Hello Everyone!! This is it......the information I wanted to share with you regarding our last family meeting!! If you are married and you are not having family meetings, you are really missing out!! Darryl and I started having family meetings when we learned about it in 2000, the year after we joined Spirit of Faith Christian Center (SOFCC), and it was the best thing that could have ever happened to our marriage!! We started off having fights in our family meetings, and because I handled the money back then, I did not feel like I had to tell him anything. We had big nasty fights at the family meetings.
We set ground rules for our family meetings to discuss Faith, Family and Finances. We chose this because it was in line with the vision of SOFCC!! Let me just mention this: the Gifts that God gave us, Drs. Mike and Dee, could not have been any more perfect for me and Darryl!! They want the same things we want, they believe the same way we believe, and they have the same kind of faith we have....this is just what we needed and we know that God loves us, because he sent us to them!! We could not follow just anyone and God knew that we would honor them the way that we do because they are doers of the Word. We appreciate the wisdom of God in them and we thank them for sharing the fact that they have family meetings!!
Our Family Meetings are very important to develop and maintain the healthy relationships that we have in our family!! In our family meetings, we connect with one another like no other time. They are what oil changes are to a car.......if you don't have them, at any moment, your car could stop working. So the same is for your marriage. If you don't take it in for very necessary maintenance, it could stop working at any moment.
Let me start from the top......Faith: This is where we discuss what we are hearing from God, a scripture that we need to expound on or just want to know what the other person heard or knows as it relates to that scripture. We also discuss what we are believing God for as it relates to personal desires that we are speaking to God about so that the other person can get in agreement with it.
Second, we discuss Family: We start off with Mommy and we discuss the needs, questions, concerns and the state of mind of each person in the family. Likes, dislikes, and needs could be things we need help with or things that we believe we need such as clothing, books, etc. For the children, they are not present, but we discuss the same things for them. (We have their meeting once per month, on the weekends with them and discuss everyday at dinner some of these things. We consistently keep in front of them what we want them to grow up in - a house of love, acceptance, forgiveness and trust!! (DJ calls it LAFT for short!!) So perfect, we have LAFT, short for LAUGHTER he says!! We love our children and the best thing that we can do for them is to weekly discuss what they need and then daily talk to them about who they are, what they feel they need and how they can get what they need!! We take our role as parents very seriously and we know that we are going to be held accountable by God, for the life that we provide for them.
Lastly, but most importantly, Finances!! This is much better today, because we have invested time in learning what money means to each other. To Darryl, money is love. That is how he shows love. He is a giver, always giving away money as fast as he gets it!!! Again, that is the way he shows love!! I, on the other hand, like most women, see money as safety and although I am a giver, I will not give it ALL away!! With discussion and teachings on handling our finances the way God would want us to, we have learned so much about each other and have come to respect the way we each feel about money!! Satan can no longer make us fight about money because all of our money is together and goes into one pot, or should I say BARN!! Also, we discuss expenses, money we have coming in and what date, and our goals for obtaining more income and how we are going to reach those goals!! We have our expenses written out for two years and calculated. Because we are moving toward being totally debt free, we confess daily that our expenses that will never go away (utilities, leases, life insurance, investments, etc.) are paid off two years in advance and are sitting in our interest-bearing account and are being deducted on an automatic basis. We pray because we love to give and we give cheerfully, every favor and earthly blessing has come to us in abundance, so that we may always and under all circumstances, whatever the need, be self-sufficient, requiring no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation!!! We are so excited about knowing the purpose and plan for our lives!!! Money is very important to our lives because we are FUNDERS OF THE KINGDOM!! That is why Satan fights so hard against us in the area of finances, but we know that he is DEFEATED and we are only MOVED by WHAT WE BELIEVE!! We know that we are Abundantly Provided For with A Lot Left Over to GIVE, we are Money Magnets, Millionaire Makers - Money Chases Us Down and Overtakes Us, and our Barns are Full and Overflowing!! He can't stop us and he certainly can't stop the purpose and plan that God has for our lives and that is to FUND THE KINGDOM OF GOD!! We believe that we receive it NOW In Jesus' Name...Amen!! See you next time!!
THANK GOD!! This is all I can say based on the way my life has been TRANSFORMED!! It was the most Awesome Day of my life, when I decided to relinquish my life over to God and decided to REALLY make JESUS Christ LORD over my life!! I was thinking of this just the other day and I very well could have stayed in the "mess" that I was in, but I wanted better and what I realize is that satan has placed blinders on most people so that they don't even know the harm they are causing to themselves by staying in the "mess" they are in and more important the IMPACT they will have on generations to come because of the "mess" they are in (That is a mouthful)!! In my "Walk with Christ", I believe that you MUST learn the Word for yourself and not just rely on your Pastor, Father, Mother, Teacher of Bible Study to give you the Word!! It is not HEARING the Word that makes us Blessed......It is DOING the Word that makes us Blessed!! Darryl and I are convinced that there are far too many people just HEARING the Word, Coming to Church-Playing Church and NOT Really Changing!! We were changed with the Word from the INSIDE OUT!! This is soooo good to me!! I love the Word of God and it has TRANSFORMED my life from a hurtful, broken marriage to a loving, strong and trophy marriage; it has changed my mind-set from making money to funding the Kingdom of God; it has changed my heart from being a self-centered, spoiled, me-me-me-me person to being "Others-Minded"; It has taken me from a Consultant in Business to a Business Owner of Several Businesses that are helping others become Funders of the Kingdom of God!! I get so EXCITED just thinking of how much he has changed in my life and the list goes on and on.....!!!
