Tag Archive - Money

Book Giveaway: The Ten Best Decisions A Graduate Can Make

April 25, 2012 in On Writing with 13 Comments

I LOVE Bill and Pam Farrel for more than a few reasons:

1. They’ve faithfully served in all facets of ministry including pastors, authors, speakers, and counselors, for Y-E-A-R-S.

2. They champion younger leaders like myself.

3. They share practical and insightful wisdom for all phases of life.

Without realizing it, you’ve probably read one of their 50+ published books including Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti–their most popular and best-selling book.

Today, I am giving away three copies of their latest book, The 10 Best Decisions A Graduate Can Make.

It’s pocket-sized so you can take it with you to college! Read it when you feel stressed with:

+Discerning job and career opportunities

+Finding ministry and mission that fit a graduate’s personality

+Developing healthy relationships with friends and mentors

+Locating a positive fit for church, parachurch, and social community

+Building on a graduate’s strengths, gifts, and skills

+Biblical insights and life examples offer spiritual encouragement and practical guidance for those beginning a career and leaving the student life behind.

Interview with Pam

You and your husband Bill have written a series on the 10 Best Decisions. What made you decide to write one for the graduate?

Pam’s response: Our kids helped write this book. In one year our youngest graduated high school, our middle son from college and our oldest and his wife from graduate school—so we knew they had much to say to grads! We [also] have a 10 Best Decisions series (for singes, couples, parents, women, men—so 10 Best Decisions  for Grads just seemed logical.

Why is it important to finish what you started?

Pam’s response: If a grad will apply themselves in college and graduate school and make it their goal to be excellent, and go above and beyond, people will recognize their diligence and not only do they stand out, but they will get hired first!

What sort of advice would you give to the graduate who’s pursuing their dreams truly for the first time?

Pam’s response: Hold onto God. Life is such a rush of excitement if you give God a chance to lead and guide you! Give God your first 10 minutes each day. Each day look for God’s “post-card” of goodness to you, and His whisper of “say this” or “do that”—your life will never be boring if you take God up on his offer in Jer 33:3, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and mighty things that you do not know!”

Enter to win one of three copies by leaving a comment on this blog or you can purchase a copy on Amazon.

Permission To Transition

March 26, 2012 in Daily Devotionals, The Church with 9 Comments

Sometimes, you need to give yourself permission to transition.

Why?

Because no one else can do it for you.

This past week has been the most amazing spiritual high ever and I feel I may never come down. It’s not an emotional high, but the benefits of walking obediently.

Two weeks ago, I wrote a confession. That I was going to take the rest of the year off from traveling, speaking, and writing my next book.

It’s so weird. Since then God has blessed me even more that I can hardly stand it!

I can’t help but rejoice that the Lord reigns in my life–and I pray yours as well. Those feelings of depression and despair are leaving because the King of King’s has arrived. Here are a few highlights of my week:

1. Reunited with a friend whom I hadn’t seen in years. God used her mightily in my life many years ago to show me that my writing would one day bring people to Christ! Her friendship has given me the permission to transition once again.

2. Attended The Voice of the Martyrs Regional Conference Bound With Them. The voices of those who are and were persecuted have echoed in my heart since that I find myself waking out of the sleep that is American Christianity.

3. Marc and I visited a new church the past two weeks called The Gathering Place. The  pastor preached on Exodus 33-34, which was the passage of Scripture God used to reveal to me two weeks ago that I should take the rest of the year off.

Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:15-16)

When we don’t have His Presence, we have nothing to separate us from anyone else or every other religion.

Confirmation after confirmation this week showed me one thing:

Give yourself permission to transition

When I met with my former friend, I wasn’t expecting her to be in the same spot I was a few years ago when I quit my job. I wanted nothing more than to encourage her to keep going, and yet I realized that God has new things in store for me too–even now as I rest in Him (Isaiah 43:19)!

Transition Doesn’t Always Equal Bad Changes

God has continually been surprising me with new realities.

Transition brings change, yes.

But it’s not always bad.

For instance, after I quit my job Harvest House picked up Not Another Dating Book, and I met my husband Marc. Hello? Sometimes, it’s all I can do to keep up with His Spirit (Amen?). I think the place where I’m at is the best life is and is going to get.

But it’s not.

God has more.

More of His presence.

More of His blessings.

Today, I am giving you the permission to transition. The kind of permission I was waiting so desperately when I quit my job. You might not have someone telling you what to do or that it’s all going to work out–but actually, you do. His name is Jesus and He is waiting for you to come to Him.

Friend, if you are in the midst of a job, relationship, or transition of any kind–I encourage you to check out the promises of God.

Cling to them.

Hold fast.

Hope is real, and He will not let you go even for a second.

If you find anything lingering in your heart squash it for the idol that it is. Smash anything that sets itself up between you and God. Go with God.

Here is something I read this week that changed my life–and I hope it changes yours.

