From Rainy Walks to Financial Wins: A Journey of Perseverance

I'm out walking this morning, and it's a rainy day.

If you listen to my show at all, you know, I've been working on losing weight and getting in shape for the past several years.

And honestly, there are days that I just do not feel like getting out and walking.

Honestly, today's one of those days.

Just a sort of a raw and rainy, nasty day.

And I have this goal in front of me.

I want to be healthy.

I want to live a full and prosperous life.

And it made me think about those of you who are dealing with financial struggles that I bet there are days.

Because seriously, I haven't.

I bet there are days when you just do not feel like really paying attention to what you're spending or tracking what you're spending or living on that budget.

And I get it.

Because you listen to my daily show, you probably think, well, Raph's got all this stuff together.

He's always got the right answer.

He's got, here's what I need to do.

And.

But you're like most people, there are some days you're like, I just don't feel like doing this route.

I don't.

I just want you to know, I feel you on that one.

I get it.

It's not easy to make wise financial decisions every day.

It's not easy to track everything you're spending every day.

It's not easy to decide not to do those impulse buys to make wise financial choices.

And I thought about it and I said, we try to do it ourselves.

We probably won't make it very far, will we?

It's one of the whole reasons that I just started to do this daily show, the financially confident Christian, because, yes, I want you to be financially confident.

But we all have to recognize that the reason that we can get to that level of financial confidence is because of Christ, that I think it's so easy to lose sight of that.

It's so easy to get stuck in our own world of trying hard and having failures.

If you're looking for perfection, you're going to be very sad about it because you're not going to find perfection.

All about perseverance.

It's all about staying the course during those times that you really don't feel like staying the course.

This morning I was thinking, man, it'd be really nice to just sit in the house today, put my feet up, eternal Netflix, or watch something on TV to kind of vague out a little bit.

But I have this commitment to continue my good health habits and losing weight so I can eventually be around for maybe some grandkids down the road.

And it made me think of this financial journey that we're on.

It's very much a journey.

It's a lot of people think it's a sprint.

Financial decisions are not a sprint.

They are definitely a journey.

It's a marathon.

And I thought, well, how can we maintain that ability to stay on what we need to stay on?

I found this verse from James 1:12 that says, Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

And I thought, there's power in that.

Those who persevere will pass the test under trial.

Because, hey, listen, if you're like me, every day is a trial.

Honestly, you never know what's around the next bend.

This rainstorm today, in a lot of ways, this is a trial.

Ralph, can you get out there and walk?

Today my dog's here walking alongside me.

It's not phased by the rain at all.

I've got the raincoat on.

I've got the umbrella in my hand as I'm recording this, as I'm walking along the farm.

Hey, even the cows are in the barn today.

They said, I had enough of this.

What tests are you facing right now?

What financial tests are you facing right now?

You feel that need to impulse buy today?

Amazon calling your name?

Is that Starbucks, whatever they call them, triple shot latte, upside down thing.

I don't even know what they are.

Don't really go there.

I don't drink coffee at all.

What's testing you today?

What's pulling you in that direction of, you know, I'm just going to leave a little bit off the.

Off the plan today.

Let's skip that walk today.

I'm going to skip protecting my money today.

I'm going to do some impulse buying.

This Bible verse should reassure us because it says, having stood the test, that person will receive crown of life that the Lord has promised them.

And see, that's where I think there are days when we're having those tough days.

The best thing you can do, honestly, the best thing you can do, just take a quick prayer and say, lord, guess what?

Today is one of the news days.

Let me tell you right now, where I left the houses, where.

That's a very conversation I was having with God.

Man, it's raining out there.

I don't need this.

I don't need to do this today.

We can skip today.

I'll be okay.

And it's Funny about that time on my apple watch popped up my activity goal.

I haven't missed a day of hitting my exercise goal for 355 days as of yesterday.

And reminded me of that this morning.

And I said, you know what, God?

Give me a subtle little, little tip there, so I guess I better take it and walk.

But I just felt like this morning you needed to hear that.

Persevere.

Yeah, There are going to be days when you're like, I've had enough.

I give up.

I'm going back to the way I used to be.

But don't lose sight of what the Scriptures tells us.

Just don't lose sight of that today, because what does it say here?

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord promised to those who love him.

Do you love the door today?

Is today one of those days?

You got to lean into them a little harder.

How about we pray together right now, Lord, we come to you today.

We come to you broken, Lord.

We come to you having one of those days maybe, where it's just.

Just don't feel like doing it today, Lord.

I just want to not do it.

I just don't want to.

I don't want to push today, Lord.

So we just ask that you would help us to persevere, Lord.

Your word says that the one who perseveres under trial, Lord.

And in many ways, we feel like we're under trial today, Lord.

No, I feel like I'm under trial today, Lord.

Help me to stand that test, Lord.

If anyone else is listening right now and they're going through a test, Lord, I ask that you would help them to stand that test and be strong in this courageous battle.

Lord, you promised to give us the crown of life.

And, Lord, we do love you.

Thank you for the many gifts you gave us, Lord.

And maybe today's one of those days where we just need to think of those things that we're grateful for, Lord.

Healthy body and place to live, food on the table, maybe family that surrounds us, Lord.

So we just.

We just praise you, Lord, today for that.

And thank you for the provision you give us every day.

And, Lord, help us to not take those things for granted.

Help us to persevere in these difficult times when life gets hectic and honestly, life gets hard.

Help us to be strong.

Help us to be faithful, Lord.

We ask this with complete confidence in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Well, I hope today's message has reached you.

I know I needed to speak it.

So I hope you've heard it.

And I would encourage you right now if you know somebody who's struggling financially, maybe they're struggling life.

You just need to hear a positive message of hope, message of how God truly loves them and how he's going to take care of them.

I just encourage you share this show with them.

Share this particular episode with them.

Just go to our website, that's financiallyconfidentchristians.com send them to that website.

Send them an email, send them a text.

Say, hey, listen, I know you've been kind of down lately.

Check out this website, it's financiallyconfidentchristian.com and listen while you're there.

Been talking about this for a week or two, trying to give as many copies of my book away as I can.

It's called how to Become a Financially Competent Creator and truly a passion project of mine.

My goal writing that book was to really show people how they can truly walk in that faithful stewardship of being a financially confident Christian.

It's yours for free.

Let's go to the website that's financiallyconfidentchristian.com becoming again that's financially confidentchristian.com becoming and grab a copy for you.

Just download it right there.

You can send it to your friends and hey, the more the merrier.

I wrote that book so we could impact people with a positive message for Christ.

So thank you for joining me on this sort of brief, impromptu episode.

I hope it was profitable for you.

And as I always sign off, stay financially savvy out there.

God bless you.

And you have a great day.

I'm going to finish up my walk in the rain and then head inside.

God bless you.

Take care.