Latest / The Entrepreneur's Wife: Finding Purpose as the Helper of a Small Business Owner in a Feminist Obsessed World / 3 Financial Lessons Every Christian needs to learn

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3 Financial Lessons Every Christian needs to learn · The Entrepreneur's Wife: Finding Purpose as the Helper of a Small Business Owner in a Feminist Obsessed World

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: What is up, guys?
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to another episode of the Entrepreneur's Wife Podcast.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Carly Rains.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you're new here, this is a podcast where we talk about finding purpose as the helper to our small business owner in this feminist obsessed world.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're talking about one of my favorite topics, which has to do with generosity.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I wanted to write up this topic is because 2027 is about to be here.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: We are at the end of October, beginning of November.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: This is a time where a lot of planners are getting published, and a lot of people are starting to think about their new year resolutions, what their goals are for next year, and things like that.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to get you in the mindset of having a successful 2027 and beyond.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to just give you some practical tips for like what needs to be the focus in order for that to be accomplished.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to start by talking about a planner and devotional that I published a couple of years ago, and it was called Be Generous 2025.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're on the YouTube, you can kind of see, you know, what this looks like.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this is like the inside flip of it.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but this was a personal finance planner and devotional, and it was really just to help.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna relaunch it on Amazon um for this next year.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're interested in learning about personal finance from the Christian perspective and how how you could be generous and just really take a hold of your finances, I I just really encourage you to download it, to buy it.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it has devotionals, it has resources in it, it just has a lot of tips for you.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: And this is like something that I'm very passionate about because when I was in college and grad school, I number one, I studied philanthropy.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I was studying nonprofits, giving, generosity, fundraising, all of that stuff.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: That was my master's.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, I was also helping build a personal finance program for the university.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where I got exposed to a lot.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: I I learned a lot about this area when it comes to humans and psychology and human behavior and how we just we just don't take control of our personal finance and we don't like to give.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: We are selfish humans, we're prideful, we want to spin, spin, spin, we want to have a flashy lifestyle, we want to look better than what's actually going on.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like all of these things are just because of our fallen world.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I just realized very quickly about just the importance of understanding your personal finance and understanding your habits, understanding your goals, and understanding like how you actually get to success when it comes to giving and generosity and and and having financial freedom and all of that.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a big kicker that I will say um it's a book, it's called Bridges Out of Poverty, and it is an amazing book.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I highly recommend you read it.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's another book you need to read.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because this is what this book does is it breaks down the low class, the middle class, and the high class.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: It breaks down how each one thinks, the human behavior behind each one, what motivates it, it just breaks it all down and it basically explains like how you get a lower class individual to the high class, and how you actually bridge them and break them out of poverty.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: And this was perfect with creating a personal finance program because poverty has to do a lot with money, and being you know, wealthy and generous has to do a lot with money.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: And a lie that I want us to break or understand is that many of us think when we reach this certain income, when we get this certain job, when we reach this certain lifestyle, XYZ, like when we get to this certain point in our life, we will reach the top of the ladder.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth is that we will never reach the top of the ladder, the ladder is always moving, and I love what Jesus says because Jesus says there will always be the poor among you.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we talk this is this is a very political conversation, um, because we talk about, you know, how do we take care of the people in our country?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I want us to realize a sad truth, but a universal truth is that there will always be the poor among us because poor and rich are relative.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So if if we view$100 as rich and ten dollars as poor, and then we get the$10 person to$100, well, probably what's happened is the$100 person has now gotten to$1,000.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like I said, it just keeps moving.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: So you're never gonna get to a point, you're always gonna have a range.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is you know, they talk about social inequality and pay quality quality and all these topics.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth of the matter is, is it it's like a utopian society that they're trying to build, which is funny because we're trying to reach this level of relief, we're trying to reach this level of rest, this level of everybody's the same.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And what we don't realize is that we cannot reach that until Jesus comes back.