Up From the Dumps

Listen Up! You will fall, you will make silly purchases along with the bigger ones. You will buy a house for which you are ill-suited, or invest in a stock that goes belly up just after you got it, or purchase a car that becomes an obvious lemon because you finally get that it uses too much gas in this down economy.

But, I'm convinced that all money "failures" are meant to stretch us, move us forward, out of the ordinary. I'm convinced that God uses money to reveal us to ourselves. I can't spend a penny without realizing something about myself.

In a Pause For Beauty, author Ann E. O'Shaughnessy says "I think the real heroic moment is the gray morning, .....when you wake up feeling discouraged and alone, thinking about bills and politics, and you want to pull the covers up over your head and hide from the world. But, instead, you say a kind and patient good morning to your fears, get out of bed and get back to life -- this business of trying to live a truthful, soulful life...

As a former Nun, I harbored a little booklet in my pocket called; Confidence in God. It was my Bible fighting any discouragement take over. Discouragement, it said, is the "tool of the Devil" More, I heard our reverend mother proclaim. "Have confidence. God speaks loudest in times of our darkest moments."

Kick that idiot called discouragement or failure out to the sea. Call on God as you do it! You're not going to a slow boat to China. You're going to succeed and no one, not emotional dumps, not business woes, not hurricanes or tornados will triumph. God alone holds you close. And when you think there is no hope, no love and no mercy, you are being lead into deeper mercy and love. Trust me. It happened to me and I slowly, and yes painfully, saw how my failures finally turned to joy.