Post # 77 -- Lesson 2 Personal finances for Self- Reliance

Dear Family and Friends

Lesson two of the personal finances for Self-Reliance is about becoming united in our approaches to finances – in the lesson manual it is talking about husband and wife specifically, but it can and should apply to all those adults involved with the finances of running the household. For me, it is coordinating with my grown children and granddaughter with whom I am currently living. This way we all know what it takes to run our home financially and we are all on the same Page as to who will pay for what bills, or how much each person will pay for all of the bills collectively. I hope this is making some sense to each of you.

Now, if you remember from my first post on this class we are working on foundational principles for our financial house. Each week we review the things that we learn from the previous week and gauge ourselves on how well we did in each of the four areas:

My Foundational Principle ** Exercise Faith in Jesus Christ. Financial Principles and skills for this week: 1. Work and take responsibility; 2. Work together to manage the money; 3. Hold regular family counsels.

Last week I was assigned a partner to work with and my assignments were to:

1. Practice and share last week’s foundational principle with someone – so I shared it with my son and his wife and of course all of you in my first post in this series about the self-reliance. Remember we learned that Self-Reliance is a Principle of Salvation.

2. Track my income and expenses – this wasn’t hard for me, since I only have one income and get paid twice a month. My bills are pretty much the same amount each month except for groceries and that can vary a lot, depending on everybody’s needs during the month.

3. I was supposed to counsel with the Lord about my finances – this is relatively new to me, but I tried. I think this might feel more normal to me if I had had a father that I was able to confide in as I was growing up.so, all of you out there that have your father living in your homes, be grateful for your father – be sure to build a good relationship with him, but most importantly build your relationship with your Heavenly Father. I mean I have prayed about large purchases, as well as where am I going to get the money to pay this bill or afford this or that for my children or myself, you know things like that, but I have not been in the habit of counseling with Him every day on things.

4. The last thing was to contact and support my action partner – I only contacted her once during the week and we had planned twice, so I didn’t do very well. My partner was so nice about it, because she had not contacted me either – but this is a new thing we are doing, and everybody’s lives are so busy as you know. And for me trying to remember one more thing is becoming a difficult task. It’s kind of like when I very first started wearing glasses and the doctor told me that I needed to wear them for distance or if I wanted to see the blackboard (oh boy, that’s sure showing my age – right😊) or I could wear them all of the time. The doctor left the choice up to me.

 At first, I wasn’t at all fond of wearing them all the time and of course I would forget them in my locker or leave the mat home. Then I began wearing them on a chain around my neck, but it kept getting in the way. So, I just began to wear them all the time, that way they would be there when I needed them!  After a few times of a broken chain or many times of the chain getting caught on one thing or another I finally decided it was best just to wear my glasses all the time. Once I was wearing them all the time it became a habit to put them on each morning after I got dresses.

I guess these ramblings of mind can be two-fold – 1. When you do something every day it becomes a habit1 this concept could tie right into praying or reading and studying your scriptures, or contacting your study buddy😊 my other thought is that when you first get your new glasses you realize just as you walk out into the sunlight and you notice how much clear everything is and you realize just how bad your vision really was before you got your glasses.  –

this I can also relate to learning the gospel and changing your life to live the way God would have each of us live, but He left it to be our own personal choice. After a while of living the gospel you realize just how much better your life has become since you willingly made those changes in your life and made the decision to enter into the waters of baptism. Anyway, if it was something that I did every day or every other day I might do better at it—maybe? So those were my challenges for the assignments for this week.

They asked us each to tell about our experiences with practicing or sharing the My Foundational Principle. Well, I was unable to talk face to face with my son and his wife and their response was only to thank me for sharing the information with them. And of course, in sharing this information with each of you I can only hope and pray that it may be useful and helpful to some of you. I think this information can change your life if you begin to do it and then continue to do it throughout your lives especially for those of you who are young and just getting started in your married or single on your own, off at college or whatever you case may be.

