Financial Stewardship

One of the things that I'm most grateful for in my coaching practice is the opportunity to help people in need who can't afford a coach. I consider opportunities to help those in dire straits part of my stewardship of time and money, so I schedule time for it in my calendar. I believe we all have a responsibility to help those in need around us, and the lady I talked to last night reinforced that conviction. She's the grandmother I wrote about previously who is raising her granddaughters after the untimely death of her daughter to cancer.

She's on disability and has also been abandoned by her husband of 35 years.  When I met her, she was very stressed and constantly worried about what was going to happen to her and her family.  We reviewed her finances, and I made some suggestions to her as to how she could stretch her dollars, as few as they are. She is a fine example of someone who makes the most of what they have and is certainly the kind of individual that is easy to help. She's humble and teachable.

A couple weeks after our first meeting, this lady contacted me and told me how things had started to improve.  For the first time in months she was able to sleep at night, and she is currently in the process of trying to get a home from Habitat for Humanity.  But life isn't always like a fairy tale. I talked to her again, and she is struggling.  Her washing machine is broken, and her car is being repossessed because her husband has not been making the payments. So what do I tell someone like this? "Don't lose hope"?  "Don't worry, God will take care of you"? Yes, actually, but while statements like this are nice, they are empty without faith and action. I do look forward to hearing how God meets her immediate needs, and I will update here in the future. My own conviction regarding personal finances is that we should always give at least 10% to charity.  That may be through your church, synagogue, mosque, or nonprofit organization, or may be directly to someone in need.  In any case, helping others allows us to not be so self focused and often provides the means for God to work.

What are you doing to help others? Are you being a steward of your time and money? While there are certainly organizations and government entities to assist people, they don't do it without our financial support.  Obviously your taxes fund government functions, but the government is notoriously inefficient and slow.  We need to be willing to help others who are less fortunate than us.

I understand that this is a newsletter and I'm certainly not called to be a preacher, but I'm passionate in my beliefs and convictions that we are called give to those in need.

If you're interested in improving your financial stewardship, contact me for a Free 30-minute Consultation.