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What's Next? How Do I Make My Financial Peace Last? · Becoming Financially Confident

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  Ralph: We've journeyed together for 30 incredible episodes in this series.
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  We've built powerful financial habits.
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  We've found contentment, and again, we've anchored our confidence in Christ.
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  But now you might be asking Ralph, what do we do now that this series has ended?
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  Well, I've got another series coming along, but you might
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  be asking a deeper question.
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  Is financial peace a destination you just reach?
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  I talked about this a little bit yesterday.
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  Or is it really a lifelong journey of growth and faithfulness?
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  Well, I want you to stick with me today 'cause we're gonna embrace
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  the path forward and actually handle some listener questions
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  Hey there, and welcome back to your Daily, financially Confident Christian.
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  I'm Ralph and it's great to be with you again today as we close out this series
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  that we've been working through, dealing with the Stress of Money Worries, and
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  this is the conclusion to that journey that we've been walking together.
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  And as always, this show helps you answer that really brash and bold question.
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  How can I become a financially confident Christian?
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  And over the past five weeks, we covered so many vital topics.
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  I can't even list them all.
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  All along that path to financial peace and to confidence.
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  And today I just wanted to take a few minutes and really recap those episodes.
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  I want to answer some questions that you've sent in, and I really
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  appreciate you sending those in.
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  And I also wanna end with a sneak peek of what's coming next.
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  So I'm gonna encourage you right now, grab a warm drink or whatever
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  you wanna do, get comfortable, and let's dive into this weekly recap.
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  week focused on sustaining progress, and we truly talked about pivoting
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  to that long-term financial piece.
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  So at the beginning of the week we talked about, I bought the house and now what?
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  I think it was a great episode.
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  We talked about budgeting for ongoing costs.
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  We talked about those property taxes, insurance and maintenance, and we
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  really talked about, well, what do I do now that I've cut the keys?
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  We talked about how to build a plan for maintaining and preserving that
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  most valuable asset that now you're maybe on the hook for 30 years.
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  Well, on Tuesday we pivoted to how can spending rules give me more freedom.
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  Yes.
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  Spending rules and get me freedom.
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  You're probably like, Ralph, wait.
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  If you missed it, I'm gonna encourage you to go check it out.
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  That was episode 1 75 and we've really talked about creating personal
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  boundaries for spending and how those personal rules and boundaries actually
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  led to long-term financial freedom.
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  Now, by the middle of the week, we had pivoted again to con
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  generosity, reduce my stress.
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  Yeah.
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  I talked about the contradiction, if you will, of so, so many people don't get it.
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  How faith-based giving is really a tool for peace and trust.
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  We really got into the, into the weeds there and talked about how that, that
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  sense of scarcity can really be, can be challenged with being generous.
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  Then we moved on to the next episode, which was how do I
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  make financial habits stick?
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  We talked about building routines and embracing imperfection.
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  Hey, we gotta embrace that imperfection 'cause guess what?
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  We are all imperfect.
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  We talked about how to use accountability and then we the week
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  with how do I keep financial peace?
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  A really powerful, powerful episode because we talked about peace
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  being a journey rooted in God's provision and faithful stewardship.
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  And see these episodes really spark some fantastic questions and I wanted
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  to get into those today and just take a couple minutes to sort of debrief
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  and answer some of the most beautiful questions that you folks sent in.
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  So the first one was, this one came to us from Chris.
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  Chris, he was talking about that first episode, episode 1 74, and he said, Ralph,
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  how much should I save for home repairs?
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  And I thought that was a really good question 'cause a lot of people
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  don't have any concept of that.
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  I got this new house, but I don't really know what to do
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  with this, Ralph, what do I do?
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  Well, here's the thing I mentioned in the episode, and
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  I'm gonna reinforce that today.
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  General guideline is, say between one to 2% of your home's
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  value annually for repairs.
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  So as I talked about in this show, if you've got a $200,000 home budget, 2000
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  to $4,000 a year for repairs, and you're thinking, Ralph, that means $400 a month.
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  Yes.
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  You gotta preserve that asset.
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  So start with what you have and then build that over time.
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  I really thought that was a great question, Chris, because so many people,
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  they buy the house, they get the keys, they unpack the boxes, and then all
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  of a sudden stuff starts to happen, the roof starts to leak, or maybe
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  the seals around the bathtub go bad.
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  These are all things that you've gotta plan for because if you
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  don't plan, you will fail.
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  But if you've gotta plan and those emergencies happen, listen, I've been a
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  homeowner for many years, stuff happens.
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  So start with which you can, but build that over time.
