Marilynn Dawson's Blog, page 9

Household Finances Part 2

So today I need something to write about. I was going to grab an article I wrote but unfortunately didn't save to my pc, but the site where I posted it for approval has been down for the past several days. You'd think this geek would have learned long ago to save things locally before sharing them online! *sigh*

The topic is about household finances. The first post I made about this referenced three different steps to take when managing household finances. The first step had three points to it: 10% tithe/charity, 10% savings, 20% spending.

This particular habit began for me when I was a young child getting ready for kids camp at Nanoose Bay Pentecostal Camp back in 1978. I had three envelopes under my bed. One held my tithe money, one held my savings for camp, and the last one held the money I could spend however I chose. As a child, this was easy to do. Any birthday money, Christmas money, spare change I found on the street, etc, would get divided among these envelopes.

As an adult, it's not so easy, but if one has the income to manage it, it's honestly the best way to go. In fact, financial advisors will tell you that if you can put 20% into savings and live off the remaining 70% of your income, you will be in a better position to retire in later years.

The change from saving as a child to saving as an adult carries with it quite a few more responsibilities in this issue of financial management. Your 10% charitable giving becomes eligible for tax returns, almost becoming a savings account of it's own, minus the ability to earn interest. Your savings account will begin to earn interest the more it grows, adding more to the pot than just what you put in every pay cheque. This is one of the ways that your money can work for you.

The spending account is where child to adult experiences the biggest change! Now you have bills to pay, rent, transportation costs, groceries, etc. Your actual spendable cash is quite a bit smaller after all the bills are paid. But it begins with a disciplined attitude and behaviour toward how that pay cheque gets divided up before you start spending it. Developing a healthy financial foundation is key to the other two points in that first introductory article I wrote.

What percentage of your income goes to charitable giving now? What percentage goes to savings? What percentage are you living on?

https://www.facebook.com/notes/marilynn-dawson-author/household-finances-intro-to-the-basics/482300641862829

"This poor man cried,"

Psalm 34:6: "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

This passage of Scripture was timely this weekend, as I suffered another setback in my physical and emotional health. My nerves shot off almost as bad as if I'd experienced another nervous breakdown, on the way to church no less! I arrived unsure if I could function that morning, asking God for help and asking what to do. The worship songs that morning spoke of God being my Rock, being my fortress, being my song in the night season. As I put those lyrics up on the screen for everyone to see, I wanted to cry as my soul echoed the longing for those things to be true at that moment. Then the sermon came, and Pastor preached from this chapter in Psalms, pointing out four types of prayers.

One type of prayer he mentioned was "HELP!" and he used the verse above to illustrate that prayer type. There are those out there who teach that it is an insult to ask God for help, that He doesn't help, He takes over, that asking for help implies the continued desire to do it ourselves and we need His help in the process. I'm not sure I agree with that assessment entirely. God expects us to live righteous and holy lives before Him, and expects us to be responsible with the brains, skills, and resources He's given us. But the Holy Spirit was given as a help-meet, or as one who comes alongside according to the Greek for "Comforter" in the New Testament. So for God to willingly choose to come alongside us in this quest to live pleasing lives before Him, then He is not living our lives for us, but guiding us, teaching us, and empowering us to live that life that pleases God. So in that context, crying out for help is something God honours and expects from us, because He knows we can't live this life on our own, try as we might. Elsewhere in Scripture, God says to call out to Him and He will answer.

So I got up this morning to reread this entire chapter for myself, in my private devotions. Once again verse 6 stood out to me as I found myself in prayer asking God to take over, because I keep failing, I can't do it on my own. In my case, "this poor woman cried."

It is a matter of faith and trust now, that I will see God answer that prayer as I seek healing from the hidden long-term damage to various parts of my body that control things the world would consider mental and emotional in nature. Medicine, whether natural or man-made, will only go so far. I need God to step in where I am failing, and make me whole.

Fret not yourself. . . Trust in the Lord. . . Rest in the Lord. . . Wait on the Lord. . .

Psalm 37

I was reminded of this Psalm Sunday morning when our Seniors Pastor preached the morning sermon. This Psalm wouldn't leave my thoughts, so I decided to read it for my morning devotions. It was pointed out to me on Sunday as well, that daily frustrations such as merely driving from point A to point B can result in a level of fretting - frustration, worry and/or anger, that can contribute to elevated cortisol levels in my body, further contributing to the physical ailments I am currently suffering from.

