How Can I Flex My Financial Plan When Life Throws Curveballs?

You got a plan, you got a solid budget, a debt strategy, even have a savings rhythm. But then like everybody, life just happens. A job loss, maybe a new baby, some emergency repairs or an unexpected illness.And suddenly that plan feels broken. And to be honest with yourself, you feel defeated. But what if that shift isn't the end of your peace, but just the start of a pivot?I want you to stick with me today because we're talking about staying resilient when life changes. Your plan. As we're going to cover on today's show.This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel, grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence. Hey there, friend. Welcome back to Financially Confident Christian. I'm Ralph. And it's so great to to have you with me again today.I love it when you come by and just spend a few minutes with me every day. As you know, on this show we answer one powerful question and that's how can I become a financially confident Christian?And we're continuing in our series today beyond the Budget, working to find financial freedom through intentional living. That's right. This whole series is all about moving beyond the budget and finding freedom when we make intentional choices and live intentionally.Now, yesterday, if you missed the show, we talked about defending your progress and combating that terrible lifestyle creep. Yeah, we kicked lifestyle creep to the curb. And if you missed it, I'm going to encourage you to check it out.But today we're going to talk about what happens when life throws a curveball. Hey, listen, because all of us get curveballs from time to time. And I want to just tell you right now, here's something you can take to the bank.Your piece doesn't have to fall apart when your plan shifts. So if you're ready to continue with your piece when your plan shifts, let's cover that today.The truth is you've worked hard, maybe you've budgeted really well and you finally have a plan that's working. And then something changes. And most of the time it's something completely outside your control.And then suddenly your budget's blown, the savings are drained. When you're really honest with yourself, that plan feels like a failure.And you ask this difficult question, that's why do I even try if life just wrecks it? And if you're listening right now, I want to tell you right now, I felt that many times. And sometimes it's just natural to feel it.The problem is when you, when you feel that, that thinking, that very thinking about you know I can't do this. That breeds stress. It breeds discouragement. And unfortunately, it even breeds hopelessness. But here's a powerful truth.I want you to hear this right now. Your plan didn't fail. I want you to hear me on that. Because your plan did not fail. It just needs to be realigned. Think of it like this.You're driving down the road, everything's going according to plan. You got things on your mind, you got places to go. And all of a sudden your.Your car starts to pull to the right a little bit and you're thinking, well, this is not good. You take it to a mechanic, right? You don't sell your car when it's pulling to the right. You just get it aligned.And here's the thing I want you to understand. Today, God honors wise planning. He certainly does. He wants us to to be wise. He wants us to steward wisely. He wants us to plan.But here's a little truth of scripture we don't talk about often. He also calls us to hold it loosely. Let's look at the Book of Proverbs, chapter 16, verse 9. It says this.In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. Or as I like to say, we plan and. And God laughs sometimes. He laughs out loud. Well, let's look at the Book of James, chapter 4, verses 13 to 15.It says this. Now listen, you who say today or tomorrow, we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.Why do you not even know what will happen tomorrow? What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.Instead you ought to say, if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that. Wow, just a mist. That's harsh. But it keys us up to something very important.Instead you ought to say, if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that. And let's.Let's round it out with the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verse 1 reminds us this, probably one of the most quoted pieces of scripture in the Bible. There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens pretty much speaks volumes about what we're talking about today.And here's one thing I want you to hear, and I want you to hear this loud and clear. Flexibility isn't a lack of discipline. To be flexible is not showing a lack of discipline. It's spirit led wisdom.And the truth is, adapting your plan when life changes isn't a sign of failure, it's just not. That's part of life. A life is going to throw you curve balls. But adapting your plan is a sign of faithful stewardship in motion.And here's what I want you to hear right now. As you're listening, God is with you in that pivot. So you might be saying, Ralph, what can we do? How do we get past this? Well, here's the solution.And it's not complicated. This isn't rocket science. Most of the things we talk about on the show are not rocket science. You just take a little creative thought sometimes.So here's the solution. Build regular check ins into your calendar and hold your plan with and ready for this one. Because here's the key. Humble flexibility.And remember, it's not about perfection, it's about persistence. Remember, persistence, not perfection. So here's your one action item for today. Here's what you can act on today.First thing I want you to do is schedule a life check in. Now be saying, rabbi, life check in. What are you talking about? I want you to do this.Just endeavor me for this, but put it on your calendar quarterly and ask these three simple questions. What's changed since I made this plan? Do I need to adjust? And more importantly, is God's nudging me in a new direction? Just three simple questions.What's changed since I made this plan? Do I need to adjust? And is God nudging me in a new direction? Put that on your calendar and do it quarterly. Another thing is a mindset issue.I want you to use what I'm going to call a builder's mindset. Let me walk you through that for just a moment. Instead of my plan is ruined, Ralph, say this. Here's how I rebuild forward.Here's how I'll rebuild forward. Because like I said a few minutes ago, adaptability is wisdom in action. And then the third step to this is reconnect with your core values.As you're going through these curveballs of life, revisit what matters most to you. And as you're doing that, check in, as you're doing that checkup, ask yourself, does my spending still reflect my mission?Am I spending in ways that continue to live out my values? And then the other side of that, what needs