Changing Your Financial Mindset
Have you spent years in debt? Are you ready to start your financial recovery today and begin to step into a life of financial freedom?
If you answered yes let’s go ahead and get started. Before we get started I want to share just a bit of my story.
My financial story
As a child, I came from a large family. We always had just enough but I rarely had all that my friends had. The ugliness of greed played a big part in my life as a child since I allowed myself to dwell on what I did not have. I had no joy in these days because my focus was always on me and what I wanted and never on the blessings I already had. As I grew older I began to take some of these character flaws with me into adulthood. I still always desired more and would never allow myself to be grateful for what I had already. In college, I moved out on my own and began struggling to support myself, and began accumulating large amounts of debt. By the time I was married I was deeply in debt. My husband was aware of this debt early on in our relationship as I was battling to overcome it. He had agreed to help me to overcome it and create a budget which is what we had begun to do. Years after we married I still struggled to overcome debt and often with the wrong mindset. Today at the age of 41, I am closer than I have ever been to becoming debt free. I no longer have any credit card debt and I only use credit cards when I can pay them off in full. I have one remaining loan which is my student loan and I have what I believe is the right mindset about money which I have not had for many years.
What is the right financial mindset?
An attitude of Gratitude and praise to the Lord for all of His provision in your life
A mindset that you always have more than enough right where you are right now
Give God everything and begin to walk closely in a relationship with God trusting Him for everything
Help those in need and give back financially (tithe) to the Lord
Begin to lay out a plan to eliminate all debt. The less debt that you owe to anyone in your life is best.
Save more than you spend. Give more than you save. As someone pointed out to me this is often unrealistic for many but it can at times be done. Saving money is an important part of becoming debt free but when the choice is between not tithing or giving at all and saving instead I recommend giving or tithing. Why? Because I believe in the power of God over my financial life. I’ve seen what I can do by saving money and struggling on my own versus beginning to tithe in faith and seeing His provision. This was not always the case in my life and if you’ve read some of my previous posts you understand that this revelation has happened more recently.
Bible verses that remind us how we should view money
Philippians 4: 19 And my God will liberally supply (fill until full) your every need
according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 13:5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,
“I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
Ecclesiastes 5:10 Those who love money will never have enough.
How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!
Luke 6: 38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down,
shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap.
The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.
Psalm 113: 7 He raises the poor out of the dust
And lifts the needy from the ash heap,
Proverbs 14: 31 He who oppresses the poor taunts and insults his Maker,
But he who is kind and merciful and gracious to the needy honors Him.
Proverbs 19: 17 If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord—
and he will repay you!
Does God care about my financial struggles and anxiety?
The reason that I share these verses is that I want you to get a better understanding of God’s concern for our finances and our lives. There are a few things that the Lord wants us to always remember and begin to make a part of our financial mindset.
God gives us all that we have. What we do with what He gives to us is our choice. Our choice determines the blessings that we can receive in our financial lives and the financial bondage we bring upon ourselves. The choice is honestly ours on what our financial future will look like.
Give to God to further the Kingdom of God. He has blessed us with 100% of what we have in our lives today we only give back a small portion of what He entrusted to us.
Share with others what the Lord has blessed you with and do not walk away from someone in need.
God cares about all of our daily needs and the things that bring us anxiety. Give it all to Him (including your anxiety) and begin to trust Him with everything. When you truly surrender you will be amazed at what the Lord does in your life and how He transforms you.
My financial transformation testimony
After years of struggling, I finally surrendered. I stopped fighting daily for what I wanted and I thought I could achieve myself financially. At that time I started praying and giving it all to God and trusting that these scriptures are true.
When I finally realized that I have been trapped in a financial wilderness my whole adult life I was released from that wilderness period in my life when I began to align my life and my finances with His words.
How was I released from that wilderness period in my life?
On the day that this transformation began in my life, I began to release control of what I never had control of anyways. When I chose to finally give those things to God I received peace in each trial that I would experience. My financial struggles became less and less as I began to love and obsess about money and material things less every day and began to give to God and to others in need.
When I stopped focusing on fixing my financial life, storing up treasures on earth, and struggling to fix it on my own I found the real solution to my financial problems.
It had been right in front of me all along and I had completely ignored most of it. I had always used my own understanding and struggled to do what I could never really do alone instead of trusting everything in my life to God. At this time my financial mindset was changed to the right one which is a God-aligned financial mindset. A mindset that recognizes that everything here on earth is temporary even our struggles financially, true treasure is stored up in heaven through giving back to God and to others while here on earth. Trust God with your finances, share with others and give Him praise for the blessings you have received.
When I made these choices and began trusting Him and giving back my finances grew abundantly in many unexpected ways. I can’t even begin to share all of the ways that He has proved to me that He is faithful if we are faithful to give. The blessings He began to bring were definitely abundant financial blessings. However, another awesome blessing was that as I began to give more He began to increase my joy in the experience of giving to others. The answer to changing your financial life and mindset is truly found in trusting God with everything.
My prayer today for you is this: I pray that through this post and sharing my testimony that God will help you to lay your financial burdens at His feet and begin to fully trust Him with your financial future. That you will begin to seek God first in all areas of your life, especially in your finances. I pray that you will step forth today in faith wherever you are and begin to trust Him to pull the pieces together and restore your financial life and mindset.
