Aaron- Exalted and Strong

Aaron Isley

Today I am taking time out to appreciate a dear friend of mine. Aaron Isley. I have had the great pleasure of knowing him for about 3 years. We both work together at Starbucks and every time that we work, it's always a blast! Let me just tell you a little about him. He is a proud father, a loving husband and a good man. During recent months we talked about a few issues that were bothering him.We have both talked to each other about dreams and goals that we are both in pursuit of.  He already knew the solutions to his problems but I think he just needed to hear some encouraging words from a friend. I remember us discussing with Aaron the next steps that he could take to make his dreams a reality. He told me his plans and that night after working with him, I prayed that God would bless him and his family.

Over the next few weeks, when I saw that i was working with Aaron, I was eager to find out how things were going. WAIT....IM SITTING HERE TRYING TO MAKE THIS BLOG SOUND SO SPECIAL WHEN I JUST NEED TO KEEP IT REAL WITH YALL!

Aaron, if you are reading this blog, I am writing this to let you know how proud I am of you! I have seen you grow so much in such a short time and you are doing so great! When I was looking for the meaning of your name, although you may already know, I found: exalted and strong. And I think both words describe you PERFECTLY!! Exalted-of high moral or intellectual value. I admire your role as a father to your children. You always make decisions with your family in mind and I admire that so much in you. When making decisions in your personal life and work life, you take the moral high road. :)
Strong-having strength or power greater than average. I like this definition the best! You have gone through so much and your remain hopeful. which takes some strength. Bad days seem to try and stop you from moving forward or tried to make you loose your focus, but look at where you are today! Strength greater than average? Yep, Aaron, that's you too!

I just wanted to recognize you for doing such a great job! I want you to know that I value our friendship and I pray that the Lord continues to show Himself strong in your life. I pray that even when the bad days come that you will remember that you are strong and have high moral and intellectual value, so you will always know what to do. Please stay encouraged. Please know that you are doing so well! See you at work later!!

Aaron actin silly at work!!

Financially Free Devotion #2

Trust- to have confidence in or to have faith in

source

Today's Devotional deals with trust. As we embark on this financially free journey, it is important for us to go ahead and acknowledge where we have placed our trust. The Bible say, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5. I believe that this verse sets the tone for the rest 29 days of our journey. Do you think its fair to say that we trust God with only a portion of our lives? I know in my case, there are areas that I can allow God to have full access of and other areas I would rather Him just stay away from. Why is that? I think its because of fear and not knowing the true essence of God. For example, I am ready to turn my money over to Him because I know that He can handle it better and its his anyway. But when it comes to something more dear to my heart like um....relationships, I rather God just stay waaaayyyyy over there! lol! Sure I want the best boyfriend or husband but what if God tells me no about someone I really love and care for? Shoot, what if he is ugly when we first meet? I'm just being real!! Yall know that you have thought that too! lol! :)
All Im saying and learning is that if I can say God you can have control over my financial life, why not let Him have control over all aspects of my life? And it all has to do with TRUST!!

So, now that God has enlightened me and you to the fact that we need to get our finances in order, lets trust Him to be able to help us to do so.I wanna give you a few verses that I will meditate on today:

Psalms 46:5 *My favorite*
Proverbs 3:5
Pslams 37: 3-6;39-40
Psalms 55:22
Psalms 119:173

Those are just a few that I will focus on today. Remember trust Him at all times. No matter what may happen in your life, God is faithful. I know you wanna go out and buy that dress, purchase those shoes or grab that fast food lunch. But remember goals set before you. You wanna be financially free, right?

Prayer Focus: Lord, I trust you and I acknowledge that you are head of my life. I thank you Father for showing me a better way to handle my finances. I thank you for trusting and believing that I can be financially free. I turn my desires over to you and I wait Lord for your instruction. I thank you in advance for blessing me with the gift of financial freedom! Amen.

Be Blessed- STAY NATURALLY FLY

Financially Free Devotion #1

The Journey Begins

Today is day one of our Financial Journey. I want to remind you that this is the first step of many that will bring us to a place of true financial freedom in Christ. We have to also remember to keep Him before us at all times. I believe that this journey will be one of the best that I will ever take. I know that there may be some challenges and there may be some old habits that die HARD, but reaching my goal is what keeps me going.

Devotional Day 1:

" The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints."

Ephesians 1:18

What do you get out of this verse? A few words jump out to me: enlightened, hope and calling. Here is why I choose those words. Enlightened: it brings to mind coming into the awareness of something; having your thought pattern changed. Hope: a feeling of expectation; having something to look forward to. Calling: summoned; having an assignment. 

In this devotional, we want to look at beginning the journey to financial freedom. Some of us have noticed that some changes need to be made but never really knew where to begin. If your like me, I sought the Lord out and asked Him to help me and when He began to show me ways, I became afraid. What was I thinking by asking God to help?! I can change my habits on my own. All He would do was tell me that I couldn't buy ANYTHING!! This has been my thought pattern for years and it wasn't until my pay rate took a huge hit, that I knew something had to change and it had to change FAST!

BUT GOD....in His loving was has "enlightened" me to a few principles that I want to share with you. 

1. Nothing that we have truly belongs to us.- God owns everything in the world and we are just managers over His things. We manage by taking care of what he has blessed us with. If he has blessed you with a home, take care of it. Pay your bills. Keep the lights on. You guys know what I mean.  And because nothing truly belongs to us, we must transfer ownership of everything back over to Him. This lets God know that you trust Him will everything. Money, cars, home, family, EVERYTHING!!

2. I/We are capable of being Naturally Fly and Financially Free. "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me" Philippians 4:13. I like to believe that God laid down a path for everyone to follow. He went ahead of us before we were even though of and prepared a way. Now that we are here on Earth, we are just following in His footsteps. Because of that, I feel I can do anything because Christ already did it for me. Woah!!

Hope: By beginning  this journey, we have something to look forward to and expect. I expect to have money saved, to understand what God says about money and to apply to principles everyday. I look forward to being able to allow God to direct me financially. Calling: I believe that I have a calling on my life in various areas. Teaching, writing, and now in my financial life. I dont think that it is a coincidence that this topic was introduced to my spirit. God wants me to be financially free called me "for such a time as this." He has called you to and you can now have hope that you will accomplish your goals. 

Prayer:

Lord, please fill me with desire to know and follow You, allowing my

misconceptions to be overpowered by the light of Your truth.

STAY NATURALLY FLY

Naturally Fly and Financially Free

Ok ladies and gentlemen, it time to get serious about our finances. Since this has become a topic of interest for me, I just wanted to share it with you. As I get older and begin thinking about my future, I realize that there have been certain habits that I've had for years that could be damaging to my future if I dont change them. And my financial habits are at the top of my list. I didn't want to just read book after book on finances. I wanted to find Godly principle that taught me how God viewed money and our uses of it. I am reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and Crown Money Map by Crown Financial Ministries. I plan on being very open and transparent with you. We will discuss and learn about saving, creating an emergency fund, paying off debts and much more. In Crown Money Map, there is a companion  31-day devotional that accompanies the book and I will share with you each days devotional along with my own comments. I also have a You Tube channel and I will post weekly comments about how I am doing so if you want to follow me there to, please feel free. Money is good to have and enjoy as long as you dont let your money rule over you. I hope you join me on this journee. :)

STAY NATURALLY FLY