Anxious About Savings? How to See God’s Provision in Your Progress

Speaker A00:00:28

Thought I would start today with a listener question. And this one really tugged at my emotions this morning. It says this as Ralph, my savings never feel like enough.How do I stop worrying and trust God's provision?And you know, when I got that question, I put myself in that same position because I've been there, there have been times in my life when trying to save money just felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. And you live in this constant state of worry. You live in this constant state of anxiety. What if the car breaks down?What if one of the children need a medical issue or something like that? Or I got to go to the dentist. Dentists are expensive. And you have this true fear of the future.And listen, I get it, but I love what you ended your question with. And trust in God's provision because that's really the key to all of this. And we did some research talking about savings and Pew research shows that.And when I saw this, it kind of broke my heart because 56% of Americans, 56% have less than $1,000 in savings. And I thought to myself, that's more than half have less than $1,000 in saving. And I thought to myself, you know, savings isn't about security.A lot of people think, well, if I've got a savings account, I'm secure. It's not about that, it's about stewardship. Because the true piece of all of this comes from trusting God.So let's talk about some saving ideas on the show today to help you stop the worry and really live in that provision and that trust in your deep faith.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. Hello and welcome to the show. I'm Ralph. My goal every day is to help you break that cycle of financial shame and do it with confidence.And today we're talking about savings.And I have worked with clients now for going on 30 years and I've seen how that is such a fearful, anxiety ridden feel, like it's overwhelmed to some people.But I've also seen how having that faith and having that determination and really living in God's will has brought people through times of really deep trouble. Because the truth is peace comes from planning and not panic. I never forget a woman told me once, she said, ralph, I'll never be a good saver.It's so many, it's so interesting how many people say that to me. You know, you'll run into people and they'll say, Ralph, when it comes to money, I'm not good with money. But here's the thing.This particular woman had built a 600 emergency fund. I compare that to the research today. Less than 56% even have a thousand dollars.Well, she had built a $600 emergency fund that was enough to fix her car when it broke down. That's enough. If you got to go to the dentist and have a root canal done or something like that, that fund wasn't failure.That was really being successful, and it was freedom. And I love what Rachel Cruz said. She's part of the Dave Ramsey Group, and she said savings money isn't about hoarding.It's about creating margin for peace. And that's really what we're talking about today, is how do we create that margin for peace? So let's get back to our question. And.And that's how do I stop worrying and trust God's provision? I've got four ways to help you break that cycle of fear and really live in confidence. Number one thing, build that emergency fund.If you listen to the show, you know, Ralph's always harping about this emergency fund. It's a small cushion, but listen, it's a big calm.I know times in my life when something's come up, the washing machine broke down, something's not working. I got to go to the doctor. One of the kids need something for school. If you've got that small cushion, I'm not talking about thousands of dollars.Your emergency fund could be simply 50 bucks or 100 bucks. It gives you peace. It's not about perfection.If you think you're going to live in perfection when it comes to your finances, I'm going to tell you a little secret. You're not going to get there, but $100 can be a confident seed. And listen, you don't have to get to it overnight. Put aside $10 a week.Just start to prepare for that. That way, when you are faced with that situation, you don't have to panic, because that faith that you have builds that margin.So that's the first thing. Build that emergency fund. Second thing, you got to start thinking about retirement. The younger you are, the better it is to start doing this.Think about it like this. If you're going to plant a garden, you got to plant that garden early in the season. You want to make sure that the soil is ready.You put those seeds deep down because it has to have time to germinate well. Your retirement works the same way. You've got to steadily be putting those Seeds in.Because if you want to build lasting fruit, you got to put those seeds in. Because time, it's all about timing. We've talked about that on our show. When we did this whole month of investment, we talked all about timing.And the harvest comes slow. So don't delay the planning because it's all about building a legacy. It's not about living in luxury. So number two, retirement. Number three, thing.This is one of the things I think is a make or break thing. And it's goal setting. So many people that I run into just don't take the time to set goals. Well, if you don't have any goals, what's your purpose?That purpose fuels your saving. And when you have a