Our bodies weren't built to handle prolonged stress of any kind. So many times in Scripture we are told to rest, to lead gentle lives, etc. When we fail to heed these admonishments in Scripture, our bodies are the part of us to take the fall-out. How we allow ourselves to think and feel has a direct result on our body's ability to function properly.

I was aware of some of this a few years ago, and my mentor at the time was trying to get me to understand it to some degree as well. I'd be reminded that if I didn't take care to watch my activity level, that I could burn out. Am I the only one that interprets advice given in the context of situation at hand? I did learn to take time to slow myself down every day and spend time in God's arms. I grew to "need" those times to the point that when I began working full-time, I lamented those times being taken from me due to how life was on either side of the workday schedule.

Needless to say, I went to bed last night asking to fall asleep in my Lord's arms. It was a needed focus-shift from the thoughts of the day to my Unseen Husband, and it felt as though my head was resting in His hand and I drifted off. I slept very well last night as a result.

But while falling asleep in His arms is needful in my situation, and while quieting myself for a time every day to spend time in His presence as part of my daily routine is needful regardless of my situation, clearly there is more to learn regarding the four points mentioned at the beginning of this writing above.

Fretting involves not merely worry, but indicates frustration leading to potentially damning action according to Psalm 37:8. It amounts to taking matters into my own hands and taking action when instead I am admonished to wait on God and rest, trusting Him to take action for me. This thought is repeated throughout this Psalm and contrasted against how the wicked behave.

It is said that worry is a lack of trust in God to handle a given situation on our behalf. Fretting then would also be a lack of trust in God's ability to bring justice to a given situation on our behalf. Frustration does drive me to action, and I have not always been pleased with the results of those actions. The challenge now is to recognize when that level of frustration is upon me, and to give it over to God, trusting that He will manage it for me, then resting in that trust and waiting for God's timing in that situation.

It's interesting as I read back through my series, "Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey". There were times when God was seeking to teach me these concepts back then too. It appears I was doing what I could to act on these lessons as well. As a result, it feels like I've taken a few steps back on this issue and now my body is repaying me big time in some not-so-nice ways. Having said that, it is thoroughly possible that learning these lessons at that time only delayed what I am going through now, and that the full-time job was the last straw, causing me to see just how badly I need to apply these lessons to everyday life! Either way, I am here again, and needing God's gentle, merciful reminders to apply these lessons in ways that not only benefit me socially and spiritually, but that allow my body to heal up and return to proper physical management of everyday stresses.

Fret not yourself. . . Trust in the Lord. . . Rest in the Lord. . . Wait on the Lord. . .

Lots of notes lately, this time, A Contest!!!

Everyone loves contests!  Especially ones where you get a chance to win something for FREE!  Want to have a chance at winning a free book???

Songdove Books is holding "Memories of High School Graduation" Contest beginning Monday at 12am!  

http://bit.ly/16PzKtK

Your task?  To be sure you've liked this author page, and share your most memorable High School Graduation moment!  The winning entry will be chosen following the closing of the contest on the 19th.

The winner will get a free PDF copy of "Mom's Little Black Book: Godly Advice for the High School Graduate".

Feel free to pass this link around to anyone you know who would love to win a free book!

Back to School Discounts at Two Locations Online!

Songdove Books is offering 20% off at two locations online from now until September 30th:

http://songdovebooks.storenvy.com

and


http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/store/

These are in addition to the regular 20% - 40% off offered at Deeper Shopping at this URL here:  
http://www.deepershopping.com/marilynn-l-dawson/homepage.html

If your idea of a discount is free shipping, then you'll want to consider signing up for Amazon Prime at this URL below:  
Join Amazon Prime - Watch Over 40,000 Movies (get free shipping on book orders too)
The link above is promoting their video/tv offerings, but Amazon Prime gives book buyers free shipping as well.  The entire list of Songdove Books on Amazon is eligible for Amazon Prime members.  On top of that, Amazon is offering it's own markdowns right now as well.

So whether you buy direct from Songdove Books at Storenvy or the author blog store, or whether you take advantage of Deeper Shopping's permanent discounts or Amazon's free shipping, don't let the Back to School season end without ensuring that the grad on your list has been looked after.

"Back to School!" Yes, Some Schools do return to class in August!

