Women and Money - She Handled It!Sample

[IMAGE CONTENT] Day 3: God’s love for you is immeasurable I had spent my entire youth aggressively running away from God. Negative experiences as a young girl made me actively dislike anything having to do with God or the name of Jesus. At 24, as I began to rebuild the broken life I was now living, a business coach challenged me to begin reading books about Jesus and the void I felt. In the quiet of my one-bedroom apartment, I certainly had plenty of free time to pick up a book or two, so reluctantly I did, just to tell him I had. Check “study God” off my list. Through study, I began to realize God loved me, adored me, and designed me with a purpose. A deeply scandalous love I had never known of a Savior who sacrificed Himself for me to live a full and fulfilling life of victory. Unconditional love for a hurting and broke 24-year-old divorcee? YES (Matthew 18:12-14)! Eventually he invited me to church. When you have a God-shaped hole in your life, the moment you “find” Him, you can’t live without Him. I was a ball of tears when the pastor asked “for those that wanted to have this ‘relationship’” walk forward. A lovely, middle-aged woman with big, Texas-style, curly, platinum blonde hair laid her hand gently on my shoulder and prayed for me as I wept. She then led me back to a prayer room to talk me through the decision I was making. By the time she was done educating me and leading me through prayers, I had accepted Christ, been filled with the Holy Spirit and became a church member. She then said, “There is water baptism directly following the service. Would you like to do that too?” I thought, “Geez Lady, I think I have done enough today!” (I ended up getting baptized exactly 1 year later, but you have to love her tenacity!) Just fourteen days following my start date at this new financial firm, I accepted Christ as my Savior. My God-shaped void was finally filled. After losing all that I thought would make me happy, God met me in my vast brokenness. I found the most valuable gift in my life. He asked only for my faith and belief, and He did the rest. Now I had an immovable anchor for my soul (Hebrews 13:8) that I could always rely on. Now that my sins were hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:3), I could begin to heal. I now had a relationship that would never fail, leave or shame me if I fell short. That is a wonderful place to begin growing in strength and security, and to begin making healthy, lasting changes, especially around money. Reflection: Do you truly believe that all your errors and wrongs are hidden in Christ, even your financial missteps or massive failures? If not, why? If your past dealings with money are continuing to tarnish your current path, who is a trusted person, counselor, or pastor you could speak with? (1 John 1:9) Tip: Women should generally work to save 14%+ of their income to have enough to last through retirement, but you must start somewhere. Start with any percent going into your company retirement plan or an IRA, and increase that by 1-2% every year, especially the years you get raises. Many company plans now have a button that you can select that will automatically increase the percentage by a selected amount at a future date you determine…this takes you out of your own way and gets it done!