God Is a God of Purpose

Hands down, God knows His stuff. He has the most impeccable timing and He is the greatest planner of all. 

Just this morning, I visited http://www.svrtv.com/feast/ to watch yesterday's celebration of the Feast. (For those who don't know, the Feast is a weekly gathering that is being held in many places nationwide. It is a gathering of God's children where they can receive God's blessings through the preachings and stories being shared, through singing songs of worship and thanksgiving, through the Holy Mass, and just by simply being there.) 

Yesterday's celebration is not yet posted, so I watched the most recent one available, which was last 21 November 2010. I am so blessed this morning because by God's grace, He once again proved to me that He knows me inside out and He has and will always have the most perfect timing in the world. 

The theme for that day's celebration was God letting us know that He has a purpose for everything that is happening in our lives today. That even though we are experiencing bad stuff in our lives, even though we are experiencing pain and disappointment and frustration and hopelessness, we should not let these things stop us. Instead, we should believe that this stage in our lives is just a season of preparation for the greater purpose God has for us in the future. 

I Am God's Wandering Champion

Personally, I still don't have any plans for my future. It's a little frustrating, I tell you, especially when the people around you keep on asking, "So what do you intend to do with your life? What are your plans?" 

Every time someone asks me this, and every time I answer with a meek smile and a small shrug, my heart is breaking inside. It feels like a big failure on my part. Like, "hello, I'm 24 already, and I still don't know what to do with my life? No wonder I'm getting left behind!"

But then, I just try to remember that I may not know the details yet, but I know that God has something great in store for me. I know that just as He had directed me to where I am today, He will also direct me to the right path so that I can go to where He wants me to go. 

It may not seem to others, but I know that right now, I am at the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing. I know that this is where God wants me to be because He wants me to get everything that I can -- experience, learning, people, opportunity, mistakes, failures, everything -- from where I am. And in the future, all the experience and learning that I have accumulated over the years will be used by God so that I can better serve Him and fulfill the mission that He has for me. 

When LYF Throws U Lessons

Friends, whatever you are going through right now, believe that it has a greater purpose than just giving you pain and hurt. In fact, I don't think that God wants you to focus on the pain, He wants you to learn from it. It may be to strengthen your faith. It may be to make you realize that there are more important things than what you have lost. It may be to make you leave behind what was in the past so that you can move forward to a more beautiful future. It may not make sense to us now, but whatever we are going through, God allows for these things to happen because He wants to equip us, He wants to prepare us for our God-given purpose. 

My prayers for you today, is that amidst the storms in your life right now, may you find peace and comfort from knowing that God has a purpose for everything. Yes, even you, especially you. 

You are not an accident. Where you are today, the people that you meet, the experience that you have, all of these have their purpose. 

I Want You To Be Blessed As Well

I hope you make the time to watch this. It'll only take an hour. Believe me, it will change your life.

Praying for your happiness,
Joanne

P.S. To watch the live feed of the main Feast as well as past recorded Feast celebrations, go to http://www.svrtv.com/feast/.

Schedule of live Sunday telecast:
8:00 am - 10:00 am, Philippine time.
10:45 am - 12:45 pm, Philippine time.

And This Is God's Answer

I just want to make a quick post because God answered my question last night and it really struck me. It is somehow connected with the most recent addition to my How I Became Financially Series, My Emotional Why.

Last night, I was yet again reminded of my financial situation thus far. I was feeling helpless again because I wanted to buy something but I don't have the money yet, and I don't want having to depend on someone's goodness to pay for it. 

I wanted to buy myself a laptop because I am finally feeling the need to have one. Before, it is okay not to buy one yet because we have a desktop computer at home that I can use. I don't have to mind sharing it with my mother and sister because I prefer to work when everyone is asleep anyways. But now, I am abroad, living with my relatives, and I feel like I am imposing on them. I mean, being a freelance virtual assistant, having my own computer is one of the most important investments I should have. 

I am so used with making do with what I have (with what was given to me), that sometimes I neglect to think ahead and think wisely with the investments I make. Yes, I have tried to budget my salary accordingly so that I can set aside funds for my laptop fund. But then, some emergency happens and I (or my family) need money, and there goes my savings. Ideally, what was set aside for specific funds should not be "borrowed" for other expenses, but then there are situations wherein practicality is called for.

Anyway, the point here is that, there are just times in my life that I ask myself, 

"Why am I not rich? Why don't I have lots of money?"

And the times I pray,

"Lord, what else am I doing wrong? Why am I not financially stable yet? I'm doing the best I can. Why is there still no change? Lord, please make me financially free."

More or less, these are my thoughts last night. When I opened my e-mail, this morning and saw a GodWhispers message, I felt silly and grateful at the same time because of God's message for me last night.

Dear Joanne Christine,

One of the biggest reasons why many don't receive my blessings is because they rely on me too much--and don't do anything!

Wake Up,
God

P.S. Always remember: I won't do for you what you can do for yourself. If I did, you won't grow, Joanne Christine. And I want you to!

So that's it. I am not saying that I am not doing anything for my financial freedom. But I know that what I am doing for the moment are not the only things that I can do. There are still many ways and avenues that I can try out and explore to see if that vehicle is the right one for me. But, I think I still lack the courage to get out of my comfort zone, plus I am still struggling with how I can effectively manage my time work-wise. 

I am still praying to God that He'll continue to bless me with the right mindset to attract wealth in my life. I am still praying that He'll continue to guide me to the right path, let me meet the right people, and bless me with the right opportunities so that I can be soon financially free. And most of all, I am still praying that I may have the courage, wisdom and discernment to live my life following His will and wish for me because I know that He only has my best in mind. 