The next question was: How is counseling with the Lord helping you? I love it when I get those promptings when I am shopping or when I am even thinking about spending money. My father passed away before I turned a year old, I think, —I was born in 1957 October and my brother was born in February of 1958 and my father had passed away in January of 1958. He had contracted some form of cancer while he was serving in the military over in Korea.  My mother had 5 children when she lost her husband, the shock turned her pitch black hair snow white, she was maybe 24 years old.

Any ways, I did not grow up having him in my home and I was not taught to pray when I was growing up. I am so grateful that I am in a position where I work that I can teach my little students how to pray. I teach them that they have a Heavenly Father who loves each of them so much that He sent His Only Begotten Son to come to earth as a baby – just like them. I ask them if they remember when they were babies. And of course, some of them have younger siblings or cousins, so they can relate to having a baby in their family to Baby Jesus. They are usually ale to do this with having a younger sibling either in their homes or one on the way or having a cousin or even a friend with a baby in their home😊

By this time of the year we usually have learned about the story of Moses as a baby – in this story his mother puts him in a basket with a lid that she had made. To save his life she sends him down the river in the basket under the watchful eyes of his older sister Miriam. Then the Pharaoh’s daughter…or was it his sister who finds the basket with the Hebrew baby inside and she takes him to raise as her own. She calls him Moses because she had drawn him from the water. I go on to remind them about how he may have grown up. Maybe he was playing and working with Ramses in the palace of the Pharaoh.

 After this acknowledgement, I go on teach them about how Jesus also grew from a baby like Moses did and just like they are doing. His growing up years—which are kind of scarce in the scriptures, only that He grew in stature and in favor with God. I think that is how it is phrased – but I could be wrong. I ask them what they do around their homes to help their mom and dad? What their mom or dad has taught them to do?

I then tell them how Jesus had an earthly father whose name was Joseph. Joseph took very good care of Jesus and I imagine he and his wife Mary taught Jesus many things as He grew. One think that the scriptures do tell us about Jesus when He was young was that his father Joseph was a carpenter and he taught Jesus the craft of carpentry. He was known as the Carpenter’s son as He was growing up, I bet He was kept pretty busy learning his earthly father’s craft and helping His mother, Mary around their home, as Jesus was her oldest child you know. When He was not doing either of those things, He was probably helping others around His town or village where He lived or learning of His Heavenly Father and the things that Heavenly Father wanted Him to do.

The scriptures also tell us about when His family went to Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve years old. When they were traveling back to their home then could not find Jesus with any of their family members who had been traveling with them. Joseph and Mary went back to Jerusalem tracing their tracks looking for Jesus along the way. When the were back in Jerusalem they found Jesus in the temple talking with the priests.

Another question was asked of us: What did you learn from tracking your expenses? I learned just how boring and predictable my life and my finances are☹ No, seriously it’s ok. Still the truth is that my expenses are predictable for the most part they are the same from each paycheck. My income doesn’t change because I am on salary, with no over-time allowed☹Again, that’s okay, with the Lord’s help I have enough for our needs😊 and that is all that matters!

Now for this week’s lesson after our review of our last week’s commitments. Our My Foundation Principle: “Exercise Faith in Jesus Christ” We were asked to ponder the following question: How does my faith in Jesus Christ affect my self-reliance? Here are my thoughts about this question: Jesus has provided us with every -single -thing that we have ever needed from our first breath of life on this planet called Earth until our very last. Should we not willingly choose to have faith in Him, to trust our very lives to Him. It’s just my opinion and I realize that yours may be different, and it probably is, but having faith in Jesus Christ affects every single aspect of my life so why would in not affect my self-reliance as well and in a positive way?  

