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How Do I Live in Financial Peace and Keep Stress from Coming Back? · Becoming Financially Confident

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  Ralph: We've journeyed together for almost 30 incredible episodes in this
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  series, and we've worked together building powerful financial habits
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  and finding contentment and really anchoring our confidence in Christ.
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  But now you might be saying, Ralph, what happens now that the series is ending?
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  Is financial peace a destination you just reach?
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  Or can it truly be a lifelong journey of growth and faithfulness?
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  Stick with me today 'cause we're gonna embrace the path forward together.
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  Hey there, and welcome back to your daily, financially Confident Christian.
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  I'm Ralph and it is great to be here again with you today as we talk about
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  the things of faith, and we answer that big question, how can I become
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  a financially confident Christian?
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  That's our goal.
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  Today is a really special day as we begin to wrap up this series of dealing
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  with the stress of money worries.
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  And over the past 30 days, we've walked through major transformation.
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  We've transformed our mindsets, we've built practical habits, and
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  we've integrated faith into every one of those financial decisions.
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  And if you've been with me the whole time, I just wanna say thank you and
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  think about how much you've learned.
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  And if you miss some of 'em, you can always go back and check 'em out.
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  We've explored big topics like challenging consumerism and cultivating gratitude.
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  We talked about defining values, trusting God, breaking that impulse, buying trap,
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  and making every dollar serve a mission.
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  And today we're gonna start to bring all those pieces together
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  and really embrace this ongoing journey of financial stewardship.
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  So let's ask this question today.
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  Am I truly embracing the lifelong journey of savvy and faithful stewardship?
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  That's really my focus and my goal today.
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  Am I truly embracing that lifelong journey of savvy and faithful stewardship?
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  And you're listening right now.
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  Maybe you feel this, you've made some incredible progress.
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  You're feeling more confident, you're feeling less stress.
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  You're starting to feel some of that peace.
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  Part of you says, you know what?
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  Crap, great, great, great.
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  30 days I'm done.
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  I wanna be done with this money work.
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  I just don't wanna worry about it anymore.
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  Maybe right now you're afraid that a setbacks gonna undo all your progress.
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  Man, I've been there.
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  And see, here's the struggle we're talking about.
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  The struggle is really seeing financial peace as a destination.
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  We can't do that.
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  We can't.
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  We can't always be looking at financial pieces of destination,
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  some that we've reach and then Hey, hey, destination's over.
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  We made it, the bus stops here and we stop.
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  ' cause that's not how financial peace works.
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  'cause If you do that, you're going to find yourself in a place of complacency.
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  You're gonna win and then discouragement, and then quitting
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  after you lose sometimes.
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  'cause you're not gonna win all the time.
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  Maybe for you, like me, maybe you're burdened by perfection.
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  You just have this perfectionist mentality.
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  I've heard many people say that to me, Ralph, you're just such a perfectionist.
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  Maybe you're listening right now and you feel that same way
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  and you feel burdened by that.
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  And instead of embracing this ongoing relationship with money,
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  and more importantly, this ongoing relationship with God, now I'm done.
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  God, you've given me what I need.
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  I'm good.
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  The problem is that static mindset, that belief that it's just this
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  destination reach and I'm done.
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  It causes stress and that stress just blocks resilience and it
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  blocks the true growth that you have the capacity to get to.
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  Here's the thing I want you to understand.
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  My big takeaway for today, if you hear nothing else, I say, I got a lot to
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  say today, but if you hear nothing else I say today, I want you to hear this.
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  Financial stewardship isn't a program that you just check the boxes and complete.
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  I can't give you a course on, Hey, financial stewardship.
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  Here you go.
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  You've won.
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  Here's your diploma.
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  Go enjoy life.
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  It doesn't work that way.
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  Financial stewardship is a lifelong discipleship journey.
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  I talk about this on the show all the time.
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  It's a journey.
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  My weight loss right now is a journey.
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  My, my health, you know, decisions are a journey.
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  Financial stewards is the same thing.
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  It's a process of learning, learning new skills, learning to
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  adapt to some of those skills.
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  But it's a process.
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  It's a process of growing.
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  And when you first started this, you might say, I, Rob, I even thought
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  about, donating to charity or tithing.
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  Man, I'm, I'm up to 20% now.
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  That's growth.
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  And I hope at the end of this, at the end of this series, we're gonna
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  start another one, just a couple days.
