Life Lessons inspired by Dave Ramsey (Who knew?)

This morning I was catching up on reading from Dave Ramsey's book, Complete Guide to Money. Trust me, I'm also surprised that my blog post is beginning with anything about Dave Ramsey. But I've been taking the Financial Peace University (FPU) class at my brother's church, and I have actually learned a lot of valuable things. One dominant thing that has stood out to me since the first lesson is that someone could easily float through this experience and leave it behind them and just not gain anything from it. Or, someone could read every word, soak in every video lecture, and do all of the "homework," and they would probably see noticeable differences in more than one area of their life.

I'll be honest, so far I haven't been doing all of the work. I've been reading the books, I've been going to the class every week, but I haven't been doing the homework like I'm supposed to. Why? Because D.R.'s advice is meant to be carried out by someone with an income, and for two months (the course of this class), I have not had an income. (Refer to my earlier post if you're wondering why.) Sure, I've had money to work with, and I have had an ongoing budget this summer, but it has had a steady decrease in the balance since the day I received my final paycheck. It will continue to dwindle away while I patiently wait for my next paycheck to come. (Two more weeks!!!) And I knew it was going to be like that when I quit my job in May, so I was already being extra cautious with my funds as I began FPU, and I will continue to be cautious until I am able to save some more as I begin working again.

Money things aside, I want to write about some stuff I have gained from FPU regarding other areas of life.

1. I've seen that D.R. does not value money over other things in life, i.e., faith, family, friendships, integrity, hard work, working with passion, etc. THAT is exciting to me, because I can relate to these things that he values over wealth, as I do too. I would have dropped out after day one if D.R. tried to convince me to put money first in my life. It's just not that important to me. This class just confirmed that money is not the most important thing in life, and is not supposed to be esteemed as such.

2. I've realized how quickly and sneakily money can affect other areas of life, and the importance of protecting myself and my relationships with people from things like greed, stress, or impatience (this is a big one for me), or so many other negative things that money issues will infiltrate into our lives. This lesson has not just applied to those close to me, but it has changed my heart in big ways when it comes to showing Christ's love through financial gifts to others, even strangers. I've always said that God doesn't give me a lot of money because He knows I can't handle it, but this class has changed my perception. I believe that I would be more capable of it now, but I don't want my capability to enable greed. D.R. preaches GIVE, GIVE, GIVE all throughout his many lessons in FPU, and my prayer is that if God ever chooses to bless me with enough wealth to do so, that I would be ready and willing to GIVE it back to him through those who need it more than I do.

3. I've learned more about what the Bible teaches about money, wealth, poverty, saving/giving, and how to handle these circumstances. I love how much scripture and biblical truth is involved in the FPU lessons, not to mention all of the really great quotes shared from financially  knowledgeable people. Often, it seems that the secular, or more "worldly" sources of knowledge [with financial aspects, in this case], are corollary to the things the Bible is teaching. Which further proves to me that God had our best and healthiest lives in mind when he gifted us with his word, be it about financial health, spiritual health, emotional health, mental health, physical health, etc. His word is consistent with what the most brilliant minds in all of these areas can tell us, or give us glimpses of. It's something that stands out to me when I study anything, be it ethics/philosophy, psychology, history, fitness, or FPU lessons*; The things that the Bible teaches us always correlates with the best and most ideal examples of all of these things. The Bible is a greater source of knowledge than of our man-made sources, so if the man-made sources can be found corollary to scripture then it is definitely worth my time.

*I want to clarify that not all aspects of those "worldly" studies will be confirmed by scripture, and I most definitely apply discernment as necessary. I just think it's really cool when both sides match up, and I wish more people would realize the ideal life God intended for us all to have.

The final thing that I found inspiring through this class was something I just read this morning, which triggered this entire post:

4. I've decided that for me, my ultimate goal is not wealth, but contentment. A quote from Complete Guide to Money that stood out to me this morning as I was reflecting over all of these incredible life lessons, was, "How can you know where you ought to be and what you ought to be doing if you don't know who you are?" That struck a chord in me. I decided that above all the wealth or knowledge I could ever gain, I would rather be content in who I am, no matter my circumstances. To have an abundance of other things, and be miserable or confused about who I am, would be one of the absolute worst things I can imagine in this lifetime. This lesson is the one that I am most convicted about giving to God, because I know that I can't rely solely on myself to guarantee that I will discern every right step along my way. I feel confident in who I am today, but it has been a rocky road to get here. And left to my own devices, I would stumble down any path. So, I happily trust that God is guiding my every step, and I hope that today's contentment will carry over to tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, until all of my days are done.