To us Canadians, it's a strange thing to think of school starting half-way through the summer season.  School lets out in June and returns in September.  But if you are a school in some places of the US, or in other areas around the globe, school summer break can begin in May and end in August, last three months, or just one month.  It's weird to enter the department stores and not be able to browse decent summer items now, and to see "Clearance" plastered all over the place as they try to clear out summer stock and bring in the fall line-up, making room for their "Back to School" sales!

It just so happens that "Back to School" is a GREAT time to offer you "Mom's Little Black Book: Godly Advice for the High School Graduate"!  

This 322 page $10 grad gift contains one tidbit of advice on every page!  There are Bible reading calendars, Housework calendars, sample budget sheets, and note pages scattered here and there throughout the book.  

If you are looking for that final send-off as you send your graduate to college or university, this is it!  

If you are looking for that bit of advice that they can turn to long after graduation has passed, this is it!  

If you want something that will boost their faith when you aren't around anymore, this is it!

"Mom's Little Black Book: Godly Advice for the High School Graduate" can be found at the links below.  Take a browse for the best way you can get your hands on this affordable grad gift for your High School graduate!

In Canada:

http://www.bookmob.ca/search/keyword/Marilynn+Dawson

http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/mlbb-2/
http://songdovebooks.storenvy.com

Global:

Createspace.com:
https://www.createspace.com/4249405

Amazon websites:
http://www.amazon.com/author/marilynn.dawson.author
http://astore.amazon.com/becothebridof-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=4 Amazon Store
http://www.amazon.de/-/e/B008SXA2QS Amazon DE
http://astore.amazon.de/becthebriof0d-21 Amazon DE store
http://www.amazon.fr/-/e/B008SXA2QS Amazon FR
http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B008SXA2QS Amazon UK
http://astore.amazon.co.uk/becthebriofch-21 UK store
http://www.amazon.es/s?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=MS%20Marilynn%20Dawson&search-alias=english-books Amazon ES

New Christian Books:
http://songdove.fa-ct.com/songsfromwordlistings.shtml

Digital Versions:
http://p.atcontent.com/songdove/869380789747227X6.ebook/

http://www.scribd.com/doc/148810037/Mom-s-Little-Black-Book-Godly-Advice-for-the-High-School-Graduate - Scribd also has an Android App available in Google Play and ITunes to manage your Scribd library on your Android or IOS device.

https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=f7TYk-aPDdwC&rdid=book-f7TYk-aPDdwC&rdot=1&source=gbs_vpt_read 

Summertime - Songdove Books Newsletter - July Edition

**Welcome to Mid-Summer and another edition of "Songdove Books Presents:" Newsletter! **

Seeing as our newsletter count hasn't changed for the past few months, my list of where you can find the books will be reduced to the most recent locations only. You can refer to past newsletters if you need the longer list.

Of course the big news in June, was that my series, "Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey" made it onto Google Books and Google Play! The full list of links can be found on the squidoo page for the series at: http://www.squidoo.com/becoming-the-bride-of-christ-a-personal-journey

Which reminds me! How many of you have made use of the companion website link in the series? Have you watched any of the song videos listed under each chapter's tab? Those videos are available on the Pinterest board: http://pinterest.com/songdovebooks/songs-that-impact-me/ as well. However, if you were wanting to download those songs to listen to at your leisure, you'd need to either own them already, or buy them. To that end I've added an iTunes module to the squidoo lense above, and am doing my best to add one song a day. There are over 10 songs on that list at the moment, ranging in price from $.99 to $1.99. The songs being posted are currently from Chapter 3 as of the time this newsletter goes out.

In other news, it took me a few days ot fiddling and assessing and installing and uninstalling, but I finally added a shopping cart to my own brand new author blog! That's right, I finally have a place outside Facebook to post blog notes! http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/ The theme is actually quite cool! The individual images in the banner are clickable! The menu bar under the banner has the word "Store" in it. If you click that, you can browse my books and opt to buy them directly from me if you so choose. Shipping takes anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks depending on where you live and the shipping options open to you. But after a full year of not being able to directly sell my stuff myself, it feels good to have this as an option to my readers.