Do you remember what having faith in Jesus Christ means? We have faith in Jesus Christ when we can and do put our complete trust in Him. We show our faith by our actions, by keeping the commandments and by the way we are living our lives. For our faith to lead us to our salvation, our faith must be centered in and on Jesus Christ. In having faith in Jesus Christ, I am very willing to follow my Heavenly Father’s plan- what I know of it. As I am still learning line upon line, precept upon precept as the Lord knows when I am ready for the next line or precept, He sends them for me to learn.

I sometimes feel as if I am just now learning so much and making so much progress spiritually. I don’t know if this is true or if I am just now having the time to better grasp things? I am not sure… maybe I am just an odd duck when it comes to learning – I am a slow learner, I know this 😊 I do know that everything temporally was first spiritually, so it is important to continually nourish our Spirits every day. I feel like our spiritual learning is more important than– or at least as important as our temporal learning.

Elder David A. Bednar had this to say about exercising faith in Jesus Christ: “Taking action is the exercise of faith. The children of Israel are carrying the ark of the covenant. They come to the River Jordan. The promise is they will cross over on dry land. When does the water part? When their feet are wet. They walk into the river—act. Power follows—the water parts. Did you ever think about your faith being something that you needed, you must act upon?

“We oftentimes believe, “I’m going to have this perfect understanding, and then I’m going to transform that into what I do.” I would suggest that we have enough to get started. We have a sense of the right direction. Faith is a principle—the principle—of action and of power. True faith is focused in and on the Lord Jesus Christ and always leads to action. (See “Seek Learning by Faith” [address to Church Educational System religious educators, Feb. 3, 2006], lds.org/media-library) The video we watched, “Exercise Faith in Jesus Christ,” is available at srs.lds.org/video

Why does true faith always lead to action? Why is faith necessary for God to help us temporally and spiritually? We can find our answers in ‘From Lectures on Faith’ – from the manual there is this quote: “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” then in  Matthew 6:30 “Are not all your exertions of every kind, dependent on your faith? … As we receive by faith all temporal blessings that we do receive, so we in like manner receive by faith all spiritual blessings that we do receive. But faith is not only the principle of action, but of power also.”

The manual teaches us that the path to self-reliance is a journey of faith. The First Presidency and quorum of the Twelve are inviting us to make increasing our faith in Heavenly Father and His Son a priority in our life. This is a challenge for each one of you as well as for me, so what are some things that we can each do – or do just a little bit better every day in our life to make increasing our faith n our Heavenly Father and Jesus a priority in our lives?

I think I can do better with saying my prayers each morning and evening. I need to get back to reading the Book of Mormon every day. I have been good to read the scriptures every day, but I feel like my focus has been more on the lessons of for Sunday school. I want to do better at honoring the Sabbath day and keeping it a more holy day. Being on time for sacrament meeting each to be better prepared to take the sacrament.

These are just a few things that I know that I need to improve on, you may think of more or you may have less things to work on in order to make increasing our faith in Heavenly Father and His Son a priority in my life. It would be great if anyone cared to share the ways that they are accepting this challenge to make increasing our faith in Heavenly Father and His Son a priority in your life😊

We all have different things that we need to work on because we are all at different levels of our spiritual growth – and this is how it is supposed to be – line upon line, precept upon precept. We all learn at different levels and we are all at different stages of knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our Heavenly Father has accounted for this in His great plan for our lives here on earth.

 He has prepared a way for each of us to accomplish what He has commanded each of us to do through the prophet whom He has chosen to guide and direct our lives. Remember what Nephi said to his father: I will go and do the things the Lord commands because I know that the Lord will give no commandments to His children without preparing a way for them to accomplish that which He has commanded them to do – you can read Nephi’s words 1 Nephi 3:7 here: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/3?lang=eng

One of the prophet’s requests was that we all need to do better, to try harder to keep the Sabbath day holy. The following are Prophetic Priorities and Promises right from the manual. The first quote is from our current prophet, Russell M. Nelson: “Imagine the scope of that statement! The fulness of the earth is promised to those who keep the Sabbath day holy” (Russell M. Nelson, “The Sabbath Is a Delight,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2015, 130; see also D&C 59:16).

