When Choosing SOS Led to Money Management

This blog post is submitted by one of our SOS women, who chooses to remain anonymous.

When my “wasband” left our marriage, so many things changed. 

One change that continues to impact my life is my new financial status, or rather, the feeling of a lack of financial security.

I have met with a financial advisor and participated in several classes including the SOS (Starting  Over Single) group. One of the SOS sessions focused on finances. I was tempted not to go that night because I had free tickets for a concert, featuring a major celebrity.

I chose to go to SOS. The concert would be fun for the moment, but my financial future was more important. This decision ended up being the right one.

That evening we learned how “Money manages us rather than us managing our money.”  This statement was true for me.  I had to make a change.

To feel more in control of my money, I track everything I spend daily. Any money out of my hands is recorded, whether it is paid by cash, debit card or credit card. I also record the purpose of the purchase. 

This daily tracking helps me think before I spend.  My challenge is to see how many zero spending days I can gain. Currently I average 3-4 days a week, which becomes money in my bank.

I review my bank account frequently. When I watch my spending, extra money is left in my account after the bills are paid. Then I transfer money into my savings account and/or increase the payment to my credit card.

As my savings grow and my debt is reduced, I feel encouraged to continue this journey of better money management. Now that I have an idea where my money is spent, I can create a budget that I can live with.

When you decide a change is necessary, all the hard work is worth it. No matter what the change might be, if you stick with it, it is possible to change, improve and succeed. 

2014 GateWay of Hope – The Helping Place for Hurting Women

How to Find Personal Boundaries in Quilts

Debby Mosher guest posts for us today. Debby lives in Lawrence, Kansas, and served as a co-leader in one of our Boundaries groups. She works at Allen Press as an assistant managing editor and she exhibits her creative flair as a flautist, a sign language interpreter, a mother and a grandmother. Debby is also an avid quilter.

As I passed around patterns, materials, batting, and then quilts – I wanted to illustrate the Boundaries lesson “How to Measure Success in Boundaries.”

Our success is the walking through of our boundaries to see that they are good and fruitful.

We are all made of wonderful materials with which God created us. These materials are illustrated through colors and accents, blending and contrast, shapes, sizes, sewing, cutting, tearing, piecing and quilting.

Throughout our lives we ALL have troubles; we are often cut and torn, then pieced back together; sometimes poorly and other times well.

Yet throughout our lives, we may purposefully allow ourselves through our choices and boundaries (or lack thereof) to be torn apart again and again.

But we will eventually be pieced back together through our good choices and godly and healthy boundaries. Then we become fully well and full of grace.

Batting is added for softness and backing for strength (as in the Trinity or the biblical three cords – top, batting, backing).

We then allow the divine Quilt Maker to strike through all three layers again and again and again. He quilts all three layers into our own special and loved, beautiful and strong, selves.

Our choices and boundaries, good and bad, have then become a real part of our true beauty.

Finally, our layers are bound together all the way around (with the essence of God’s love – His seal and the Holy Spirit of God). Nothing else can get in. We are then His creation and our true selves at the same time.

Life will help you become the real you through all your choices and boundaries – thanks to the original Quilt Maker.

2013 GateWay of Hope – The Helping Place for Hurting Women

What If …

How many of us get stuck in the question, “What if…?”

What if I set boundaries and protect myself? Will my family stop loving me?

What if I lose that weight / write that book / take that risk? Am I afraid of success?

What if I start doing the things on my bucket list?

What if I take the first step?

What if I conquer that fear?

We are not alone in the “What If” questions of life. In Exodus 4, we read the story of Moses and his “What Ifs.” God called to Moses out of a burning bush and appointed him as leader of the Israelites. He told Moses to go to Pharaoh and demand that Pharaoh set the Israelites free.

“Then Moses answered and said, ‘What if they will not believe me, or listen to what I say?”

God told Moses to throw down his staff, and it turned into a snake. Then God told Moses to grab the snake by the tail and it turned back into a staff.
God told Moses to stick his hand in his shirt and it became leprous. Then God healed it. So God gave Moses several signs he could use if the people would not believe him.

In other words, God reminded Moses that if he would ignore the “What Ifs” and just do what he was told to do – then God would provide the power to get it done.

What about you? Any “What Ifs” that are holding you back?

God says, “I will teach you what you are to do” (Exodus 4:15b). He can help you take that first step and conquer the “What Ifs.”

2013 GateWay of Hope Ministries – The Helping Place for Hurting Women

How to Find a Job

We don’t often brag about the ministry that happens at GateWay, because we let our women do that for us – whenever and however they choose. Much of what we do at GateWay is highly confidential, so we don’t show the face of GateWay in public venues.

But during 2012, one of our groups has seen so much success, we just have to tell you about it. Our WWE group – Women without Employment – meets on the first and third Mondays of the month. We purposely scheduled the group at that time, because if you’re without work – Monday is the worst day of the week. On Mondays, it seems the entire city travels the highways toward jobs. But if you’re unemployed, you’re not part of that group. You need a special place to be on Monday mornings and something to focus on besides unemployment.

So we meet to encourage each other and offer hope to the women who have lost jobs. We talk about job tips and list our strengths. We share Bible verses that provide hope for the future and the assurance that God has a good plan for our lives. We work on resumes and cover letters. We pray for each other. Then during the week, when we find job networks or links to job openings – we email each other that information.

Since January, six of our GateWay women have found new jobs. We like to think it’s because they found a place to share their discouragement and connect with other women who struggle with the same issue. We also know that prayer makes a difference, and GateWay can offer that when other job clubs can’t.

Our WWE group is the one group that we hope declines in membership. We want each of those wonderfully skilled women to find the best jobs possible where they can share hope with their world and feel empowered in their work.

If you’re looking for a job, join us August 6th for our next WWE group meeting. We begin at 10am, and we’d love to meet you.

Scary Hope

This morning I read the term, “Scary Hope” and decided to ponder that a while.

From time to time in life, we might be asked by God or by our circumstances to take a risk and step out in faith. Those are the times we find out how deep our integrity is rooted and how strong our character really is.

These character-building risks might include some of the following:
• A mission trip to a foreign country
• Finding the finances to support that mission trip
• Writing a book and sending it to a publisher
• Dealing with a stronghold that has had a “strong hold” on us for a lifetime
• Giving up something we dearly love so that we can love God more – TV / sugar / romance novels
• You fill in the blank with whatever causes scary hope in your life __________________________

After taking that risk and/or making that decision, we often discover new character in ourselves. We now recognize the real person in the mirror – the woman God made us to be. We step closer toward that Jeremiah 29:11 plan that God has for us and to our amazement – we find joy.

The scary part of hope is when we think we might fail. We hate failure and everything it conjures up in our emotions. The response to failure is easy – depression, rejection, giving up.

But more often, we are afraid of success. With a successful venture, we have to stretch beyond what we can ask or think and trust God to fill in the gaps.

The response to success requires more strength, more confidence and even more faith.

Imagine what we could do in life if we stepped boldly toward success. Now that’s scary hope.

~ Rebecca Thesman