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And when Jesus comes back and makes the new heaven and the new earth, then we won't have the poor among us anymore.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: And but a lot, I hate to say a lot of liberals, but a lot of liberals are you know trying to that's where you get socialism and a bunch of different government concepts.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And my point is is that the root of this problem that everybody is trying to solve when it comes to personal finance and help and generosity and all this stuff, the root of the problem that we're trying to solve is human behavior when it comes to making decisions.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's all it comes down to.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Are you making wise decisions that lead to righteousness, which lead to life?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Are you making foolish decisions, which leads to death?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: It leads to the house of death.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And this is so important with your finances.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: We have to before we turn and say it's this person's problem, or I'm a victim of this, or do not play the victim card.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Do not play the victim card.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to hear it.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm learning right now with owning a small business and just life as an adult.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm 27 years old, I've been on my own since 18.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like what I'm learning is that everybody lives a hard life.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody lives a perfect, just peaceful life.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody's life is hard, whether you financially are hard, or maybe you have a hard relationship with your parents, or maybe you know, yes, you're privileged financially, but there's other areas that come hard, um, like trying to think about the status and all this different stuff.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, everybody lives a hard life.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, my baby, is down here.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: So we just need to okay.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: So my encouragement for you is not to look at other people, we don't need to compare our life with other people.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: My encouragement to you is finding wisdom, and I want to start.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: I start this devotional, I start this planner devotional talking about the man Solomon.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And Solomon is, if you know, Solomon was known as the wisest king to ever live.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's funny is he didn't start out that way.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: He actually asks the Lord in 1 Kings chapter 3, he he asks the Lord for wisdom, and it's funny because the Lord actually comes to him and says, Hey, Solomon, I will give you what you want, just ask me for it.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: And Solomon calls himself a servant king, so he humbles himself, calls himself a servant king.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I am a little child, which means I don't have much understanding, I do not know how to govern your people.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: He's king now and he doesn't know how to be a good king.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern your great people.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And this is my encouragement for you is if you're sitting here and you're struggling, and my my biggest encouragement is just ask for wisdom.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like James says, ask for wisdom and the Lord will give it to you because the Lord is generous.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, the Lord's generous and he will give it to you.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're talking about being generous and what that means to be generous.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: And my biggest thing is that you can't give what you don't have, like that is common sense, right?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: You can't give what you don't have.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: So you might be sitting here and you're like, hey, I spiritually want to be generous.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, spiritually, I can't give what I don't have.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I need to every day prioritize growing in the Lord if I want to help other people grow in the Lord.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's a conviction for me personally.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, if you're like, man, it would be so nice to give to these charities or this cause, or like when a little kid comes up and says, Hey, you want to buy my popcorn for, you know, this fundraiser because I'm a part of this or whatever.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, in really you're like, yeah, that would be great.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm thinking I need that$20 to get through the rest of the week because we don't get paid until Friday, and I need to buy groceries and all this stuff, right?
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's a real life scenario.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: And my encouragement is that you again, you can't give what you don't have.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: So what do we do about not having enough?
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how do we fix that?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where wisdom comes in.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because Solomon's sitting here and he's like, I'm in charge of governing these people, but I don't know, I can't give them what I don't have.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have wisdom, I don't have an understanding of mind.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: How am I supposed to tell them which way to go when I feel like a little child?
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so he asks the Lord for wisdom, and later on in scripture, you can go read about it, but he actually is given wisdom, like divine wisdom, and uses it in mighty ways, and people are so in awe of his wisdom.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so, my encouragement for us is to just simply ask the Lord, hey God, like what areas of my life am I struggling with not having wisdom?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Where am I foolish?