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  But I hope you're growing this reliance on God.
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  'cause here's the thing you gotta understand, life brings new seasons
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  at, at 52, I'll be 53 in September, I've started to realize that life is a bunch
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  of seasons kind of strung together.
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  There's this season, there's that season, there's seasons of, I
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  remember when my kids were real young.
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  That was a season of, I'll call it early fatherhood.
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  Then there was a season of, of the terrible twos, and then as they grew older
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  and then a season of them going to school and playing sports and high school and
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  high school graduations, and the season of them finding my, my oldest, finding
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  his, his girlfriend and now wife and their seasons ahead with grandchildren,
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  we pray and all those type of things.
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  Life brings those seasons and it brings new opportunities, and you
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  really have to understand and embrace this journey because your journey,
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  that journey is a testimony to God's faithfulness in your life.
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  Let's look at the scripture book of Philippians chapter one, verse six.
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  This is a beautiful piece of scripture.
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  It really talks about that journey.
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  It says, he who began a good work and you will carry it on to completion.
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  Until the day of Christ Jesus, he who began a good work in you began.
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  That's a journey.
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  That's a start.
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  That's a first step.
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  We'll carry it on to completion until the day of Christ.
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  Just as we all pray for, if you're a Christian, listen to this show.
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  You're looking forward to that day when Christ returns.
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  That's what we, that's what we, that's what we prepare for.
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  Your finances work the same way.
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  God will complete his work in your finances, but it's a journey.
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  Look at the book of Proverbs, chapter four, verse 18.
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  It says this, The path of the righteous is like the morning sun shining ever
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  brighter till the full light of day.
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  See your faithfulness grows brighter over time, so you gotta
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  learn to embrace this journey.
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  Your ability to manage your finances is going to grow brighter over time.
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  So embrace the journey.
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  God is with you in every season.
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  So learn today.
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  If you do nothing else today, celebrate your progress.
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  You've done amazing things.
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  And maybe say, Rob, I'm just starting.
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  That's great.
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  You've made the first step.
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  You're starting.
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  Let's keep working together.
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  Let's keep learning and trust his process.
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  So now you're saying, okay, great, Ralph, that's what I wanna do.
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  I wanna be on that journey.
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  What can I do?
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  How do I step forward from here and, and live this faith-filled journey of
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  stewardship that you talk about, Ralph?
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  Well, here's the solution and this is the intentionality part of it.
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  You gotta intentionally commit to lifelong learning and gracious stewardship.
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  You've got to live with a mindset of continuous improvement.
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  A lot of people don't get that, and I don't know if we do a good
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  job of training our kids with it.
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  Hey, you graduated from high school, you're done.
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  Life doesn't work that way.
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  You're not done when you graduate from high school or you graduate
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  from college, or you have a wife and, and you have a family.
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  And life doesn't work that way.
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  Life needs to be a, a set of continuous improvements and you're gonna stumble.
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  So you also have to rely on that grace.
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  So I wanna give you your one action item for today.
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  Sure.
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  One thing, I just want you to celebrate the journey so far.
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  Yes, we're gonna start with a celebration today, and in my head, I'm hearing
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  cool and the gang singing celebration.
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  You don't want me to sing.
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  It's not good.
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  But I want you to take five or 10 minutes to really celebrate your progress.
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  Those things that, that you've accomplished.
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  Bigger than that, I want you to write one or two wins down from the last 30 days.
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  Write them down, put 'em on paper, and look at those and say, yes,
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  with God's grace I got here, that's gonna fuel your momentum.
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  The first thing I want you to do, the second thing I want you to do
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  is make that commitment right now.
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  Promise yourself to Almighty God as well to keep learning, commit
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  to that lifelong learning and that lifelong growth, and revisit those
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  key principles whenever you can.
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  And I'm gonna say at least quarterly you go back and re-listen to some
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  of the episodes we talked about, the different pieces of that puzzle.
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  I encourage you here now read a new finance book or,
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  or take a workshop annually.
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  I'm gonna encourage you to tune in here every day.
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  I bring you content every day, but embrace that commitment to lifelong
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  learning and that lifetime growth.
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  Another thing I really think will help you is what I'm gonna say
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  is establish a financial Sabbath, maybe monthly or quarterly.
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  Just sit down and have a time of review.
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  Reflect on your budget.