vision, think about goals like this. Goals are a vision. Those visions give you meaning. And every single dollar.And listen, it could be a dollar. You could save a dollar a day. But if you've got that vision that I want to build up this nest egg, I want to build up this emergency fund.That's direction. And then you start to save because it's a serving thing. We talked about this being a stewardship thing.And you have such joy when you're living in your purpose. And number four, thing. And we've got to embrace this.A lot of people don't get this, but celebrate these things because when you celebrate things, when you live in gratitude, it's so. It's so hard to be down on yourself when you live in gratitude. When you see God's hand every day in your personal financial life.Praise that progress, man. Maybe you didn't save anything today, but maybe the other side of the thing is you didn't spend anything today either. That's a win.Because those wins are truly worship moments. And that provision that God gives us every single day, he deserves thanks for that. And how many times do we take that for granted?So live in that gratitude. So again, my top four things today, build that emergency fund. It doesn't have to be a big number.I would love for it to be three, four, five months of income. That would be fantastic. That's a visionary goal to get there. But start with 50 bucks. Start with $100.Don't forget to look at that retirement planning. The earlier you start, the more margin you give yourself. Set those goals. But don't forget, it's time to celebrate as well.Which leads us to our Bible verse today. It comes to us from the book of Philippians, chapter 4, verse 19. It says, My God will meet all of your needs, man.That's a That's a promise, isn't it? God will meet all of your needs. God's already provided you provision. Now he doesn't provide you comfort.You know, that's a lot of people getting hung up on that. It's not about comfort, it's about provision. But it says, my God will meet all of your needs.And it goes on to say, in his richness, in the name of Christ Jesus, which is just the other side of that. Well, how about we pray right now? Because I think we got to thank God for these things.Lord, we come to you right now and we just thank you so much for the daily provision that so many of us take for granted. Lord, we know that you've given us everything we need.And we just ask you right now for the discipline to stay consistent for that day in and day out.Help us to build a vision of what you want for us, Lord, and help us to finally find peace over that anxiety and fear, knowing that you've got this, Lord, as your word says, my God will meet all of your needs. We know you're going to meet all of our needs, Lord. We just place this all at the feet of the cross in the name of Jesus. Amen.Okay, you ready for your one action item today? Here's what I want you to do. I want you to just sit down and write one clear goal for savings for next year. Just something simple.Make it a goal you can attain. Make it something you can get to. Maybe for you, it's that hundred dollar emergency fund.Maybe for you, it's $500 put into a certificate of deposit or whatever that looks like for you. Set that one goal and put your vision there and say, okay, how am I going to get to this goal and then start taking those steps?But here's the thing I want to tell you. Pray about that goal. Pray every day about it. When you get up in the morning, pray about it at lunchtime, pray about it at night. Pray about it again.Because listen, God hears you. If you don't hear anything else I say today. God wants you to be successful. God wants you to be that steward of the resources he's given you.So just lean on him and do that. And while I'm talking about that, if this message spoke to you today, you don't have to walk alone in this journey. We just recently created a group.It's called the Financially Confident Christian Community. It's a great place where we can learn together, we can grow together, we can save in faith and we can live in faith. Not fear. And that's so important.It's a great place to find encouragement. I'm going to put practical tools out there. But here's the biggest part of it.It's really a community of people to pray with you when you're struggling. Maybe when you have something to celebrate, I would really encourage you to go check it out. You can go to it. It's absolutely free.Won't cost you a dime. You go to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/join. I'll give it to you one more time and it'll be in the show notes.But it's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/join. It's super simple to join. Just put in your name and email address and then you're a member of the community.Now there is an opportunity if you want to help support the show so we can reach more people. But again, please go do that. It's at financiallyconfidentchristian.com/join. And as we close today, remember this stewardship can replace stress.And when you manage with faith, not worried so much. God multiplies what you have. And I'm gonna tell you right now, you're further along than you think.So keep going because your obedience today is building tomorrow's freedom. And trust me, freedom is on the horizon. So go out there today and be the financially confident Christian that I know you can be.Stay financially savvy, God bless you, and you have a great day today.