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: The book of Proverbs is a comparison between two women, the woman of wisdom and the woman of folly.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it's funny because a man wrote this book, and it's no wonder he paints the picture of women because these two women are calling out, they are they're calling out to this man who's walking along this path.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: And the woman of wisdom is like, hey, follow me and I will lead to life.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Make wise decisions and I will lead to life.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: But the woman of folly is very seductive.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: She's tempting him and she's like, hey, follow me, I'm what you want.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, guys, it when you read the scripture, the woman of folly is a lot of instant gratification.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of this now and this quickly, and stolen bread is sweet, and like all this stuff, right?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And what scripture says is that this man does not know that her house actually leads to death.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like, how does this apply to our life today?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think we are so quick to make decisions financially and we don't understand the long-term effect that it has.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, saving, for instance, that's not a feel-good moment.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh, I'm putting this money back.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: I have to wait on my instant gratification, I have to wait on my pleasure, I have to wait on what I want, right?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm saving for it.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it kind of goes against our flesh.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: But my argument is that it is, it actually is a fruit of the spirit.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: It it's self-control, it's faithfulness, it's stewardship, it's it's um patience, is what it is.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: And my question to you is like, look at your habits, look at your decisions that you make financially.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: And my first, you know, if you're like, I want to give, but I don't have enough to give, my my first take on this is that we have to evaluate how you're spending your money now.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because God's not sitting there like, oh, I I want you to give, but continue to live your life foolishly.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: That is not at all what God is saying for you to do.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: God is saying, I want you to give, but in order to give, I want you to learn how to live your life wisely.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's what God's saying.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, like for me personally, it's like, okay, we have a small business, like we have children, we have a house, we have personal finance, we have a lot of responsibilities.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so we need to sit down as a couple and we need to say, okay, God, show us how we're supposed to steward, just like Solomon did, show us how we're supposed to govern these people, these things, these responsibilities that you're given us, because we want to steward them all.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: And my next encouragement for you is that God is actually gonna reward you for how you manage his stuff on earth.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're sitting here and you're like, well, it doesn't matter.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a Christian, I believe in God, like I'm good to go.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: I got the ticket to heaven.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: I want to caution you because you're gonna see it before the Lord and you're gonna give an account of your life.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: And God's gonna look at how did you manage your money?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: How did you manage your job?
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: How did you manage your attitude towards the things that you own?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Did you take care of them?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Did you, as the parable talks about, there were some that were given the coins and they multiplied them.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, did you multiply?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Were you generous?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like God's gonna evaluate all that as Christians.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so I want to encourage you with the mindset that I'm I'm attacking my personal finance issues, yes, to build wealth for my future, but also because I want to show the Lord and and really commune with the Lord on, hey, we can do this together.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, Lord, I am capable, I I I am humble enough, I am meek.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh like I want him to look at us and see, okay, you and Briston have been faithful.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: You've been faithful with a little, so I'm gonna bless you with a lot.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not for selfish desires because what you realize through generosity is that when he says, You've been faithful with a little, so I'm gonna give you a lot, you're able to pour into more people's life.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the whole point that I want to say about this is I I see so so many hurting families, and I saw so many hurting families in college where they didn't manage their finances, they got themselves in a bind, they were trapped in so much debt, and they were just trying to live day by day, they were just trying to survive, like that's all they were trying to do is survive.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it was because of foolish decisions in their past that caused them to be bound where they were at, and if they continued making those decisions, they were gonna be bound in their future, and they never are gonna reach the point of generosity that I feel like Christ has called us to reach.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so my biggest thing is that as actually sitting down and acknowledging, like acknowledging where we're at, like Solomon acknowledged, hey Lord, like I am a child, I'm foolish, I don't make wise decisions, I need your help.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that was a very humble thing for Solomon to do, and the Lord is gonna bless that.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know how to say that other than that, Lord's gonna bless that.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: I also want to say that sacrifice, like when you sacrifice for wise decisions and for the things of God, the reward of seeing those things come to pass and multiplying and reproducing and growing, like seeing that is so much more rewarding than the selfish things of a new car or a bigger house or whatever.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the times that Briston and I have sacrificed in order to be more generous, like I love those times.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like when we moved into a camper, everybody thought we were crazy.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's the thing I also want to encourage you with is doing it God's way means the world's gonna think you're crazy.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so you have to make a choice.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's a lot of chameleons.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, there's a lot of chameleons who call themselves Christian, but are just living like the world.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not just talking about sin, I'm talking about financial decisions.