Jerseygirl, JESUS
The Bible can be used to instruct, and it can also be used to bash people over their proverbial heads with the force of a two by four. And there’s no topic where the Bible has been more misapplied — except for maybe sex — than money.
Prosperity Gospel televangelists fly around in their private jets, tooting their health and wealth horns and giving Christianity a really bad name, all on the sweat from their congregation’s hard work. These folks police their language for any semblance of negative talk that might cause their wealthy towers to come crumbling down.
I remember an acquaintance I once had who was deep into health & wealth theology. I’ve hung around with one too many Irishmen, I suppose, and I’ve picked up a habit of saying “Sorry?” when I haven’t heard what someone said. One day, I said this to him during a conversation, and he literally sneered at me. “Are you sorry, Kerry? Really? You should never describe yourself as sorry. You should say you apologize.”
Um. Yeah. Whatever.
Then you have your regular Joe Schmoes, like myself, who have internalized a crazy negative internal money story that seems like it should be Godly, because it feels like it’s rooted in scripture. Think, “Money is the root of all evil” kind of beliefs. (Except it’s not money that’s the root of all evil. It’s the LOVE of money. But our brains don’t seem to register that important difference.)
There are a lot of stories that make it seem that God hates rich people. Or that rich people are inherently evil. Or that there’s no way in hell a rich person can get into heaven (that pun, if indeed it is a pun, was entirely intended.).
We take those stories and internalize them and our brain uses them to keep us struggling and poor. This is not spiritual woo-woo. It’s neuro-psychology. I won’t get into the details here, but my point is it’s less about The Secret and more about neurotransmitters.
The truth is there are a lot of great stories in the Bible about money that are positive, and they tend to have one thing in common: a good, healthy sense of responsible money management. It’s not about the sin of loving money or serving it; rather, it’s about being a good steward of it, using it wisely, giving God God’s share, and using your financial power for good.
But me? My money story is an anxious one. After recovering from a huge amount of debt that left me scrounging for pennies in the couch cushions and shouldering a my own special case of Generalized Anxiety Disorder, I live a relatively debt free life now. Still, the mention of a bill or even the thought of debt can send me into a panicky spiral of sweaty palms and stomach cramps.
That’s where my friends, Dani Hughes and Val Sanchez, come in. These two ladies are on a mission to empower women financially through education and good stewardship. They’re lovingly tough, and they hold my shaking hand whenever we need to have financial discussions.
Basically, they help me be a better grown up. Trust me when I say, I need a lot of help in this area.
Slowly but surely Dani and Val are helping me unpack my negative money stories and deal face on with my financial planning and power. At The Whole Woman Summit in March, they’ll help us all become our biggest, baddest financial selves, and share with us the 5 Principles to Mastering Financial Success. You can read more about their session here (and be sure to get on The Whole Woman Summit mailing list for updates!).
See you at the summit!
Each Friday for the next few months, I’ll be writing about one of the amazing women who are speaking at The Whole Woman Summit in March. These are women who are movers and shakers, Christian and not, who are doing very cool things in the world. The summit is all about the things that matter — MIND. BODY. SPIRIT. WORK. RELATIONSHIPS. JUSTICE. The summit is entirely online, and all registrants will receive video recordings of all sessions, so no worries if you miss any.
See you at the summit!
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