“Recently I heard someone say, ‘God has given me a heart to pastor a church.’ What he meant was he had a desire to become a pastor. Certainly, to pastor a church is a good desire. As I walked away, I prayed that someday God will grant him the ‘desire of his heart‘ (Psalms 37:4). However, his desire to pastor is only as good as his willingness to wait on God’s timing…If he is not content to wait on God, if he is miserable and sins as a result, then his heart’s desire is not set on the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead, his desire has become an idol (Ezekiel 14:1-11) or a lust (1 John 2:15-17; 5:21)” (The Excellent Wife, Martha Peace, page 59).

Watch my video log below and leave room for faith.

God's Ecomony

January 12, 2009 in Daily Devotionals with 0 Comments

[Lacking No Good Thing] – “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over…” (Luke 6:38).

In light of today’s economy crisis, people fear tomorrow.

How am I going to pay the bills? Will I make it through the next set of lay-offs? Now that I am laid-off, how will I afford gas, car payments, rent, food, cell phone, credit cards, etc?

Here are three ways to help you start the new year off on the right track.

1. Do Not Worry

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:25-27).

2. Do Not Steal

Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it (Malachi 3:8-10).

3. Do Not Announce

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (Matthew 6:3-4).

If we take the Bible at its word, then God tells us that He will meet our needs if we give a small portion (or a tithe) to him, and don’t forget to help our needy brothers and sisters in need.

Sound too simple? I encourage you to try it. Put your money where your mouth is today!

* * * * *

Dear God of Finances,

Thank you for blessing me with the clothes on my back, food I have to eat, and a warm place to sleep–and of course for my job. I ask that you help me to see when I am worrying about the future and how I will meet ends meet. I also ask you to help me to remember to tithe and to give to those who are less fortunate than I am.

Thanks for listening.

Amen


Devotional Diva’s “God’s Economy” PODCAST = http://feeds.feedburner.com/devotionaldivapodcast

Starbucks Study Time

December 28, 2008 in Daily Devotionals with 1 Comment

[New Year Values] – Each year I choose THREE – SIX values and make them my anthem for the year. Think of them like a really, really, really long house or trance song that plays into the night with the same beats, but a different mix throughout.

I encourage you to find your own song!

Here’s mine for 2009:

Truth: What does God say about me? What do I say about myself? How do I line up with what God says about me–and transfer that over into my life? For instance, God is my Father, my husband, my best friend. If God finds me worth pursuing then I must be worth pursuing.

Prayer Requests:
+ For low self-esteem
+ To say only truths about myself
+ No sarcastic undertones
+ Workout more?!
+ Speak the truth over others
+ For overflow. Inspired to impact others

Key Point: Impact = Cause + Value System (Coming up January5)
Acts 23:11, 26:19-223

Evangelism: Points to Truth and leaving a legacy. What does Evangelism mean? GOOD NEWS. (Typically lived out through zealous preaching and dissemination of the gospel, as through missionary work –that’s a mouthful, thanks Wiki).

If I have truth, what kind?

The good kind.

I’m not my mom, she leads people to Christ left and right. But if you look at my character–I hae been consistently using the gift of good news through testimony and preaching (writing) o fhte Word. And will continue to do so =)

Money: Credit Cards, Hobby’s, Starting my own speaking & writing business. Pam Farrel said it takes 20 years (twenty) to become an overnight sensation.

Prayer Requests:
+ Student Loans
+ Speaking Requests
+ Credit Card Debt
+ Being a Giver – not just all on me
+ A good steward of my money
+ The Economy – we are being forced to take a closer look at our pocketbooks

Key Point: Maybe doing a blog series on what it means to be a good sower (Coming up January 12)

Truth – Evangelism – Finances. And there you have it! My values for 2009.

Four Lessons #2

December 3, 2008 in Daily Devotionals with 0 Comments

[Financial Provision] – For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.” 1 Kings 17:16

The economy sucks! Can I say that? I know that California is not the only state, nor is the United States the only country who is experiencing skyrocketing layoffs, fluctuating gas prices, and financial uncertainty.

I have never experienced such economic turmoil first hand, until recently. Over half my group has either been recently laid off, gotten fired, or can’t find a job.

Because of the insta-community we now share–some of us have pulled enough resources to help tide each other over. I got Linnea a seasonable job at the company I work at, helped Donnie with his resume, encouraged Sara through her move (as well as Linnea), and that’s just a drop in the bucket.

Elijah was faced with a similar financial situation. A widow had a son, and no means of supporting herself. She told Elijah, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

We need money to survive, and thankfully we serve a God who provides both community and finances.

No matter the century, whether it’s the woman Elijah helped thousands of years ago or in the present with my 20-Somethings group God will provide. Bank on God!

* * * * *Dear God,

Thank you for coming through for us in our moment of greatest need-whether it’s providing friendships, jobs, or both! I pray for those who are presently experiencing tough times financially that you would step in and turn things around.

Amen

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