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're just doing what the world's doing.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, part of me is like, man, I feel like the world should look at uh Christians and say, oh man, I know that the spirit of God is with you because of how you steward your finance, how you're living your life.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're not living this flashy, instant gratification life.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're living a humble, meek life.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: You're a lowly life, like meekness is lowly, but Jesus says, I am meek, and you're living the fruits of the spirit out.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, when we lived in a camper, like we loved it.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was one of the most humbling times for us to live in a camper.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: And people thought like, probably thought we were struggling out the wazoo.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: No, we were saving, we were saving money, and we just look back at those times and we smile because it benefited us.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: It was hard, but it benefited us.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: It it crushed our flesh, but it it helped, you know, sanctify us in Christ.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is just my encouragement for you guys.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I want to read Proverbs 13:11, which says, wealth gained hastily, wealth gained quickly will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I I want to say that please do not expect you to just gain a bunch of wealth immediately.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Living a wise life and living wise financial decisions is a very slow process.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's a day-by-day, it's it's saying no to the$7 coffee.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's saying I would rather put that in my savings for this, rather for retirement, for whatever investing for a new car, for a vacation or whatever.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: I would rather save that than waste it now and not have it later.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want it to dwindle, right?
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so I don't know, that proverbs just says so much about like, please do not expect wealth to be gained quickly.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because if it is, it's probably going to dwindle like that.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: And you're probably going to spend all of it, and you're not, you're not creating the habits that you need in order to sustain a wealthy, generous life.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like sometimes I think people think it's just so physical, right?
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I need to make more, I need to do have this job, or I need to do this.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we think outward physical circumstances are determining our generosity and our wealth.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I would argue it's more so inward decisions, it's more so inward actions that are actually determining where you are financially and if you're giving financially.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: You can give, like, think about the woman, right?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees, they threw in all this money, right?
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: And they were throwing in all this money into the offering.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, This woman, this poor woman who had two denarii, she gave more out of her heart than even they did.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: And she, guys, financially, she was way lower than the Pharisees were.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just, I just love that.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the next thing I'm gonna say is that living a wise financial life creates a lot of peace in your life.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you're less stressed on your marriage, you're less stressed just as a person.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think you will enjoy life more.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think you will learn how to be content with what you have in your life.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think that it's just very important to um to recognize the stress that dumb financial decisions cause on your life.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: I like your future self cannot be mad at your current situation if you decided to be dumb with your money.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's all I'm gonna say.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um the last thing that I'm gonna say is that you can actually do a lot of good in the world through giving.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you have the option to give.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Meaning, like you're not living paycheck to paycheck.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: When you actually take on being financially wise, you will not live paycheck to paycheck.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: You will have money left over that you get to decide do I want to save this, do I want to invest, do I want to give this?
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a wonderful feeling.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like I can tell you it's wonderful feeling.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I also want to emphasize this, guys.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes we assume that um the financial freedom that we want is reached, and we can have the cake and eat it too.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: We can have the big house, the big vacations, the all the stuff, and reach financial success.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I just want to say that's not true.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: And you can look at many people in the world who are literally get paid so much money.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Look at Mr.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: Beast, okay.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: They get paid so much money and they still live paycheck to paycheck and they still are broke.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason is not because of the dollar amount of their income.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: The reason is because of what they did with the money.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, look at NFL players.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is like a known thing that NFL players, many of them go bankrupt after they get out of the NFL.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because they spent all their money on houses and parties and clothes and shoes and all this extra stuff that they didn't need.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just I want to encourage you that you are able to give when you make wise financial decisions.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: It opens the door for you to give.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're sitting there stressed, like Carly, I know I need to give, I know God's calling me to give.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: My pastor's been talking about it, but I am struggling.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't have anything to give.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I would say is we need to sit down.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: You need to have a budget meeting.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: You need to figure out what you need to cut because odds are there's a lot you could probably cut, eating out, subscriptions, you know, maybe you need a smaller living cost, like cut everything out.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Do you need to sell your car?