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  And look at the book of Proverbs chapter 24, verses three and four.
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  It reminds us of the wisdom and preparation.
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  So if you haven't read that verse, I'm encourage you to go do that again.
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  That's Proverbs chapter 24 verses three and four.
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  Well, our next question came from Maria and she was talking about
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  episode 1 75 and she asked this very, very pointed question.
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  She said that.
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  She says, I break my spending rules when stressed and I feel guilty.
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  Yeah, Maria, guess what?
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  That's very normal.
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  You're probably listening to this right now.
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  You're going rap.
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  Yep.
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  I do that all the time.
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  It's normal.
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  And if you hear nothing else I talk about on the show, know that
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  you're going to be imperfect.
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  You're going to make mistakes.
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  You're going to trip and fall, but the key is to getting back up.
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  Look at the book of Galatians chapter six, verse nine.
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  It talks all about don't giving up.
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  I'm gonna encourage you to go back and read that and practice
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  Grace Maria, practice Grace.
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  But as you're, as you're getting past that breaking of that spend
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  rule, here's one of the things that I think you really need to focus on.
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  It's real easy to say, well, you know, I'm gonna forgive myself.
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  Eh, things happen.
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  One of the big pieces of learning and, and the piece of moving forward
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  is to review why it happened.
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  Why did this happen?
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  What, what did I do?
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  What was the mistake I made?
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  Was my budget wrong?
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  Did I, did I make some kind of fatal error in, in the creation of this schedule
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  or this plan of how I'm doing things?
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  Then you gotta restart with intention.
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  So don't wait until the next week.
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  Don't wait till the next paycheck.
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  But right away, as soon as you realize you've made an
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  error, you've made a mistake.
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  you feel that stress, you feel guilty.
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  That actually is a good thing.
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  That feeling of stress and that feeling of guilty means that you have a
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  conscience and you know something is off.
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  So restart again with intention.
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  This is another place where I encourage you to go to that accountability
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  partner we talked about in episode 1 46 and really ask them for assistance
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  on, Hey, I'm struggling right now.
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  Can we have coffee?
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  Can we get together and just talk about what's going on?
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  So Maria, thank you so much for that question.
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  Well, our third question comes to us from James, and he says this, he says,
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  Can I give if my finances are tight?
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  Yes you can.
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  And I talked about that in episode 1 76.
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  So if you miss it, I'm gonna encourage you to go check it out.
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  You absolutely can.
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  In fact, as I talked about in that show, the very act of giving in my personal
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  view, and I think in a religious Christian view, is that that little bit will
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  actually break that feeling of scarcity.
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  And from a real perspective, from a practical perspective,
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  you gotta start small.
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  Have that intention.
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  Be cheerful about it.
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  Look at the widows might talks about that in the Bible.
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  It's not the amount.
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  See, so many people get hung up on, well, Ralph, you know,
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  you said I gotta give 10%.
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  That's what the Bible said.
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  First of all, Ralph didn't say that.
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  That's what the Bible says to tie this.
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  But listen, maybe you can't start there.
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  It all comes down to your heart.
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  See, it's the heart that counts.
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  It's not how much.
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  It's the heart that counts.
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  And see generosity, as I talked about in that show, is about worship.
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  It's not the amount that you give.
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  Being generous is about worship.
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  It's not about, oh, I give 10%, I give this.
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  That's not what it's about.
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  And the challenge I mentioned, I'm gonna reinforce that today.
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  'cause really the challenge is to give what stretch your faith.
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  Without neglecting your needs.
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  Listen, I'm not telling you not to eat, not to feed your kids, not
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  to pay your bills so that you can, that you can be generous and give.
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  I'm not saying that if you're hearing that you're not hearing me
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  correctly, give what stretches your faith without neglecting your needs.
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  So to answer your question, James.
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  Can I give if my finances are tight?
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  Yes.
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  Look at your budget.
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  Find some margin in there.
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  maybe you're gonna plan a date night with your wife to go out to the movie.
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  Well, maybe you do a date night at home and you take that money and you donate
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  or use that for a church donation.
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  You can find something in your budget.
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  Well, let's look at our fourth question.
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  This one came to David.
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  David wrote this, and this is in reference to episode 1 77.
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  He says, How do I make these financial habits stick?
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  Big takeaway, David and I said this in the episode, is schedule them.
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  See when we treat things like appointments, when we put them on the
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  schedule, we're more likely to do them.
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  So schedule them.
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  And then the other thing I mentioned in that show was embrace imperfection.
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  You've probably heard that 10 times already today.
