ThursdayMONEYTestimony This testimony is also a confession. I struggle with a poverty mindset, and every once in a while it creeps back in. This time it showed up over a cup of noodles. 🍎 Every week, a group of young people comes to my home for a Bible study of sorts. When we started, I put out snacks. Candy. Fruit. Something to enjoy while we studied. 🍜 Then they started showing up hungry. Snacks weren’t quite enough anymore, so they began asking for cups of noodles. I was happy to make them. I love for them to be comfortable in my home. But there was something else going on that I hadn’t said out loud. 🛒 I keep certain foods in the house for my son. Favorites. I buy them and keep them on hand, so that whenever he visits, it’s there waiting. And wouldn’t you know it, the young people love the very same foods. So I started to feel tense. I’d watch the food go and think, they’re eating it all up. 🙏 Then I had to stop and tell myself the truth. God is my provider. The Lord is my shepherd. I have all that I need. I don’t need to guard the food in my own house. Because when I looked honestly at that tension, I could see what it was really saying. By protecting that food and saying the young people couldn’t have it, I was saying I didn’t believe I could refill it next week. Or refill it before my son came by. That is what a poverty mindset sounds like for me. It doesn’t always show up as an empty account. Sometimes it shows up when there is food in the house and someone hungry is reaching for it. I’d love to tell you I beat it once and moved on. That isn’t my testimony. My testimony is that overcoming a poverty mindset is something you do over and over and over again. I chose to overcome it this week. I’m choosing to now. And if it raises its head again next week, I’ll have to choose all over again. Choosing looks like saying yes to the people right in front of me. The ones who are hungry. The ones who want food. 🍽️ “Yes, there’s food. Eat.” Instead of worrying that if I give them a little, they’ll take advantage.

The money question you keep asking yourself in the car? Bring it here. The one you have not said out loud yet. Type it in the comments. You do not have to clean it up first. Leave out account numbers and anyone else's details. I definitely want to hear what you have to say. Some I will answer right here and some I will answer in a short video so everybody can learn from it. You don't have to have it together to ask. ⬇️

James was not howling at the rich. He was howling at the unpaid invoice. Keep reading James 5 past verse three. The very next line names the problem, and it is not having money. It is wages kept back from the workers who mowed the fields. Corroded gold is money that sat still while somebody else went without. Watch the video, about a minute and a half, then tell me in the comments: who are you responsible to this week? ⬇️

Sabbath RestMONEYReset ✨ A blessing can become a budget without you noticing. You may begin with a household plan that works. The bills are covered. You know what needs to be handled. You have room for the things God has already placed in your hands. Then income rises. Sometimes that is wonderful. You take care of something that has waited. You upgrade what truly needs replacing. You give. You prepare. You enjoy what you earned. ⭐ But sometimes spending rises so quietly with income that the new level becomes difficult to step back from. Personal finance calls that lifestyle inflation. It is not automatically wrong to spend more when you earn more. A growing family may need more. A new season may require more. The issue is whether every increase gets consumed before you have had a chance to ask what the increase is for. If a $10,000 month supported your life and a $14,000 month arrives, you have choices. You do not have to make all $14,000 part of the permanent cost of your life. You can decide what belongs in the plan, what belongs to a future goal, what can be shared, and what can become rest. That is a stewardship decision. ✝️ Exodus 16 gives us a picture of enough. God gave every household what it needed. On the sixth day, He supplied for two days because the next day was set apart for rest. More was not the signal to consume more. More was the signal that rest was possible. ☀️ Before the next increase disappears into your monthly obligations, stop. Put a name on it. Give that money an assignment before it takes away from your future rest. ✨Prayer God, give me wisdom when more comes into my hands. Keep me from building a life that cannot breathe. Teach me to plan with purpose, receive with gratitude, and leave room for rest. Amen. ✨Reflection questions - What can you decide about the next extra before it disappears into your regular spending? - Where could a little more margin create rest in your life?

ThursdayMONEYTestinony Money is always welcome when someone you love is starting over in a new place. In almost any amount. The larger, the better, right? But sometimes provision comes in the form of a person. 🌱 Someone close to me is building a new life, far from home. And I had an opportunity to choose to be present in that season. There is always something on my plate. One of the things I love is volunteering at my church. Instead of receiving pay for that work, I choose to give through my service. I love being there. I believe serving is something God has called me to do. But this time, I sensed in my spirit that what was needed most was my presence. Not just what I could send. What I could help put in place. 🤝 I was able to make one connection. Not a group of people. One person who can be there in ways I cannot because of the distance. Someone who can encourage. Someone who will pray and look out for them. Someone I believe will continue to sow into their life. That kind of provision takes wisdom. It is easy to assume someone shares your beliefs and values. But an introduction is not a small thing when you are connecting someone you love. For me, this was not based on a brief impression. I had watched this person's life over years, not a minute or two. I had more than a pleasant conversation to go on. The person matters. Their character matters. What you have had time to observe matters. 🙏 I am grateful I could offer this in this season. Money has its place, and I gave money too. But this connection meant more to me than the amount. I cannot be nearby in every moment. I can be thoughtful about who may be there when I cannot. Before you decide what you can give someone, pause long enough to consider what is needed. It may be money. It may be your presence. It may be a careful introduction to someone you have come to trust. ✨ Prayer Heavenly Father, thank You for the ways You provide beyond money. Give me wisdom to recognize what is needed, make room to be present, and choose connections with care. Thank You for the people You place around the ones I love when I cannot be there. May those relationships be a source of prayer and encouragement. In Jesus' name, amen.