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July 28, 2025 13 mins

Alright, folks, we’re wrapping up our 30-day journey of intentional living and real progress. So, what’s the big takeaway? Stewardship isn't a sprint; it’s a lifelong marathon! We're diving into how to keep that momentum going and embrace the next season of your financial life. Ralph’s here to remind us that it’s all about being faithful, not perfect—because let’s be real, nobody has that down. We’ll talk about celebrating your wins, keeping those good habits alive, and giving yourself a heap of grace along the way. So, let’s get into it, keep that financial confidence rolling, and ask the question that really matters: Am I really ready to live a life of smart and faithful stewardship?

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Check out the full podcast episode here

30 days in the game, and wow, we’ve made some serious moves! The journey we embarked on isn’t just about crunching numbers or sticking to a boring budget. Nah, it’s way deeper than that. We’ve been talking about living intentionally, and let’s face it, budgeting can feel like a chore sometimes. But hold on, it’s not about ‘finishing’—it’s about embracing the process. We’re diving into how this isn’t just a sprint but a lifelong marathon of financial stewardship. This episode wraps up our 30-day challenge, and we’re celebrating all the growth we’ve seen. From tackling consumerism to finding true contentment, we've covered the financial landscape like pros. But hey, it’s just the beginning! Let’s keep this momentum going and explore what it means to live a life of stewardship, guided by faith and grace. Whether you’re feeling pumped or a bit weary, remember: it’s all about progress, not perfection. So grab a coffee, kick back, and let’s chat about keeping that financial journey alive and thriving!

Takeaways:

  • In this episode, we celebrate the 30 days of intentional living and real progress you've made, so let's keep that momentum going!
  • Stewardship is not a race, it's a lifelong journey of faith and wisdom, so embrace the process and enjoy the ride!
  • Remember, financial stewardship is about progress, not perfection, so give yourself grace when you stumble along the way—you're human!
  • You've built some solid habits over these 30 days, so don't forget to celebrate those wins and keep pushing forward with confidence!
  • Take regular pauses to check in with your financial health—this is all about lifelong learning, not just one-off strategies!
  • As we wrap up the series, keep in mind that you’re not alone; God walks with you on this journey, so lean into that support!

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You made 30 days of realprogress, 30 days of intentional
living. You've been budgeting,you've been praying, you've been
adjusting and you've beengrowing. But now you're asking the
deeper question, is this theend or is this just the beginning?
Well, stick with me and let'stalk about embracing this next season
and stepping fully into alifelong journey of stewardship.

(00:23):
This is Financially ConfidentChristian, your daily dose of gospel,
grounded insight and faithdriven tips to help you break the
cycle of financial shame with confidence.
Hey there and welcome back toFinancially Confident Christian.
I'm Ralph and this is a momentto celebrate today. This is the final
episode in our 30 day series,beyond the Budget. And over the past

(00:44):
30 episodes, we've walkedthrough all kinds of great topics.
We've talked aboutconsumerism, we've discussed credit,
we talked about findingcontentment, we talked about doing
things in your calling. Wediscussed ideas of generosity. We
even talked about leaving alegacy. And also about living simplistically

(01:04):
and so much more than that.But today, I want to bring it all
together. And we're nottalking about finishing, because
that's the thing I want tomake clear that you understand this
isn't about finishing. We'retalking about faithfully continuing.
Because if we really examineourselves, we've grown a lot. You've
built habits and you've seenreal transformation. But maybe you're

(01:27):
also tired. Maybe you'rewondering, hey, do I have to keep
this up forever? Ralph, Ralph,what if I mess up and lose progress?
And maybe you're asking thisquestion right now. Is there ever
a point where this getseasier? Well, you just found the
danger. Thinking thatfinancial stewardship has an endpoint
is a danger. But here's whatis true. And you need to understand

(01:49):
this completely today.Stewardship is not a one time sprint.
It's just not. It's not somequick race, you win. And hey, I'm.
I've found stewardship and nowI can move on. I wish it was, but
it's not. I'd be lying to youif I told you otherwise. What stewardship
is, is it's a lifelong journeyof faith. It's a lifelong journey
of wisdom. And honestly, it'sa lifelong journey of grace. And

(02:14):
here's the thing. I want youto be crystal clear and understanding.
God didn't call you to beperfect. God never calls us to be
perfect because guess what,spoiler alert. We're never going
to be perfect. But what he didcall us to be is faithful. And let's
look at the word. And really,let's look into what he means when
he says he calls us to befaithful. Let's start with the book