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: Is your car payment um too high or whatever it is, right?
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: And are you buying too many clothes?
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like what's your spending like?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I bet if you narrowed that down, you would realize, oh, I have more margin every month than I think.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: But it's creating that habit of giving.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to give instead of spend.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to do it with the right heart.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's just my encouragement for you.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, y'all be looking for be generous, the planner and devotional for 2027.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to post it on Amazon.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just a great reminder of what's important when it comes to money and wisdom and stress and all that, and like how God actually wants to be a part of our money process.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I think so many times we think, oh, God and my faith are over here, money and my life are over here, and actually, like, God wants to be a part of your money and be a part of your generosity.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the last thing that I'm gonna say is I printed out these, these are two of them.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: There's actually gonna be four of them, so I'll show the other two when they get here.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: But these are two journals that I made um that are based on the creation devotional.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's a 90-day devotional through the book of Genesis, and I have some journals, and they are just, you know, this one's blue and it says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and it's just aligned journal with the verses at the top.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: So this is what's really cool is that each verse actually goes with a day of the devotional.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: So if you wanted to journal or write like what stood out, you could do that for each of the things.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so there's this blue one, there's about a hundred pages, and then there is this yellow one, which I love so much.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's yellow and it says in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then I have two more coming, and I will show you guys those when they are here.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um don't forget if you're listening, the cover reveal for the children's book, Running with Faith, is coming out November 1st.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, this cover is beautiful, okay?
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: She is a college student, she has done a phenomenal job.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: I just cannot get over how good she has done at just creating this idea that I had um and bringing it to life.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so we are releasing the cover November 1st.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited about it.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: So be sure to follow me on social media, Carly M.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: Rains, on um YouTube and on Instagram.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's where most of my content is released.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: I also am on Substack.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a Substack, I write on there and it's Carly Rains.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: But this is a children's book.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's a fun, rhyming, Western, faith-based children's book.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: It is based on Texas Outlaw, my husband's company, and he is the main character just as a seven-year-old.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it's about a boy named Sawyer who's a cowboy and he is loves running, signs up for a race, but he gets discouraged, and some people discourage him because of how small he is.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so he gets in his head and he considers quitting and he wants to drop out because he doesn't think he's good enough or qualified to run the race.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: And a mentor actually encourages him to put his faith in the Lord and and trust the Lord as he runs.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's this beautiful story.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I just I just love it so much.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it rhymes, and I believe every children's book should rhyme.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm just gonna say that every children's book should rhyme.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it's actually gonna come out next spring, May.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna launch a Kickstarter.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: So you won't get it until May, but you're gonna be able to see the cover this November and all that fun stuff.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I hope that this was helpful.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I hope this episode was helpful.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this is my second time recording it, just because the first time is all over the place.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I I do want to um really help you with your personal finance and your generosity.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's very important, and I think it it will help you so much in your life.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: And something that I will say is like our financial decisions have benefited my personal goals and ambitions so much.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: If we were not financially wise, I wouldn't be able to stay home with our girls.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't be able to do this podcast, I wouldn't be able to publish books because they cost money.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it's through us managing our finances and setting goals and being wise and being generous that we're able to do these things and be a part of you know, missions and missionaries and ministries and churches and different causes that we are passionate about.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so amazing to see that and see the effects of that.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just want to encourage you to do the same thing.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think it's really important that we just take care of the body of Christ and just continue sowing into the church and sowing into what God's doing in different people's lives.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so, speaking of that, if this has been encouraging to you and supportive for you and your life, please consider giving to this podcast because um I enjoy podcasting uh and I would love to one day make this to where this is my job, and I get maybe some money for doing it, but it's also expensive with the equipment and different stuff.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, and I will see y'all next week on another episode.