Features - Money

Every time you make a financial choice that’s not of integrity, you’re committing financial infidelity. That’s right, like sexual infidelity in a marriage, there are certain behaviors you’re guilty of:

1.    Lies about what you make or what you spend
2.    Secrets where you’re concealing accumulated debt
3.    Covering up impulsive buying decisions

When you make financial decisions based on 'what’s in it for me right now', and you hide your financial behavior, it will come back and bite you.

It’s as if you’re planting deadly land mines and you forget where you planted. That’s when you’ll see explosive loss: Loss of a home, loss of a good credit rating, loss of the respect and trust of your spouse.

Rebuild financial trust in yourself and in your marriage. Deepen your faith. Go forward and be accountable. Be honest and accept that you’ve done something wrong. Most importantly ask for forgiveness. Allow time to heal the wounds. Eventually your relationship, and your balance sheet, will forgive you.

"Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
Isaiah 29:15

Excerpts transcribed from "Financial Infidelity" on Woman Act Now (WAN) Radio.

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- Anna McCoy

Anna McCoy is a professional, author, ordained minister and entrepreneur with over 20 years experience in sales, marketing and operations management. She is the Chief Encouragement Officer of Act Now, Inc., a personal development and success training organization and founder of Woman Act Now an online and chapter based membership organization dedicated to empowering women to dream, believe, execute and connect with other like-minded women to achieve their goals in the now.

Counting to Ten

My jaw clenches tight.
My shoulders draw up.
I snap and snarl at those around me.
Help me gather myself quietly together.
Make me aware of the calming breath
that I draw in,
as I count
slowly
to
ten.

Make me aware of the breath that flows out,
taking with it, tension and anxiety,
as I count
slowly
to
ten.

Help me calm my body and my soul
and to turn this calm
to each task that fills my day.
I will mindfully complete these tasks
in Your peaceful loving presence.

- Sue Bradford Edwards

"HAVE YOU BEEN CHEATED ON WITH MONEY?"

Features - Money

Crystalize your desires and focus on them regularly. Create a Vision Board, a visual representation of your goals and dreams.

Here are 7 keys to creating your Vision Board.

1. Make sure you have the right supplies
Use a poster board or write it on a wall. Have a glue stick, scissors and photos or pictures handy.

2. Schedule time to create your board
You'll need 2-3 hours to think about and write your vision

3. Create a powerful environment
Surround yourself with things that empower you, favorite music, candles, or incense. Allow your spirit to be settled.

4. Identify your "soul sentence"
Decide on your overall theme for the year. This would be something like; success, movement, change, etc.

5. Determine individual goals
Focus on these four areas to set your goals: health, relationships, finances and time-management.

6. Remember "Forward!"
Get in the rhythm and always be planning the next steps to help push you forward.

7. Look at your board every day
Revisit your vision on a daily basis.

Vision boarding serves as a daily reminder of the power of your own vision. Savor the soul-centered success in all you do.

Excerpt transcribed from "Visionary Power: 7 Keys To Creating A Vision Board, led by WAN's Shonna Stallworth.

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Woman Act Now is an online and chapter based membership organization dedicated to empowering women to dream, believe, execute and connect with other like-minded women to achieve their goals in the now.

Embracing Creativity

Help me to understand the importance
of welcoming creativity into my daily life.
Give me the time I need
to embrace the side of myself
that brings joy and inspiration
into the lives of others.
Your guidance gives me
the strength to go after what I want,
even if it is in small increments
of time each week.
I feel blessed being able to recognize
the power of these moments
and how quickly they change
my perspective about mundane tasks
like mopping the floor
or paying the electric bill.
Each moment is a blessing.

- Charissa Arsaoui

"WHAT'S YOUR "SOUL SENTENCE?""

Features - Money

Women want security: Lots of it, and all kinds.  We want the security of a loving partner. The security of knowing the people we love are safe.  The security of a relationship with God. Our desire for security is rooted in love.

But when it comes to financial security, love changes everything.

Meg will tell you. She got into money trouble because she loves buying things. It’s a simple problem really, too much money going out, not enough coming in.

One day Meg said, “Enough!” Her prayer that day was for wisdom to create a budget and the strength to stick to it. Income in one column, living expenses in the other. Calculate the difference and presto! She knew what she could spend on extras and how much she would set aside for savings.

Every single day Meg adds a prayer of restraint to her devotional. She is sticking to her budget. Meg is finding herself moving away from the love of things and closer to the kind of generosity that has no price tag.

READ MORE about budgeting in the Daily Worth, an online community of women who talk about money.

- Susan Diamond

Susan Diamond is founder of Prayables.com and publisher of Personal Peace: Prayers for Women of All Faiths.

Golden Light

Watch over our children
while they're away at college.
Defend the single mother and her child
as they travel on an unfamiliar road.

Hear us as we speak without words,
clutching our purses tighter on the city street;
rushing to close the windows
as the lightning storm approaches.

I ask for particular protection today.
Please be a fence and a fortress
to those who live alone,
to the elderly and to the disabled.
Care for those who have no one to turn to.

Extend Your umbrella of protection to cover
all of those who pray for help
and also those who don't.

- Ruth Williams

"HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE 'TRUE GENEROSITY'?"

Features - Money

Wisdom, understanding and knowledge. Three wonderful words that can lead to financial security; a three step process.  

What’s does your blueprint look like for financial success? Is your plan for riches based on something extraordinary happening? Are you searching for a handsome wealthy orphan to marry, a hefty inheritance from a distant relative, or maybe, once upon a time, you dropped hot coffee on your lap and dream of a happily-ever-after courtesy of McDonalds.

If none of those scenarios seem likely, you’re probably like most of us, who will find financial success through a combination of hard work, sound investing, regular savings and moderate spending. You’ll also need the tools of wisdom, understanding and knowledge to earn and save money:

1.    Understand what it is you need
2.    Gather enough information for clear and certain knowledge
3.    Rely on your own experience to bring you to a place of wisdom

With God by your side, and prayer in your heart, you will dwell in a house of riches all the days of your life.

READ MORE from Susan on Beliefnet!

- Susan Diamond

Susan Diamond is founder of Prayables.com and publisher of Personal Peace: Prayers for Women of All Faiths.

Faith

The other day I had a thought.
The kind that weaves itself
into your mind and takes hold.

I realized that I am
constantly in fear.
Afraid that I won't be able to
meet the needs of those I love,
afraid that I'm not here for me.

You are my endless
source of possibilities.
Take me to Your place of calm,
and let me rest.

Fear cannot exist
side by side with faith.
Fill my thoughts with
the certainty that my faith in You
is stronger than my faith in fear.

- Heidi Haller

"THROUGH WISDOM A HOUSE IS BUILT, AND BY UNDERSTANDING
IT IS ESTABLISHED; AND BY KNOWLEDGE THE ROOMS
SHALL BE FILLED WITH ALL PRECIOUS AND PLEASANT RICHES."
Proverbs 24:3-4