beliefs that anchor me, and it is such a joyful thing to see hope spark in someone who has had none. There is always hope. That being said, I have been married to my amazing husband for almost nine years and have managed our finances that whole time. Now, with finances being one of my passions and not necessarily Matt’s, it would be very easy for me to …
Surprises in the Mail
So you stand at the door, your hand on the handle, your heart is pounding. Gently you crack the door and immediately feel something pushing against you. “There really is a monster!”, your fear screams. It takes a second, but your rational mind finally kicks in,. “There is NO monster,” you repeat over and over to yourself like a mantra and with courageous effort you swing the closet door open and get pummelled….. by mail. This is where we begin. You can’t know where you are financially unless you open your mail. It may sound overly simplistic to some of …
The Monster in the Closet
Have you ever thought about the difference between fear and faith? I was chatting with my neighbor the other day as our kids played together in the yard. She has been having some serious health problems and began to tell me how terrified she was to find out what was going on. As much as she dreaded knowing, however, she had forced herself to go through with the procedure because of her uncle. She then went on to tell me how he had had a sore throat for years, but didn’t have insurance so he just kept “believing” it would …
The Starting Point
I recently had the privledge of helping a friend with her budget. As I sat with her, sorting through her bills, she kept saying “Oh, I just don’t even want to know.” Her face was pale, her hands sweaty… kind of the feeling you get when your oldest son urgently yells, “Mommy, come see what Luke did! (my one-year-old).” Your heart starts racing, dread overwhelms you, but not going into that room doesn’t change what’s in there.Fear had absolutely controlled her approach to money for years. She was constantly afraid that there wouldn’t be enough, so she felt like she …