This next counsel is concerning the taking of the sacrament each week: “Spirituality is not stagnant and neither are [sacrament] covenants. Covenants bring not only commitments but they bring spiritual power” (Neil L. Andersen, General Authority training meeting, Apr. 2015). Isn’t that great? Our baptismal covenants that the Lord has allowed us to renew each week when we take the sacrament are not only commitments for us to keep, but they also bring to us spiritual power!  Wow! We all need spiritual power in our lives, don’t we?

This next counsel is concerning the Book of Mormon: “I bear witness that [the Book of Mormon] can become a personal ‘Urim and Thummim’ in your life” (Richard G. Scott, “The Power of the Book of Mormon in My Life,” Ensign, Oct. 1984, 11). I believe there is great power in the Book of Mormon, I have experienced this great power in my life. Whenever I make a consistent effort to read from the Book of Mormon every day, my days go so much better.

There is more peace in my life, I am better able to handle difficult situations when they arise throughout the week. I have less stress and anxiety in my days as well. If you have not felt this power, you need to read the Book of Mormon and experience this great power for yourself. Therefore, let’s each commit to read from the Book of Mormon every day beginning this coming week – this is one of the assignments we had. This is truly one of the best habits that each of us can get into doing!!

Another assignment is for us to show our faith by keeping the sabbath day holy and reverent by partaking of the sacrament on Sunday. President Joseph Fielding Smith taught us how we should prepare for the sacrament : “This is an occasion when the gospel should be presented, when we should be called upon to exercise faith, and to reflect on the mission of our Redeemer, and to spend time in the consideration of the saving principles of the gospel, and not for other purposes. Amusement, laughter, light-mindedness, are all out of place in the sacrament meetings of the Latter-day Saints. We should assemble in the spirit of prayer, of meekness, with devotion in our hearts” (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:342).

I know that it is very important that we partake of the sacrament each week. I think there is a power in taking the sacrament each week as well maybe? All I know is that I experience a much better week whenever I am able to take the sacrament and attend my classes 😊 then there are those times when I have not been able to attend church because I was traveling or home recovering from surgery. During those weeks’ things did not go as calmly as they do when I do participate in and take the sacrament. I can’t explain how it works I only know that it does!!

The last part of our assignment for this week is to share the scriptures with our Family and Friends -- “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” Matthew 6:30

 “Are not all your exertions of every kind, dependent on your faith? … As we receive by faith all temporal blessings that we do receive, so we in like manner receive by faith all spiritual blessings that we do receive. But faith is not only the principle of action, but of power also.”  Lectures on Faith (1985), 2, 3

We discussed stories in the scriptures that showed faith in action: do you remember the story of Daniel when he was thrown into the lion’s den because he refused to stop praying. If you look in Daniel 6:22–23; (16–21) you will find that “God … sent his angel, and … shut the lions’ mouths, … and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God”

In the Book of Mormon when the Liahona was given to Lehi. God sent it to him as a guide for him and his family through the wilderness. It teaches us in Alma 37:40–41 about how the Liahona worked: “it did work for them according to their faith in God. … [When] they were slothful, and forgot to exercise their faith and diligence … they did not progress in their journey”

The next example of faith in action is about paying our tithing it comes from Malachi 3:10  “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse … and prove me now herewith … if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” This is a promise that I have experienced many times in my life – not sure f we were going to make it until the end of the month – but as long as I have paid my tithing first, we always had our needs met for the month and a little left over.

