A new season of Financial Peace

New Financial Peace classes started last night and this coming Sunday as well. We had about 33 people at Mid Rivers last night and already people were leaving with hope written on their faces.

That’s my very favorite part of this class – the restored hope.

Proverbs 16:3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed. Before beginning our budgeting, let’s take a moment and commit our finances to the Lord.

Financial Wisdom from the book of Proverbs

Thought I’d share a little ancient wisdom for you to ponder today.

• “In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.”  Proverbs 21:20  (NIV)
• “The poor are always ruled over by the rich, so don’t borrow and put yourself under their power.'”  Proverbs 22:7  (MSG)
• “Do not wear yourself out to get rich.  Have the wisdom to show restraint.”   Proverbs 23:4-5 (MSG)
• “Don’t agree to guarantee another person’s debt or put up security for someone else.  If you can’t pay it, even your bed will be snatched from under you.”   Proverbs 22:26-27 (NLT)
• “Know your sheep by name; carefully attend to your flocks; (Don’t take them for granted; possessions don’t last forever, you know.) And then, when the crops are in and the harvest is stored in the barns, You can knit sweaters from lambs’ wool, and sell your goats for a profit; There will be plenty of milk and meat to last your family through the winter.”  Proverbs 27:23-27 (MSG)
• “Committed and persistent work pays off; get-rich-quick schemes are ripoffs.”  Proverbs 28:20 (MSG)

Discipline

Now this is an area where I struggle.  I’ve fought it nearly all my life.  I like to think that I’m spontaneous and fun-loving, and a bit free-spirited, so discipline is not a quality I’ve sought to acquire over the last 47 years. And isn’t it interesting that when I see someone else with no discipline, I’m completely annoyed by them.  Kind of an instance where I’m trying to pluck a sliver out of someone else’s eye while completely ignoring the log in my own.

I’m finding that my avoidance of discipline in all areas has created some major issues in my life such has too much debt and too much weight. Now, I’ve been on the road to discipline with our finances and we’ve paid off 85% of our debt since January 1, but there is still room for improvement.  It’s the weight that is my biggest issue now and to which I am turning my focus.  I am 100 pounds overweight and frankly, I’ve got to change.

So, to help me on the way to a disciplined life, I’ve implemented some new game plans and asked for some things for my birthday.  A new pedometer that resets itself every day at midnight and counts my steps – a birthday gift I’ll use everyday.  Where’s the discipline in that?  I’m setting a goal this week to average 6,000 steps a day.  I will walk every day until I reach 6,000.

In addition, today is the first day of a new diet which my husband and I will be using for the next 40 days.  We both know quite a few people who have tried the HCG diet and found that it works.  So, I’ll let you know.  We began this morning the first of two gorge days where we get to eat the fattiest, greasiest stuff we can get our hands on.  Monday starts the 40 days.  This will really take discipline!

To help me stay on this diet, I am going to ask my children to participate more in dinner preparation.  So I’ve pulled out my trusty e-mealz meal plan and am on my way, as soon as I finish this post, to purchase this week’s meals from Aldi.

E-MEALZ Easy Meals for Busy and Frugal Families

To help me maintain my focus, I’m grabbing my copy of Jack Canfield’s The Success Principles.  Today is success principle #1 – Take 100% Responsbility.

I hereby take 100% of the responsibility for my lack of discipline and 100% of the responsibility for changing it!!