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  It's just real easy to get stuck in that, in that it would just
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  keep on that process going.
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  There is a need for a financial Sabbath to sort of reflect on where
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  you are, reflect on your budget.
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  Say, Hey, you know what?
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  I put this together three or four months ago.
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  Does it make sense still?
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  Am I still doing the things that that Ralph said I should do that
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  I feel, you know, compelled to do?
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  Am I doing that tracking?
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  Am I looking at things and comparing the two sides?
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  This, how about my giving?
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  Am I giving the way I should be giving?
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  Am I stretching that?
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  Am I, am I being a cheerful giver like I talked about a few days ago?
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  Look at your progress.
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  Am I making progress?
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  Am I continuing to learn new things or am I just stuck here?
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  And then I just want you to do one more thing.
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  Look at God's provision.
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  Just thank him for all that he's given you, because the truth
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  is he has given you so much.
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  Make that a habit.
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  And then to do all these things, I'm gonna encourage you to embrace grace and embrace
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  that forward motion because listen.
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  Perfection is not the goal.
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  I say this on the show routinely.
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  Some people say to me, Ralph, stop saying it, but it's true.
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  Perfection is not the goal.
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  Perfection will get in the way of progress.
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  You've got to expect that you're going to stumble.
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  'cause guess what?
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  You're gonna stumble.
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  I stumble.
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  But learn, adjust and then keep going because your journey is about
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  consistency and it's about faith.
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  He might be saying, Ralph, okay, that's great, but why does this even help?
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  Because it transforms your finances from task to discipleship.
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  See, I said this the other day about giving.
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  Giving is really worship.
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  Well, guess what?
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  financial stewardship.
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  That is worship.
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  'cause you're taking what God has given you.
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  You've taken the provision that God has given you and you're doing
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  what he wants you to do with them.
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  And that's just gonna build resilience.
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  It's gonna build resilience with grace, and it's gonna ensure that
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  long term you have growth and you have application what God is teaching you.
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  And the biggest thing it does is it anchors your journey in
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  God's presence and God's peace.
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  And hey, isn't that where we all want to be today?
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  I dunno about you, but I want to be in God's presence and
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  I want to be in God's peace.
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  Well, let's pray together.
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  Father God, we just thank you for beginning a good work in us.
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  Yes, we recognize this is just the beginning Lord.
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  This is just the start of a journey.
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  And Lord, we do confess our desire for quick fixes.
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  We live in a culture where we wanna have the answer and we wanna have it now.
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  We wanna put that behind us and be done with it.
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  But Lord, we know that's not how life works.
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  That's not the seasons that you promised in your Word, Lord.
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  And we just ask that you would help us embrace this lifelong
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  journey of stewardship.
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  Lord grant us endurance.
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  Lord, grant us wisdom and grant us the grace that we so desperately need.
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  And strengthen our habits, Lord, and guide our decisions.
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  And mostly anchor our peace in you and in you alone.
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  May our finances always reflect your goodness, and we ask this with
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  confidence in the name of Jesus, Amen.
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  I just wanna congratulate you on this last 29 days, almost 30 tomorrow.
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  We're gonna do a bit of a recap.
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  We got some listener questions.
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  I just wanna congratulate you on completing this journey.
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  You've made a huge start.
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  You've taken real steps towards financial transformation, but as I
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  said, this is just the beginning of a lifetime of faith-filled stewardship.
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  So I just wanna encourage you today, keep learning, keep applying, keep trusting.
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  I also wanna say this, it's been an honor to walk with you and we're gonna continue
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  that walk tomorrow, and if this series has blessed you, do me a big favor.
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  Share it with somebody else.
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  If it's blessed you, say, Hey, you know what?
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  I listened to this series from Ralph.
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  I listen to this show every day.
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  It's blessed me.
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  It will bless you too.
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  You can find all of our episodes and our resources@financiallyconfidentchristian.com,
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  and I've got a special gift for you.
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  I'd love to give you a copy of my book.
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  It's called Mastering Your Finances.
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  You can go to financially confident christian.com/master and you
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  can get a free copy of my book.
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  It's a brief read, but it will be impactful to your life.
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  Well, let's all go out there and be those financially confident
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  Christians on a mission, on a journey.
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  'cause you can do this.
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  I believe in you, and I just want you to believe in yourself.
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  Stay financially savvy.
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  God bless you and you have a great day today.