**Online Daily sessions in "Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey"** began Chapter 10, otherwise known as Volume Four this morning. This particular chapter got it's own volume in the series due to it taking roughly 10 weeks all by itself! You're still welcome to sign up or get your friends to sign up. It's never too late to sign up as you simply carry on whereever we are at that time. There are two ways you can sign up to receive each day's online sessions: Email only, or blog registration so that you can participate in any discussions about each day's session. For registration info, please read this link here:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/marilynn-dawson-author/announcing-daily-sessions-from-becoming-the-bride-of-christ-a-personal-journey/389302391162655

For anyone who was wondering, my vertigo back in June did leave, after two full weeks! But it was indicative of a much deeper issue. I could use your prayers as my body needs help healing up from years of poor stress management. In some ways it's a good thing God began the journey that became my series when He did. Now I've entered a new chapter, and find that many of the concepts God spoke to me about in 2007-2010 are welcome reminders as I move forward into this new stage of physical, mental and emotional healing. So if my name comes to mind, pray for healing and provision for the foreseeable future.

New places where you can currently purchase "Mom's Little Black Book: Godly Advice for the High School Graduate: are as follows:

http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/store/

New places where you can purchase the series, "Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey".

http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/store/

Global:

Croatia:
http://www.superbookshop.net/index.php?page=publisher&pub=000567206

Digital versions online:
http://pinterest.com/songdovebooks/google-play/

So here we are in mid-summer, and already the department stores are eliminating their summer clothing stock to make room for the back-to-school sales! I was so dismayed to see this, as as a friend gave me a gift card to get another summer dress. It took me forever to locate anything decent, and what I found is ok. . . but not sure how often I'll wear it. I'd probably do better at Salvation Army Thrift Store, which is where I often go with my own funds whenever available.

But how has your summer been? Have you gone camping, stayed home, hit the beach? Has it been restful, stressful, busy or laid back? Where I live, summertime is the busiest time of the year next to Christmas. I live in a tourist town surrounded by mountains, lakes, hiking trails, orchards, golf courses and wine tours. Our beaches are busy too. Last year was the first time and probably only time that I and my kids could have a vacation, and it had to be a staycation. This year, the recipe is rest.

Scripture talks about the seasons of the soul too, and how God is with us in every season. I'm seeing books out there by other authors exploring this reality these days, and how it's important to recognize what season you are in, so that you move into the next one prepared. Do you know what season you are in?

Sincerely,
Marilynn Dawson
Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say Come. . . and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.
==============================================

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My Books, Swagbucks, and Amazon! The Right Match?

This will probably go down as one of the strangest notes I've ever written, at least so far. . . You see I've been looking for ways to earn funds in a low/no stress manner since discovering that my body isn't handling everyday stress the way it used to. Two major events in June caused everyone in my family to realize that I needed help and I needed it NOW! Even the lady on the phone from EI got concerned and recommended I go on Medical EI to reduce the stress of having to look for a full-time job. How often do you get sympathy from an EI agent?! In fact, the last time we talked, we spent maybe 5 minutes going over my account and I swear, at least the next 10 minutes talking about what I'm doing about my condition, whether any of it will help a friend of hers going through something similar, etc.

In the meantime, I ran across information suggesting one way to earn funds was to complete surveys that you get paid for. I have since discovered this is harder to do that I thought. However along the way, I ran across a website called swagbucks, that lets you earn points taking surveys that you qualify for, doing Internet searches, playing things like solitaire and Majhong(a 3D version), etc. There are things you can do that require funds that you earn points for, but if you're only interested in earning and not spending, just do the free stuff!

Word of warning here! DO NOT INSTALL FREE APPS ON YOUR COMPUTER OR CELL/SMARTPHONE THAT ARE BY NATURE, AD-DRIVEN! (unless your technically savvy and can opt out of all the ad installs during the app installation process then comb add/remove programs for any that may have been missed, all before using the program once. Doing this can render such apps unusable in some cases) This goes not just for any free apps found on Swagbucks, but any other points-earning site out there. Stay away from toolbars of any kind in particular! I don't want to get a call from you saying your system is overrun with pop-ups, only to discover 5 toolbars and three ad-supported apps on your computer! Got that??? Ok. . . moving on now. . .

Being relatively new to swagbucks, I was exploring the site when I ran across their shopping page. If you are the type by nature to prefer your shopping be done online from the comfort of your computer chair, then you'll want to listen up. Swagbucks only shows you online stores for the country you signed up under. For example, I am Canadian, so when I signed up, it identified me as being in Canada, and the shopping page only shows me Canadian online retailers.

