Generosity

This is a recurring theme in my life lately.  I have two topics relating to generosity to tell you about, and I am excited about both of them!

First of all, thanks to Casey Graham of Rethink Money (www.rethinkmoney.org), I have a Monthly Spending Plan, and a Kill It plan for my debt (a get out of debt plan), and I am taking control of my finances.  Why?  In our Rethink Money seminar on Saturday, Casey asked us to identify one financial goal that we want to accomplish in the next twelve months.  Mine is to be more generous in my giving (I have a very specific goal but will keep it to myself.)   Casey taught us all how to get our finances in shape so that we can use our money to fuel God’s mission.  Our money should be used in this order:

1. Share some
2. Save some
3. Spend some

Unfortunately, most people use their money in the opposite order, and I am guilty of that.  But over the next twelve months, I will reverse the order in which I manage my finances.  I am excited about it!!   I will also be living on a Monthly Spending Plan and working on my Kill It plan to get out of debt!  I want my money to be used to glorify God.  It is His.  He has only allowed me to have what I have.

Next, on the topic of generosity is the wonderful company of which I am blessed to be a part, Premier Designs.  Premier has a new Gift with Purchase Promotion for February.  For home shows held between January 31 and February 27, any guest who makes a purchase of $75 will receive one piece of jewelry up to $40 in value absolutely FREE.  If you are a hostess holding a show in February, this will increase the retail of your show, therefore increasing your hostess benefits.  If you have a catalog show open with me right now, we will flip it to a home show so that your friends and family that make purchases will be eligible for this promotion.  This is a win-win for customers and hostesses!!!!  What a GENEROUS company!!!!

Also, right now I am having a 24-hour sale going on.  It started yesterday, but you can still order today and receive these great discounts.

But 1 item, get 20% off your order

or

Buy 2 items, get 25% off your order

or

Buy 3 items, get 30% off your order

Call or email me today if you would like to take advantage of these discounts.  My email is msjewelrylady@gmail.com.  You can also twitter me:  www.twitter.com/msjewelrylady.   

He’s Still Working on Me

I haven’t posted to my blog in quite a while.  I think there’s just so much running through my mind that I don’t know where to start.  God’s working in my life, and I think that 2009 is going to bring about many changes for me, positive changes.  The process of getting there is painful though.

I just returned from a Premier conference, and I am refreshed, motivated, and humbled.  Every year Premier has a Verse of the Year.  For 2009, the Verse of the Year is Proverbs 15:13, “A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.”  I want to start every day of 2009 by reading this verse.

One of the testimonies given at the conference was from a woman with generalized anxiety disorder that is running a successful Premier business in spite of her illness.  She said, “Let your business be the bulldozer that breaks through the problems in your life.”  She will never know what an effect that one phrase has had on me.  For the past year, I haven’t had the will do to anything.  I have let the pain in my neck handicap me in a lot of ways.  This debilitating pain has affected me both physically and mentally.  But, I think that sometimes our mental will can be stronger than our physical abilities.  And God is stronger than any problem we’ll ever have.

Andy Horner, founder of Premier Designs, also spoke at the conference.  He talked about the power of a positive attitude in all aspects of our lives.  He said “Plant seeds and let God handle the results.”  This is true for witnessing, for parenting, and for working our Premier businesses.  A positive attitude is a seed that when planted and prayed over can have enormous results.  I am ashamed to say that I haven’t had such a positive attitude in the past year.  I have let my pain control my life.  I’m embarrassed to even say that, but there it is.

I am so glad that God is working on me.  He’s got a lot of work to do!!!!  I do too.

Blog Post I Want to Share

I’m sure that most who read my blog also read my pastor, Dave’s, blog.  But, just in case you don’t, I want to share with you a blog post from Dave’s blog.  This post is so Dave, but is so eloquent.  That is not, however, the reason I want to share it.  This post is the epitome of why I attend Crosspoint Community Church.  The post also motivates me to get out of my comfort zone in the name of Jesus Christ.  As you can see in my previous post, I’m not making any New Year’s resolutions, but if I were, that would be it.  So, without further ado, here is the post: http://www.blog.moviepastor.com/?p=1237&cpage=1#comment-1069.

Resolutions

New Years Resolutions are like rules that are made to be broken.  I didn’t make any this year, but I have definitely made them in the past.  I always end up breaking them and feeling bad about myself.  Of course, I’ve made the good ole losing weight resolution.  And then there’s the,  “I’m going to read my Bible every day resolution” at which I can do pretty good for a while, then I go out of town, forget my Bible, start beating myself up, then it just goes down hill from there.  I’ve also made the resolution not to make any more resolutions.

I think I’ve decided that New Years resolutions just aren’t for me.  They don’t work for me.  I can’t make a resolution just because it’s the time of year that everyone else does it.  It has to be the right time for me.  I have issues that I am constantly working on.  For instance, I will never ever spend enough time in my Bible.  There will always be more I can learn about being a Christian and about showing unbelievers what Christianity is.  Therefore, I will ALWAYS be working on that aspect of my life.  Another of those areas is my housekeeping.  Formerly, I was a neat freak.  Every inch of my home was organized and clean and everything was in its place.  Then I got busy, and this neck issue evolved, and I got messy.  I mean, my house got messy.  Now, it’s to the point that my hosue just depresses me.  So, over the past couple of weeks my dad and I have been organizing my house, cleaning out closets, and getting it back to the condition that I love, NEAT!  I’m finding inspiration in endless hours of HGTV.  There are countless other areas of my life that need improvement, and I will just have to work on them one step at a time.

I want to know, do you make New Year’s resolutions?  Leave a comment and tell me if you make them, what they are if you do, and what’s your past success with New Year’s resoltuions?  Do you break them or keep them?  I’m interested in knowing what you all plan to do with your lives in the new year.