Last night was fascinating. Let me explain. I think I've written about worshiping Dave Ramsey before - the "get out of debt" guy that was basically the reason I started this whole blog in the first place. I've had his app on my phone before where you record everything you spend, etc. As a result of signing up for his app he sends me emails every so often and this past week he sent one about a free seminar on building wealth. We have been doing a lot of talk about investing and other money related topics with the kids a lot lately, so I thought, what a great idea. I'll sign up the whole family and we'll watch together. I did not expect the reactions I saw and heard.
The talk was basically what his first book was about, getting out of debt and how to do it. I still loved it, but it also made me feel bad, because one of his speakers talked about timelines and what the average timeline is for paying off this or that, saving up for an emergency fund, and so on. We hadn't experienced the timelines he was speaking about and so I immediately felt discouragement. My husband wasn't in the room because he was still teaching stained glass, but my oldest son was. When he heard the guy talking and he immediately started to disagree with him. "This is for your average 9-5 guy who works the same job for 40 years." It was as if my husband was right there, he was talking just like him. Then RM did come in and we watched the last few minutes with him. I told him all the things he hates hearing from me that always come out of me after hearing or reading anything from Ramsey, basically how Ramsey makes me feel we've done everything wrong. My son stopped me in my tracks and again said, "....then we wouldn't have a winery, 8 kids, or have done all the things we've done.....Ramsey is for the average guy..." My daughter, who I didn't realize was listening to me just said, "Mom. Stop."
So, that is why it was such a fascinating night. My kids are smarter than I am. They see things more clearly than I do. They understand what we're about even better than me sometimes. It was great and shocking all at the same time. And this is what it comes down to. We compared old aquaintances of ours who did the Ramsey stuff, paying off small debts to big debts, building an emergency fund, getting a paper route to get a little extra money in the budget, having the same job for the whole time, etc. I have no idea if they are debt-free now, but we just pretended they were for the sake of discussion. Then we talked about ourselves. We haven't followed Ramsey's ideal plan, which always makes me nuts as I still secretly love Ramsey, in fact, we've even incurred debt to do a lot of things and probably will need to do that again in the future, however, at the end of the day, we've added assets to our life that make our net worth much higher than it was at the beginning of this journey. So, oddly enough, we're in a better place now without following his formula. Drives me nuts as I love his formula.
My 10 year old came up to me and said this week, "I know what an asset is." My husband would have been so proud. I told him later and he was. We went through all the things in our house or property that he thought was an asset and he got it. He sees all the reptiles that he wants to buy as assets because he wants to ultimately have a reptile show this summer. They'll help make him money he thinks. We're actually encouraging him to do this.
The other irony is Dave Ramsey probably made 2 million dollars last night. He doesn't follow his own plan. He's entrepreneurial about his approach to making money. He didn't sit at home putting 15% into a mutual fund. He created a whole seminar with a "bundle" that he sold last night at "the lowest price he's ever offered". Genius. Everyone probably signed up and now he's counting his money this morning. So, we're following his actual plan - being entrepreneurial and doing the opposite of what everyone else is doing. I roll my eyes. That, to me, is the harder way, but I will admit, more fun and exciting.
In other exciting news.....one of my greatest desires is happening. We're going away for a vacation in March for a week - the whole gang of us, spending time in Florida in a condo with all 11 of us before the baby comes in April. It's going to be so great and we can't wait. The youngest one pulled out his suitcase almost immediately. We managed to save a lot of points so most of us are flying down on points. The last big trip was 7 years ago....it's time.
Yet, even in all the exciting things going on, I still have those days where I can feel discouragement. I realized what my problem is - it's the calendar. Since we built the house way back in 2009, each month that started, March 1, April 1, May 1, I would start to look at each month passing by and I would say to myself, "We aren't where I thought we would be at this time." And then, the enemy would attack me and my thoughts and I would hear the lie "you're behind". Instead of thinking, "Look how far you've come!" I would only focus on the negative and it would turn to sadness, discouragement and just generally feeling down because of some arbitrary timeline that I had made up in my head. We did have goals set, but they were fluid. Just because they weren't being met exactly didn't mean they weren't being met. We were doing all that we could do and if they were slightly adjusted, so what? My problem is that when my husband says something, I hold him to it. And then, when the goals he mentions are delayed, I get upset. This has to stop or I'll drive him and myself crazy.
This past year I heard him mention a goal and we've now already passed it. I started to feel the discouragement set in, but then I saw what was happening and I'm really trying to not do that anymore. Then, this morning, my verse of the day came up on my phone and it has to be one of my favourites,
19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
And, I just stopped. I love this verse so much. "See?" That word alone makes me stop. It's like God is saying, "Look - stop doing what you're doing and just look around you - actually SEE. Open your eyes because they are closed." Why else would He use the word "see"!? Because the person He's talking to (me) is blind and doesn't see. That's what I do all the time. I walk around seeing for sure, but not what He's doing. I walk around seeing only what isn't happening. As the verse goes on it's reminding me there is stuff going on - "I AM doing a new thing!" A NEW thing. It doesn't say I am NOT doing a new thing, but I AM doing a new thing. Written in the positive, not the negative form. I am, I am, I am. It goes on. "NOW it springs up" - I have to stop again. I must stop waiting for a future thing to happen because it's happening NOW. Not tomorrow. This means God is not late. I always feel late. I always feel behind. And it's always because I've got a manmade deadline and I feel God isn't following my plan. Turns out I'm right. He isn't following my plan because He has a better one - His. And, His plan is "springing up". Do I not perceive it? That question cracks me up because it's kind of like He's saying, "You're so dumb. So blind. Why can't you see anything I'm doing?" It's because I don't wear the right glasses sometimes. I don't perceive it. I don't see the new thing, only the old thing. It's a pattern of negative thinking instead of positive thinking. But this verse says, stop doing that! Shakes my shoulders and yells in my face - STOP! Then, after the shaking shoulders, God says, "I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." What a beautiful image - a way and a stream. Maybe He uses two different images just so we don't miss it. Our farm is a bit of a wasteland with it's old dilapidated buildings, yet there are things springing up in it and around it that are making it feel like it's coming to life. The verse doesn't say it happens overnight, but it's starting, remember the "now" word? So, I'm clinging to this verse today. It helps me with my negative thoughts. I'm asking God to help me see, to show me the new thing, where it is springing up, with perceiving it, and that I'll believe He is making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
As always, so grateful for His Word.
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