to shift in light of recent changes.Now, I want to give you a couple examples because I think that examples really help bring this home. Let's say you're a business owner and you're facing burnout. Well, the first thing I want you to do Is do that life. Check in what's changed?May say to yourself, I've been working 70 plus hour weeks. My health and family are suffering. Ralph. Then ask yourself a simple question, do I need to adjust? Yes, I need to adjust.My original plan to scale the business aggressively doesn't align with my current energy or my priorities. I can't do 70 plus hours a week. My health is suffering, my family's suffering. Ask yourself, is God's nudging me in a new direction? Maybe.So I sense him calling me to create more margin, less hustle, more trust.And then use that builder's mindset Instead of saying, oh my growth plans are ruined, say this here's how I rebuild forward with healthier boundaries and a renewed focus on impact over income. And then to round it out, reconnect with your values. Ask yourself, does my spending reflect my mission?And maybe if you're deep down honest with yourself, you think I'm spending heavily on ads and automation. But I'm neglecting local outreach and I'm neglecting that community connection. And so your adaption, is this what needs to shift?You invest more in people, not just platforms. You learn to simplify. Let me give you another example.Here's when a lot of people and listen, trust me, I went through this when my children were born young family navigating financial strain. So you do your life check and what's changed? Here's a great one. We just had our second child and now we're down to one income instead of two.Ask yourself, do I need to adjust? Well, absolutely, I need to adjust. Our our old budget just doesn't work anymore. Ask yourself, is God's nudging me in a new direction?Well, we feel led to practice greater contentment and stewardship. Now how do you apply that to that builder's mindset to be easy to say, well, Ralph, our budget is wrecked.We got two kids now, our budget doesn't work anymore. But apply the builder's mindset and say this, here's how we'll rebuild forward with a simpler lifestyle and shared values guiding our choices.And then of course in the end, reconnect with your values. Ask yourself, does my spending reflect my mission? Hey, you've got two children now.You say to yourself, we value time with our kids, but our spending shows we prioritize convenience and clutter. Hey, there's some things that need to be changed. So what needs to shift? Well, you need to cut those non essentials.Focus on creating memories, not just buying things. We've talked about that on the show many times. Let me throw one more example at you.And unfortunately, a lot of people have suffered this one career change after unexpected job loss. So you do your life check in. What's changed? Well, Ralph, pretty clear, I lost my job, dude, and I wasn't expecting that. Do I need to adjust?Yes, absolutely you need to adjust. Things have changed.I need to reevaluate my financial plan and my career path and maybe, just maybe, start to think, is God nudging me in a new direction? Hey, you know what?Maybe this, this change, this, this job loss is God's way of pulling you towards something that really addresses your gifts in ministry. Or maybe a nonprofit work. And then I want you to apply that builder's mindset. Instead of saying, oh, Ralph, my career is over.I worked so hard in my career, I'll never have what I wanted again. Apply the builder's mindset. Here's how I rebuild forward.Pursuing purposeful work, even if it means starting smaller, and then connect it with your core values. Does my spending reflect my mission? Hey, and maybe in this case, my old lifestyle supported a status based image. I had to have that new car, Ralph.I had to have those flashy suits, I had to have the nicest jewelry, all those things. But my values tell me I need to focus on service. So what's the shift? What's the pivot? God's right there with you.Focus on generosity, focus on sustainability and focus on meaningful work. Yes, God is nudging you in a certain direction. And I hope those three examples really helped you connect to what I'm trying to convey today.Because this helps. Because it prevents panic and it prevents guilt when life changes. And let me tell you about a certainty of life. It's going to change.If you're listening to my voice right now, it is going to change. Prevent the panic, prevent the guilt. And it keeps your peace anchored in purpose.See, we get so hung up on performance, we've got to anchor our peace in purpose, not performance. And by doing these things, it builds long term resilience and it helps you trust God's leadership.Not your plans, not your spreadsheet, not the things that you said. Well, this is the way it's going to be, Ralph. This is the way I've always wanted it. What does God do? HE LAUGHS well, how about we pray together?Father God, thank you for being unchanging. In the middle of our ever changing lives, we confess we sometimes hold our plans too tightly.Lord, we build our spreadsheets and we forget to seek your steps, Lord, we forget to seek your will. And we just ask that you would help us today to pause, Lord, to just pause, to adjust.And truly you more deeply give us grace to rebuild wisdom to adapt, Lord, and peace to walk forward easily even when the path in front of us changes. We ask this in boldness. We ask this in confidence. In Jesus name, Amen. Friend, listen to me right now. Life changes. That's a promise.That is something you can take to the bank. But here's the better promise. Your peace doesn't have to.So today I want to encourage again, adjust your plan, listen for God's direction and take one step forward in faith. And as you take that step, I want to encourage you to share this show with somebody. Someone who's been dealing with life struggles.Maybe you know somebody in your life, that man, Ralph, they keep on getting those curve balls and they've told me, Ralph, they just want to give up. I'm going to encourage you to share the show with them. Tell them about how it's helping you.Tell them about how you're learning to really to become that financially confident Christian. Because this may be what they need to hear.Just send them a text and say, hey, check out this website, financiallyconfidentchristian.com or send them an email, hey, even better, take them out to lunch and say, listen, I'm here to listen to you. And you might want to tune into Ralph and check him out too. It could really help you.And tomorrow we're talking about the joy of simplicity, yes, simplicity and joy. We're talking about how to find peace without overspending. So until then, stay flexible, stay faithful and as always, stay financially confident.You've got this. I have confidence in you, have confidence in yourself. God bless you and you have a grace filled day today.