Then there is the story of the prophet Elijah, when he was sent by the Lord to have a widow feed him the last bit of food that she had for her son and herself. If we look in 1 Kings 17 we find that Elijah gave her a promise from the Lord that He would provide food for her and her son throughout the drought and her food never ran out! You can watch a video of this story here: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2016-12-016-widow-of-zarephath?lang=eng

In our discussion today we talked about: Faith in Jesus Christ; Unity with our Spouse or other house-mates that help with our finances; Commitment to Self-Reliance. We have talked about Faith in Jesus Christ and now we will moveon to Unity with our Spouse (or othes who are involved with the finances in your home): there are three areas that will help us develop unity with our spouse (or others who are involved with the finances in your home.)

1. The first of these is work and take responsibility. Remember when Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden after they ate of the fruit of the tree of good and evil? Heavenly Father told them in Genesis 3:9 “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground”. Heavenly Father truly wants to provide for us everything that we need temporally, He also expects each one of us to work hard and to take responsibility for meeting our own needs. Do you remember the financial house that I described to you  in the first lesson? One of the supporting walls is “work.” In order for each of us to become self-reliant temporally we will each need to work hard continually and diligently each day.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught, “The Lord doesn’t expect us to work harder than we are able. He doesn’t (nor should we) compare our efforts to those of others. Our Heavenly Father only asks that we do the best we can. . . . Work is an antidote for anxiety, an ointment for sorrow, and a doorway to possibility. . . . When our wagon gets stuck in the mud, God is much more likely to assist the man who gets out to push than the man who merely raises his voice in prayer—no matter how eloquent the oration” (“Two Principles for Any Economy,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2009, 56–57)

If you were to think about some of the hard workers in your life, what things do they each have in common? What attributes do the commonly possess? Another thing that we each need to be unified in, is that we must not take help from others if we can provide for ourselves – our temporal reliance upon others. We must do for and provide for the needs of our family and ourselves when we can. When e cannot provide for ourselves and our family, we should first go to our family members for help. If our family members cannot help us, our next step is to go to our Bishop and our church family, if our Bishop cannot help us then we should ask for help through our local community resources.

President Spencer W. Kimball taught, “The responsibility for each person’s social, emotional, spiritual, physical, or economic well-being rests first upon himself, second upon his family, and third upon the Church if he is a faithful member thereof. No true Latter-day Saint, while physically or emotionally able, will voluntarily shift the burden of his own or his family’s well-being to someone else. So long as he can, under the inspiration of the Lord and with his own labors, he will supply himself and his family with the spiritual and temporal necessities of life“ (Teachings of President Spencer W. Kimball [2006], 116)

Elder Dale G. Renlund, quoting Elder Wilford W. Andersen, taught: “The greater the distance between the giver and the receiver, the more the receiver develops a sense of entitlement” (“That I Might Draw All Men unto Me,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2016, 39).

 Entitlement is feeling that you deserve something without taking the proper and complete action needed to obtain it. It is the opposite of responsibility. When you feel entitled to temporal blessings, the Spirit withdraws from your life. As you draw closer to Christ, feelings of responsibility for your own welfare will fill your heart, and feelings of entitlement will dissipate.

So many people now a days feel like the world owes them a living. No one owes you a living, you must do your best – and with the Lord’s help you can and will accomplish all your righteous desires. If you want or need a new car you shouldn’t just go and get one because you have the credit to do so, you should save for it so that you can at least put a fairly sizable down payment on it to make your payments smaller and your interest less. The same goes for most other purchases. And you should teach your children about saving money when they are very young, so they develop good habits growing up. Your feelings of your own responsibility will grow stronger as you strive to come closer to Jesus Christ. You will want to do things as He would have you do them. And honestly it makes your life so much better when you embrace His gospel.

Here are a few more questions for you to think about: How can depending on others limit our personal growth? When you feel entitled to temporal blessings, the Spirit withdraws from your life. ○ Why is it important to avoid dependencies on government or social programs? If you are taking or receiving goods that you can acquire on your own, you are taking away from those who truly cannot provide for themselves. ○ What other risks are associated with relying on others, including family, for our personal needs? This becomes our habit and we don’t even try to provide for ourselves because we know that they will provide what we need for us.