When Lyf Throws U Lessons

But aside from praying, the lesson here is that God already gave (and is continuously giving) me everything I need to prosper and be wealthy. All I need to do is to acknowledge them and make the best with what I am given. And if I am stuck, then it is my job to get out of my rut and look for the path that God paved for me. I should not expect for Him to always do things for me. Yes, He will always be there to guide me and cheer me on, but I should do the things that I can do to achieve what I want to achieve. And when I have done everything that I can do, then I can confidently leave the rest to God's hands. =D

Praying for your happiness,

Joanne

How I Became Financially Free: My Emotional Why

Last month, through my "How I Became Financially Free: Introduction" entry, I made a (daring) proclamation that I will achieve financial freedom in the near future. I also shared how God prepared my way, from being a person who lacks hope, purpose, and worth to a person who is now filled with so much hope, purpose and worth.

I am now full of hope that one day I will be fully healed from my past demons; that one day I will be free of my worries about the future; and that one day I will be financially free. Moreover, a part of the purpose that I have been searching my whole life is now revealed to me: one of my life missions is to share my stories and learning in life through my writing. But the most important thing is that I am now learning to believe in, value, accept, and embrace my worth. I am now loving myself more and more each day.

For this entry, let me now share to you the reasons why I want to be financially free.

The Emotional Why

One of the blessings I regularly receive from being a member of Bo Sanchez' Truly Rich Club are Bo's PowerTalk mp3s.And one of his talk is about how to find our emotional why. But first, what is this emotional why anyway? And why is it so important to find out our emotional why?

In the simplest terms, emotional why is the hunger, the desire, that fuels us to do something. Our emotional why is what drives us to strive for something. This is one of the defining factors of whether we are going to achieve our goals or not. Let's face it, most - if not all - of us want to be successful in life. But how come not all of us attain great success? How come some, despite their desire to become successful, settle for mediocrity? The answer to that is because the level of one's emotional why differs from others. And as Bo said, the bigger and more powerful our emotional why, the greater is our motivation to achieve our goals.

The more powerful our emotional why, the greater is our motivation to achieve our goals. -Bo Sanchez, Find Your Emotional Why

My Frustrations

According to Bo, our emotional why has two parts: frustration and fantasy. Most often than not, we are driven by our frustrations in life. The pain they cause, the pain of facing every day with these frustrations staring at us, is usually the reason why we finally tell ourselves, "Enough is enough! There has to be something that I can do to make this pain go away!"

For me, there are a number of instances that bring me pain and frustration that made me want to have lots of money. Whenever I am reminded of these reasons, whenever these situations haunt me, it brings me too much pain. I just feel so helpless and guilty and just damn angry that I cannot do anything at the moment to remedy the situation. Top in my list are the following:

1. Being in debt to our relatives.

2. Being a burden to someone, and having to depend on them just so I can have what I need and want, even the basic stuff.

3. Not being able to help someone in need of financial assistance just because I don't have enough with me.

I've had these "pains" with me for a long time now. But amazingly enough, I was not pushed well into my limits just yet. I'm thinking it may be because deep down, I am such a masochist. Kidding! But really, I think it is because I have associated with pain long enough for it to be a successful driving force for me. And besides, the sad thing about pain is that it can either push you into action or paralyze you with feelings of inadequacy. And not all people can find the courage to push through their pain to achieve what they want. 

My Fantasy

I was reading West Loh's and Andrew Grant's The Money Mindset Report. One of the exercises there is for me to imagine myself receiving 1 Million USD, and to list down what I will do with that money. Now that's a lot of money! I remember when I first did it, I was dividing my 1M Pesos into my five funds plus an additional funding for my "send-a-kid-to-school" dream. Then it hit me that, hey, there is a million dollars (and not just pesos) for me to divide! I was having the time of my life writing down how much money will go where and thinking of the different things that I want to spend my money into, not only for myself, but for my family and friends as well. 

Finally, I can pay our debt to our relatives! I can treat my family to a vacation outside the country. I can buy what I've always wanted: laptop, digital SLR camera, and my own home office station. I can buy all the books I want. I can go to MOA and ice skate all I want. I can finally go to the countries I so very much want to visit. I can grow my stock portfolio. I can buy a condo and lease it out....But most importantly, I can finally realize my one unchanging dream: to send kids to school. I can have more than enough money to be a sponsor in my Alma Mater's scholarship foundation, and more than enough to finance a foundation that is geared towards sending out-of-school youths to school. I can see it in my mind's eyes and I just can't wait for that day to come!

When Lyf Throws U Lessons

This fantasy of mine brought such intense feeling within me. And I think that this is why, more than our frustration, our fantasy plays a bigger part in our desire to achieve whatever we want. We often hear coaches and trainers, and motivational speakers and writers saying that we should not focus on the pain, we should focus on the gain. Same thing, we should focus on our fantasy and not just in our frustration.

Yes, frustration has its part in our hunger to change. Without the pain, then we won't know that there is something in our lives that is not right. But we should be able to overcome this pain and shift our focus to why we want to make the change in the first place. Think of all the things you can do once you have attained your goals. This gives us something to look forward to, especially since our journey to making changes in our lives is surely not going to be easy. 

How about you? What keeps you going? What is your emotional why? If you still don't have one, then dig deep and find it. Once you determine it, then you are one step away from achieving your dreams.

Praying for your happiness,

Joanne