One of those retailers is Amazon.ca. Now here's the cool part. Any shopping you do at Amazon via the shopping page of Swagbucks, earns you two points on the dollar! So if you spent $5, you'd earn 10 swagbuck points.  These points can be cashed in for gift cards, coupons from the Entertainment Book, etc.  450 points will earn you a $5 Amazon gift card for example.  That works out to 90 points per dollar for that particular gift card.

Now we get to why I'm sharing this with you. I was laying awake the other night in this Okanagan heat, and found myself doing some math over all this. I figured out that if a person buys my entire series, "Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey" through the swagbucks Amazon link, they would earn up to 112 points! If a person were to purchase my grad gift, "Mom's Little Black Book: Godly Advice for the High School Graduate", they'd earn up to 20 points.  Now say you are earning towards your own $5 Amazon gift card.  You would have just earned roughly $1.47 toward that card!  

Basically what I'm saying is this. You are an existing Swagbucks member, you can buy my books and boost your points at the same time! If you are not yet a member, but the concept sounds interesting to you, feel free to use my referral link to check it out.  http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/songdove    Will you replace your income doing this??? Highly unlikely!  But it is a way to trade a little time and effort for a little reward.

Not all points-earning sites are created equal. Mypoints for example is all about the shopping and very little about anything else. A few other points sites I've checked out are very similar. One I quit because the only real way to earn points was to install stuff on my pc and I wanted nothing to do with that. See earlier warning. So I'm saying that based on what you want to get out of such a site, Swagbucks may or may not be for you, but I just thought I'd share.

Now back to regular programming. . .

First Three Volumes completed in Online Daily Sessions from "Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey"

That's right.  Since beginning this member-only free daily session in February 2013, we have completed the first three volumes of this series.  Chapter 10, otherwise known as Volume four begins on Monday on Online Daily Sessions from "Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey", http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/

Volume Four is all about the Fruit of the Spirit and will take roughly 10 weeks just scratching the surface of what this began to look like in my life as God took me through three different aspects between May and December of 2007.  Amazingly enough, my Pastor once again covered this subject just in the last couple months!  

I invite you to join me for this particular volume in the series.  As usual, there are challenges, perspective shifts, understandings tested, etc.  

Want your own copy of Volume Four? Feel free to order from Google Play, Scribd, Storenvy, or myself directly at http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/store/

Purchase links are available on the welcome tab and included in each newsletter that goes out.  The last newsletter in June also contained links to find each book in the series on Google Play.

So join us, as we discover the challenges in allowing the Holy Spirit to live through us in everyday life.

Touched by a Song

"Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God You are higher than any other, Our God is healer, awesome in power, Our God, Our God" - Chris Tomlin

It's no secret to my regular readers, that music is the sure-fire way for God to speak to me, encourage me, and for myself to reach out to God in lyrical expression that might struggle any other way.

The lyrics above were sung twice this past week, once at a mid-week church prayer meeting, and again Sunday morning. Sunday morning I was unable to sing due to being the one putting the words on the screen. Whenever I sing while doing that, I inevitably miss a slide, so I can't sing and do slides at the same time. However on the Wednesday evening previous, those words left my lungs in the manner of a thirsty soul longing to touch the heart of God!

I have been going through a lot in the past couple months, and without the ability to lift my voice in harmony to my King, it's been like travelling through a dry, dusty desert! The pent up longing to fly into my Father's arms in song was so strong that I'm sure others around me thought I was singing way too loudly! Sunday morning when I couldn't sing, tears threatened so bad that at one point I thought I'd lose sight of my computer monitor for the tears welling up.

I need God to be my healer right now. I need to affirm my Heavenly Father as greater and stronger than what I'm going through. My God is a strong tower to those who run to Him, and I ran to Him Wednesday night!!! There is something about lifting one's voice in harmony with brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ that just can't be matched in any other circumstance. Sometimes I think I should pick up the keyboard on permanent loan, and begin teaching myself to play piano so I can do more than split my attention between finger-picking a melody and singing along with it in the confines of my own home.

But I digress. God met me as I threw my arms in the air and belted those lyrics above! God met me and nothing beats His touch when you feel it. . .

Truly our God IS greater, stronger, higher than any other, awesome in power, AND. . .my healer. . .