The next thing for us to do in order for us to become more unified is to work together to manage any and all money we have coming into our household. Our first question from the manual for this area: How have your finances affected you spiritually and emotionally? The manual reminds us that our financial absentmindedness or misspending, forgetting to counsel with the Lord and your spouse or others who are involved in the financial stability of your home is one of the universal and most powerful tools that Satan loves to use to destroy our families, to undermine our unity, our happiness! He can do this more easily when we are not united in our purposes for our financial stability because when we are divided there is more stress and he can drive a wedge between us.

“Because families are central to Heavenly Father’s plan (see The Family: A Proclamation to the World), it is important that we avoid blame, distrust, and anger in our homes. Whether you are married or single, wise financial stewardship can bring loved ones closer to each other and to God, and can be a safeguard from evil; a unified approach to financial stewardship can ultimately bring gratitude, harmony, and peace.”  You can read The Family: A Proclamation to the World here: https://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation?lang=eng&old=true Our next question then: Why is it important for spouses to be one in financial matters?

Remember I mentioned to you about the manual talking specific to our spouses, but this information, these teachings can and will apply to those members of your household who are working together to provide for the financial needs of your home. We were all raised differently, some of us come together in a marriage or a roommate type situation, or like me – where different generations of the same family live together. Sometimes we are even from different cultures as well as religious beliefs. In either case, we have different ways we want to raise our children, different family traditions, and economical backgrounds.

As we try to blend these things into a family or as household we may have disagreements, but if we look for and embrace each other’s differences and truly take the time and effort to listen to one another with love and humility this will definitely promote an environment of unity. If you are not married, widowed, divorced or just living alone you will need to be honest with yourself and with your Heavenly Father. Each one of us – you and I need to involve Heavenly Father in all of your financial decisions.

Often, I seen people – singles, couples or household members who feel that if only they could make more money then their financial troubles will be over. I know from personal experience that if you are not unified – then you are divided and a house that is divided will fall. A divided household can be even more damaging to your financial house that your low income or your lack of resources.so, our question here in this area would be: How can financial discord be more damaging that low income or lack of temporal resources?

Elder Marvin J. Ashton taught, “Management of family finances should be mutual between husband and wife in an attitude of openness and trust. Control of the money by one spouse as a source of power and authority causes inequality in the marriage and is inappropriate. Conversely, if a marriage partner voluntarily removes himself or herself entirely from family financial management, that is an abdication of necessary responsibility” (One For the Money: Guide to Family Finance [booklet], 2006, 3). How will being unified with your spouse change your life?

This is a very informative little booklet. If you want to check it out you can find it here: https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/33293_eng.pdf

I have given one of these to each of my children with a few other helpful things when the each got married. We can talk about these and other things in another post. I feel like there is so much more to this lesson, but I have rambled enough for this post. Please be sure to check out the rest of it here:  https://www.lds.org/self-reliance/course-materials/personal-finances

 also, of you have any questions or concerns about The Family: A Proclamation to the World or the Book of Mormon you can visit with missionaries here: https://www.mormon.org/

Always Remember who you are – each one of you are a child of a loving, merciful Heavenly Father, He loves you so much that He sent His Only Begotten Son to Atone for your sins and mistakes as well as mine. Jesus Christ is your Savior and mine. He is there for you as He is for me, in our times of happiness and in our times of need. He is always reaching down for us, we only need to look up, to reach up and grab onto Him and hold tightly. He will see us through our tests, our trials, and our tribulations.

I know that as each of you and I develop a strong unity within our households --- each of you with your spouses or like me with those who help me to take care of the finances in our homes. And as we counsel with the Lord about our finances and all other things and put our trust in Him, we will each be blessed with all that we need. Now dear Family and Friends as always until my next post, please try to stay warm and safe, put into practice all you have learned, continue studying your scriptures and yes, make it a wonderful week!!