(02:35):
of Philippians, chapter 1,verse 6. It says this being confident
of this, that he who began agood work in you will carry it on
to completion until the day ofChrist Jesus. I love this verse.
It talks about confidence, ittalks about beginning a good work
in you. And the best part willcarry it on to completion. See what

(03:00):
this really means if we wantto get under the hood and look at
this. It means that Godfinishes what he starts. Well, let's
look at the book of Proverbs,chapter 4, verse 18 reminds us of
this. The path of therighteous is like the morning sun,
shining even brighter till thefull light of day. What a great mental

(03:20):
picture. You can picture thispath of righteous, the morning sun
coming up. And as the day isgetting longer, it's getting brighter
and brighter until the fulllight of day. And that should be
encouraging to you. You're notwalking in circles. You're moving
forward. If you've beenfollowing along for this 30 days,

(03:41):
or hey, maybe you've beenlistening for a couple years now,
you are moving forward. You'removing step by step into more light,
more peace, and hopefully morepurpose. So no, this isn't about
arriving today. I'm going togive you a different word to use.
It's about abiding and it'sabout letting your financial life
become part of yourdiscipleship. So now you're asking

(04:05):
the most logical question,what now, Ralph? Well, here's what
now. It's time to commit tolifelong learning. It's time to commit
to a regular review, and it'stime to commit to grace filled stewardship.
The best way I can encapsulatethat is to let your habits become
a spiritual rhythm, if youwill, not just a strategy. So before

(04:28):
you rush off to the nextthing, and yes, we're going to get
into a new series startingtomorrow. Let's take a minute right
here, just the two of us.Let's talk about what it really means
to embrace the journey. I usethis term on the show frequently,
this journey, because thisjourney you've been on, it matters.
Let's talk about why itmatters. Well, the first thing I

(04:51):
want you to do is I want youto celebrate how far you've come.
See, a lot of times it's easyto think about what's in front of
us, but I really want to takea minute and think about where, where
you've come from. Seriously.Think back about it. Maybe during
this, this journey, you'veopened that credit card bill, you'd
been avoiding it. Ralph, I wasnever opening it up, but I did it.

(05:11):
Maybe you stuck to yourgrocery budget for the whole month,
or maybe just said no when itwould have been easier to just say
swipe. Yeah, spent. Thosethings count. That all counts. So
I'm going to encourage youright now, if you want to continue
on this journey, write downone or two things you've been proud
of. Because when you're beinghonest with yourself, you've grown

(05:33):
spiritually, you've grownpractically, and you've grown emotionally.
And that right there, that'sworth pausing for. But now let's
talk about growth, becausethat's part of this as well. Maybe
as part of that growth, younow take your car in for maintenance.
You don't wait till it breaksdown. You learn your lesson on that.

(05:54):
Well, your finances need thesame care. There needs to be routine
maintenance. So I'm going toencourage you right now, every few
months, revisit your notes.Maybe you took notes during this
series. Maybe you go back inand re listen to some of these episodes
or go look at the blog posts.All those things are found@financiallyconfidentchristian.com
I'm going to encourage you toreview your budget, see what's working.

(06:15):
Hey, see what's not working.As I've said many times on the show,
budgets aren't cast in stone.They're not chiseled in stone. They're
meant to be living documents.And one of the things I would really
encourage you to do is maybeonce a year, pick up a solid book
or. Or listen to a new podcaston stewardship. Just do something
that reminds you that you'renot managing money alone. One of

(06:37):
the big parts of my show is Iwant you to always understand you're
not alone on this. I'm herewith you. But bigger than me, you're
walking with God in it. Andnow here's another practical, powerful
practice, and that's take afinancial. Sabbath mentioned this
on the show a couple days ago.Once a month, maybe once a quarter,
just pause. Just take a pause.Not to budget, but to actually breathe.

(07:02):
Make time to pray and askyourself, because we've got to constantly
be thinking about where we areon the journey. So ask yourself,
where's my heart right now?That's a tough question, but ask
yourself, where's my heart?Where's my heart on this journey?
Am I still buying into all ofthis? Ask yourself the next question.
Are my habits still lining upwith my values? We took a lot of

(07:24):
time and talked about buildingthose values. You knew what you stood
for. And it's easy to sort ofbackslide, if you will. It's easy
to kind of forget about thosethings. So ask yourself, are my habits
still lining up with thesevalues? And the most logical question
next is, what needs to shift?Maybe you've taken this financial
Sabbath, you sat back andlike, wow, I just didn't realize

(07:46):
I'd gotten quite that far offcourse. But as part of that, also,
give yourself space to resetand do that without guilt. You're
going to make mistakes. Sofinally, give yourself grace. I don't
know how many people get downon themselves because they don't
give themselves grace. Becausehere's the truth. You're going to

