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{\b\fs48 Episode 1565: Interview with Heather M. Day About Her Book Money and Spirit: Surrendering Our Finances to the Work of the Holy Spirit\b0}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ }

{\cf2 [00:00:00]}

{ Thanks for joining us on episode 1,565 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ I'm Heather Day. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others. Develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to recognize you are not alone is key.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this The Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend Scott Maderer.}

{\pard \line \par}

{I believe that money is spiritual and some of the things that we see the way that we treat and view and manage our money. Is often a symptom of a much deeper issue If we're struggling with greed or we're struggling with haphazard financial management, or we're struggling with withholding and used money as power.}

{\cf2 [00:01:00]}

{ }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.}

{\pard \line \par}

{In today's podcast episode, I interview Heather Day. I ask Heather about her book Money and Spirit. Heather also shares how what happens in our money is a spiritual symptom. And Heather also talks with you about how your life will change when you align your faith and your finances. I have a great book that's been out for a while now called Inspired Living.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Assemble the puzzle of your calling by mastering your time, your talent, }

{\cf2 [00:02:00]}

{ and your treasures. You can find out more about that book over@inspiredlivingbook.com. It'll take you to a page where there's information and you can sign up to get some mailings about it, as well as purchase a copy there. I'd love to see you get a copy and share with me how it impacted your world.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Heather M. Day is an Arthur and ministry leader with more than 20 years of experience in the fields of marketing, communications and nonprofit ministry. She's the director of Marketing for Barnabas Foundation, where she provides marketing, consultation and support for more than 200 Christian ministries.}

{\pard \line \par}

{She's the author of Money and Spirit, surrendering our Finances to work of the Holy Spirit, in addition to writing, corporate marketing and fundraising content for more than 200 nonprofit organizations. Her writing has been featured in Christian Leadership's Alliances, outcome Magazine, generosity Today, and Olivette the magazine.}

{\pard \line \par}

{She blogs regularly about life, motherhood, marriage }

{\cf2 [00:03:00]}

{ and faith led leadership@heatherday.net. Heather has spent the bulk of her career in the nonprofit arena, including in her current role as director of Marketing communications for Olivette Nazarene's University and lead like Jesus. She holds a Bachelor's degree in communication and an executive MBA from Olive Nazarene University.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Heather and her husband Robert, reside in Illinois with their two children, Emma and Jackson. She's an active member, board member and volunteer leader in her local church. Welcome to the show, Heather. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ Oh, it's so good to be here. Thank you, Scott. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Absolutely. So talk to us a little bit more. I shared some in the intro of some of the work you've done and a little bit about your journey, but I always say intros are just the Instagram version of our life.}

{\pard \line \par}

{They never really show the whole picture. The laundry is always out of frame, so to speak. So talk to us a little bit more about your journey and what brought you to the point where this is what you feel called to, to put out into the world. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ Yeah, so I have I've grown up in the church all my }

{\cf2 [00:04:00]}

{ life.}

{\pard \line \par}

{My dad is a pastor. I've never had a time where I didn't know that Jesus loved me and and I loved him too. So that has obviously grown over the years in my understanding and my faith journey. I am also wife to Robert and I am a mom to Emma. Who's 18? I'm working through all the feelings of a high school graduate, and and I have a son Jackson, who's 13, keeps me on my toes, but mostly because he's just too much like me.}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Oh, so that curse worked on you too? }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ Yes. It definitely didn't, or did I? It's not nearly as endearing when those traits come out through him.}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Turns out genetics works, but it's, yeah. I apologize to my son all the time for genetics working }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ exactly. Exactly. But I have felt I have felt a call to ministry specifically since I was probably nine or 10, I don't know the exact age, and I spent most of my teen years and even into early college }

{\cf2 [00:05:00]}

{ trying to decipher.}

{\pard \line \par}

{What that looked like. And what I have found is that God has just opened the door over and over again to be involved in nonprofit ministry and to give my to work through my skills and communications. I had preconceived ideas when I was a kid about what that might look like to be a missionary or.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Or to be in ministry. But what I found is that God has placed certain passions and skills in, in me, that he can use for his glory. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ So you mentioned earlier, growing up in the church and kind of having that faith be a very deep part of your life. But one of the things I like to highlight on the show is how.}

{\pard \line \par}

{How our faith journey and our life journeys intersect and feedback to each other. And of course, everybody has their own unique version. Some in the church, some came to the church late in life. Different things. So for your, you, how do you see your faith journey interacting with discovering your calling and what you're doing now?}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ Yeah, so }

{\cf2 [00:06:00]}

{ I have I have over the last. Several years come to realize, I've always wanted to give my all to the Lord, and that meant my career and my family and my circumstances to the Lord. But something that's become evident to me in the past several years is the need to surrender my finances to him as well.}

{\pard \line \par}

{That this is just a piece of it's, it is just a piece, but an important piece of our discipleship journey and trusting that he is. He is our provider. He's my sense of worth. He is my sense of comfort and security. And that's come through living that out of understanding that, that he is there in the lean times and.}

{\pard \line \par}

{The good times, quote unquote, but that God is faithful and consistent through that all. And it, a lot of what I believe about God and understand about God and my faith journey, I live that out through the ways that I spend. Whether I'm spending my time or spending my money }

