BE DEDICATED to Your 2021 Finances - Miracles can happen!

Happy New Year and New Beginnings!  

I had thee best shrimp and crab enchilada at a new Mexican restaurant in Rancho Mission Viejo, (CA) yesterday and I recommended it to at least six people via text shortly after.  We always prefer a good recommendation on Yelp or especially from our family and friends.  This is how I feel about Dave Ramsey and his financial planning teachings.  It’s exciting to hear thousands of real-life examples of people achieving FINANCIAL FREEDOM through his teachings.  Once you hear the excitement in people’s voices as they share how they’ve paid off certain debt within a certain amount of time, it becomes infectious and then you want to do it!  Let’s face it finances are usually no fun but there will be a thrilling payoff in the end, but it takes DEDICATION.

Imagine this:
“You’re debt-free.  You’ve got a fully funded emergency fund of 3-6 months worth of expenses.  You’re putting away 15% of your household income into retirement investments.  You’ve saved for your kids’ college fund.  AND, you’ve got a paid-for house …. YOU DID IT!”

“...you should continue setting goals and budgeting each month.  Max out your 401(k) and Roth IRAs so you can continue to live and give like no one else - even in retirement!”

#debtfreecommunity       #babysteps

This comes from an Instagram post, around January 12, 2021, from the well-respected, and wise, Dave Ramsey -- author and radio talk show host -- who encourages people to not live by the world’s standards of racking up debt, but to budget and pay it off as fast as you can.  It’s transforming your mind and BEing DEDICATED to a plan toward FINANCIAL FREEDOM.  2020 was a bad year for everyone.  Let’s not look back, let’s look forward :)  Don’t blame all the excuses, just move forward with the resources (e.g. spiritual, physical, emotional, financial) you do have.  Set a Financial Plan for 2021!   Here’s how to start:

• Set a financial GOAL (how much to pay off and by when?  Set yourself up for small victories in the beginning - they will surely lead to bigger ones in the end.)
• Set up a STRATEGY (how can you pay it all off?  What are my assets/resources?  What does that look like on paper?)
• Set up monthly TACTICS (what does your month, and therefore the year-end look like if you adopt this aggressive plan?)
• Be prepared to think differently.  Refocus your mind for a fresh start.  Allow yourself the pleasure of growing and maturing in healthy habits.  Like starting any new “healthy habit” it will be hard and easy to cheat in the beginning, but after about three weeks of repeating the same healthy thinking and behavior, you’ll be on autopilot and revel in the satisfaction of putting one foot forward with every decision, every day to achieving your ultimate financial goal.  
• Be content with what you have, or better yet, less  (LESS really is MORE)
• Don’t compare yourself to others who have what you don’t - chances are that’s how you got into your financial predicament in the first place.  Instead, align yourself with the #debtfreecommunity!
• BE DEDICATED to your financial plan to become debt free and you WILL experience PEACE!
• If you fail after a month or two, restart the steps.  Be DEDICATED from start to finish!  With God on your side, you can do anything!

And if you think this sounds overwhelming and impossible, remember that it takes baby steps and the help and guidance of your Almighty Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Your Friend, Jesus, (100% God & 100% Man) told his disciples:
“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 
You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
[John 14:12-13]

Wow!  Really?!  But you may feel like you don’t deserve His Help because maybe you’ve been disconnected from him lately?  Jesus is reaching out to you today and asking you to ask Him for His Help and Guidance!!!  It’s a free gift!  Join an amazing journey of growth and maturity.  I can attest that miracles can happen through Jesus Christ!  Trust.

“Trust in the Lord, with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways, acknowledge Him and 
He will make your paths straight.”
[Proverbs 3:5-6]

“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”
[Ecclesiastes 11:7]


“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
[Jeremiah 29:11]

“In his heart a man [woman] plans his [her] course, 
But the Lord determines his [her] steps.”
[Proverbs 16:9]

"In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said,
"It is more blessed to give than to receive."
[Acts 20:35]

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Lord,
Today, Lord, I'm asking you to use me and to show me a miracle.  I ask that you guide my steps toward achieving contentment and financial freedom, by lifting the weight of my debt off my shoulders through a plan.  I understand that you are not a genie in a bottle who can magically make my debt disappear.  I do understand and ask that your WILL BE DONE and your almighty wisdom fills my heart, mind and my soul and that you guide me on the narrow path of financial righteousness.  Today, my prayer is:  _______(journal this)_________.  As I DEDICATE myself to YOU everyday, so I DEDICATE myself to a financial plan and ask you to bless this plan toward achieving peace in order for me to represent you in this world and be able to be charitable toward others and to give cheerfully.  I trust that you are a God of miracles.  Use my strengths to help the weaker.  Your Ways are beyond my understanding.  Show me.  As I meditate on your Word through the above scripture, please, every day, 
let all my steps, decisions and actions be for Your Glory, Lord.”

In your loving name, Jesus,
    Amen.

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References:
1 - Dave Ramsey Instagram, dated January 12, 2021 & www.daveramsey.com
2 - Bible Verses found in Life Applications Study Bible 
3 - Written by Christie Lynch