(08:09):
overspend sometimes. If you'rea human being, you're going to overspend.
You're going to make mistakes.You're going to feel stuck. Listen,
I've been doing financial workfor 30 years. Guess what? I make
mistakes. There are weeks,months, sometimes even a couple of
months at a time where I feelreally stuck. And there are times,
if I'm being totally honestwith you, listening right now, there's

(08:31):
times when I wonder if I'mgetting anywhere at all. I feel like
I'm just kind of on thattreadmill, just running in place.
But, friend, grace sayssomething very strong. And I want
you to hear this loud andclear. The beauty of grace says this.
You still get to try again andagain and again. Because remember,

(08:56):
this isn't about perfection.As I said a few minutes ago, you're
never gonna attain perfection.If you're looking for that, stop
now. You're never gonna getthere. But what it is about is progress.
It's about walking it out withGod right beside you. And now you
might be saying, Ralph, well,why does all this matter? I'm going

(09:17):
to tell you right now why itmatters. And the God part is so very
important, because when youanchor your finances in faith, a
lot of people don't get that.The secular world doesn't understand
why I do this show. Thesecular world doesn't understand
the faith component to this.But when you anchor your finances
in faith, you stop chasingthat approval. So many of us find

(09:40):
ourselves in that approvaltrap. We're trying to find approval
from something or someone ordoing something, and you stop living
in shame. One of the things,the main cornerstones of this show
is how to break the cycle offinancial shame with confidence.
And it matters because youstart building a life that tells

(10:01):
the story of God'sfaithfulness. Because I want to tell
you something that you need tohear right now. Because maybe you're
at the end of this 30 days,you're like, Ralph, yeah, I'm still
struggling, man. I'm stillhaving day to day struggles with
this. I want you to hear this.You're doing better than you think.
The fact that you're listeningright now, that you're this far into

(10:24):
this particular episode,you're doing better than you think.
And I'm just going toencourage you right now. Keep going.
And I'm going to continue tobe right here with you every single
day, bringing you more ways tobreak that cycle of financial shame.
How about we pray together?Father God, thank you for the journey
you've led us on. You are theone who begins every good work and

(10:45):
the one who carries it tocompletion. And Lord, if we're being
honest, we confess thatsometimes we do chase that perfection.
We try to be perfect, Lord,and we forget the most valuable part.
We forget to rest in yourgrace. So, Lord, right now I want
you to just help us to walkwith wisdom, Lord, and not with weariness.

(11:06):
Help us to not be weary. Giveus vision for the long road, Lord,
and joy in those daily stepsin that journey. And we just ask
that you let our lives reflectyour glory through faithful, joyful,
lifelong stewardship. And weask this in confidence in Jesus name,

(11:27):
amen. So, friend, I just wantto say congratulations. You've completed
this beyond the Budget series.But your journey has just begun.
So I want to encourage youright now, keep showing up. Keep
showing up. Day in and dayout. Keep showing up. Keep trusting
God. That's where you reallyneed to put your trust. Keep trusting

(11:47):
God and keep livingintentionally. That's what this whole
series was about. Intentionalliving. And keep doing that one day
at a time. And one more time,I want to encourage you to grab a
copy of my book, MasteringYour Finances. It's a free copy.
This will be the last time Imentioned on the show for a while,
but you can get itfinanciallyconfidentchristian.com/master. Now

(12:09):
tomorrow we're going to kickoff a brand new series and it's,
it's. Believe it or not, it'salmost time for Back to School. I
know we're a little bit early,but we're going to be talking about
smart money for Back to Schooland beyond. I'm going to talk about
equipping your family for athriving school or physical year.
Yes. Back to School isactually right around the corner
and I wanted you to get ready.This next series is going to be packed
with timely, faith filledguidance for back to school, spending

(12:32):
routines that support peace,teaching kids about money, and most
of all, and I love this partof this, preparing your household
for the entire year ahead. Sowhether you're a parent, maybe you're
a student, or maybe you'rejust entering a new season of your
life, this series is for you.So stay with us, encourage other
people. Maybe this is a goodtime to share the show with them.

(12:54):
Say, hey, Ralph's gettingready to start a new series tomorrow
and back to school. And I knowwe talk about the kids all the time.
You might want to tune intothis. You can send them to financiallyconfidentchristian.com
and I'd really appreciate ifyou shared the show with them. So
as we end today, let's all goout there and be financially confident
Christians. You can do this. Itruly believe in you. Believe in

(13:17):
yourself and trust the one whowalks with you every step of the
way. God bless you and youhave a great day today.
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