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  'cause guess what?
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  We are all imperfect.
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  So embrace that perfection, use that accountability, and go back to that book
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  of Galatians, chapter six, verse nine.
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  The big takeaway from that verse, and I'm gonna encourage you, maybe
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  you post this on your phone or put it up near your computer, but
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  don't become weary in doing good.
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  So I just wanna thank you again for that question, David.
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  What a great one.
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  How do I make these financial habits stick?
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  Schedule them, treat them like appointments, embrace imperfection,
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  use accountability, and don't become weary in doing good.
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  It's about that journey.
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  We got another great question from Michael, and this was
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  in reference to episode 1 78.
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  Michael said, How do I maintain peace long term?
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  Well, Michael, guess what?
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  That was the goal of that show.
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  The goal of my daily show every day is how do we become, you know,
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  financially confident Christians?
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  What that means is how do we become peace filled Christians?
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  And I mentioned this in the show, I'm gonna encourage you to do this, right?
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  Continue your core habits, those things we talked about all along
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  this series and all in this show.
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  Maybe for you, it's building that emergency fund.
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  Maybe that's something you really feel convicted about.
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  You know, I, I really feel like I gotta do that, Ralph.
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  So make that your long-term peace goal.
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  'cause if you think about it, that emergency fund can be a savior in times
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  when something we talked about, you know, the previous week about buying that house.
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  We talked this past week, the beginning, about when things happen in your house.
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  Well, if you've got that emergency fund to go to, it's gonna take
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  away that stress and it's really gonna give you peace guard.
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  Well, you know what?
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  I really don't wanna have to replace my roof, but guess what?
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  I've got the money to do it.
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  And as always, stay prayerful.
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  I end every show with a prayer because I know the power of prayer.
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  I know the power of anchoring your peace in God and not in circumstances.
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  And I just wanna encourage you with this.
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  Remember John chapter 14, verse 27, and go back and read that today in
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  Philippians chapter four, verse seven.
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  'cause what does it promise there?
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  It promises peace from him.
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  Transcends all.
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  So thank you so much for your questions.
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  If you've got questions for the show, you can go to financially
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  confident christian.com and just click there and send us the question.
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  Well, let's pray together.
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  Father God, we just thank you for guiding us over this past 30 episodes, and we
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  just thank you for your wisdom, Lord, and your grace and your faithfulness,
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  things that we really don't deserve.
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  Lord, now I just ask you to bless every listener, including Chris and
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  Maria and James, David and Michael.
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  I just want you to really strengthen them, Lord, and strengthen us as we
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  go and try to win over these habits.
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  And just grant us peace, Lord, grant us trust and grant us enduring stewardship.
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  May our finances be used for your glory, and we ask this in confidence.
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  In Jesus' name, Amen.
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  I just wanna tell you, congratulations on completing this part of your journey.
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  You've taken meaningful steps and you are taking meaningful
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  steps towards financial peace.
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  But this is just the beginning.
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  As I talked about on yesterday's show.
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  This is the time to just start.
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  This is the time to keep growing, keep applying, and keep trusting in the Lord.
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  And I'm gonna encourage you right now, share this series if it bless you.
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  There are many people out there hurting right now.
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  They're feeling that shame of, of being stuck in that financial
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  cycle of just guilt and shame.
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  This series and this show can really be impactful to them.
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  So I just encourage you to share this show with them, share this
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  episode specifically with them.
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  Maybe it'll be something that will really impact their life.
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  And you can find all of our episodes in resources@financiallyconfidentchristian.com.
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  And I'm gonna encourage you one more time to go and get my book.
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  It's called Mastering Your Finances.
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  It's free by going to financially confident christian.com/master.
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  You can get the book for free there.
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  When I promised you I'd talk about what's next, you know we're gonna
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  start a new series tomorrow, and that series is gonna be called this.
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  It's gonna be called Beyond the Budget.
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  We're Moving Beyond the Budget.
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  We're gonna Find Financial Freedom through what I'll call Intentional Living.
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  So beyond the budget, finding financial freedom through intentional living.
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  We're gonna dive into purpose-driven money management and talk about
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  aligning your finances with your values and your calling.
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  So we're gonna start that tomorrow.
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  I'm gonna encourage you, don't miss it.
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  If you know somebody else that'd like to get in at the ground level, tell
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  them, Hey, Ralph's starting a new series tomorrow, so don't miss it.
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  And let's go out there today and be financially confident.
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  Christians, you can do this.
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  I believe in you.
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  Believe in yourself.
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  Stay financially savvy.
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  God bless you, and you have a great day today.