{\cf2 [00:07:00]}

{ or spending my influence.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Certainly the decisions I make and what I invest in should be a reflection of. What I believe and who I am. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ So let's talk a little bit about that. You've got your book out money and Spirit. And of course I work with folks, my brand is inspired stewardship, so obviously I'm fully aligned with this idea of your finances is a.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Big part of your money touches every area Absolutely. Of our life. And that includes our spiritual life and our spiritual journey as well. So how do you see that intersection or that link between our financial life, our financial management, how we relate to money, and then our spiritual life and our experiences with God and faith.}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ I believe that money is spiritual and some of the things that we see the way that we treat and view and manage our money is often a symptom of a much deeper issue. }

{\cf2 [00:08:00]}

{ So if we're struggling with greed or we're struggling with haphazard financial management, or we're struggling with withholding and used money as power.}

{\pard \line \par}

{That's, yes, the money we see where the money flows and that's, but that's just a symptom of misplaced priorities or or lack of trust in God, and lack of understanding of who he is and how he wants to manage our finances. So we can change all the tactics in the world. We can say build a budget or invest in this way or save in this way.}

{\pard \line \par}

{But until we truly get our hearts right and surrender to God and understanding his heart and how he wants to use us and what he's given us, until we get that we'll keep slipping into the same destructive patterns. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Yeah. I tell people all the time that, time, talent, and treasures, right?}

{\pard \line \par}

{That's the buzzword for stewardship. And I say, the truth is most people come to me because they think I have a problem with time or treasures, and then all we work on is talent. Because at the end of the day, it's not your time or money, it's you. It's, it's how }

{\cf2 [00:09:00]}

{ is your relationship with money?}

{\pard \line \par}

{How is your mindset with money? What is your behaviors around? It's those things, that really, really cause it, I think too, there's so many passages in the Bible that directly or indirectly are about our relationship with money. Yeah. I've heard as many as 2000, I've different numbers depending on whose research you look at.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Sure. What it boils down to is a lot, so why do you think it is that God speaks to us through his words so much about, about money? }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ I think because it's a tangible example of where our hearts where our hearts are. So if we spend, again, whether it's time or talents or treasure, we spend in the areas that matter to us most, and we withhold based on our fears.}

{\pard \line \par}

{So I think that I think that God talks about money because we can, in, in many ways, we can look at our finances and where we're investing those, the, those dollars and see there's a problem here or I have some room }

{\cf2 [00:10:00]}

{ for growth here. And it's not, it has nothing to do with the how much is in your account.}

{\pard \line \par}

{That's not what this is about at all. It's just how are we making use. Of what God has given us in the ways that he wants us to use it. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ I've seen too, within the Christian community interestingly what I consider contradictory beliefs, and yet I've heard the same person espouse both of them at the same time, which is, on the one hand, oh, somebody with somebody that hasn't been blessed with money, that doesn't have a lot, oh look how faithful they are.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Look how holy they are, because they're not. They're trusting in God, not money. Then I've heard the same thing, but now somebody that doesn't have money, oh, it must be because God is a blessing them, so they must be right. Somehow they've done something wrong and then flip that around.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And I've heard the same thing said about rich people, oh, look how God has blessed them. They must be a great person. Oh, look how greedy and prideful they are. They must be an evil person. How do you reconcile those sort of within the Christian community? Like I said, often within the same person.}

{\cf2 [00:11:00]}

{ }

{\pard \line \par}

{Yeah. Those beliefs. Listen, }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ I think finances is a type of blessing that God may or may not use to bless you, but that doesn't indicate his love, that doesn't indicate his involvement in your life. He chooses to give to Somem and not to others, and that may not, that has not, has nothing to do with your level of faith.}

{\pard \line \par}

{I, I, it was interesting a few years ago, I guess it's been probably more than a decade now I had the opportunity to travel to India. I went to the village of a church planner and I truly felt like I was walking beside a modern day Paul, who was giving everything he had to invest in these people and to show them love, and he was all in truly like I was inspired by him and I was so moved by the ways that, that he loved and lived out his faith.}

{\pard \line \par}

{But it broke my heart because on one of the last days of my visit there I was along with him and a bunch of }

{\cf2 [00:12:00]}

{ men from the village who were trying to understand what is the key to receiving God's financial blessing. And they they said, do you think it's because the Christians in America.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Are more faithful. Do you think It's because the Christians in America are, it's a Christian co country, and I just, my heart broke because I thought I have seen more this is not a statement against America or anything like that, but in the last few days i've seen people who are literally putting everything on the line and they have nothing.}

{\pard \line \par}

{They have nothing in the way of finance, and yet they have everything. They had joy and they had peace, and they had outpouring of Holy Spirit. And to me it was a very tangible example. And that's what I shared with them. Like why some have and some others don't. I don't I don't understand that, but what I know is that it is not an indication of your faith and God's blessing in your life.}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Yeah I've gotten to travel internationally a number of times, }

{\cf2 [00:13:00]}

{ and I honestly think it's a it should be a requirement for every American when they turn about, 18 to 25 to 30, somewhere in there should have to take about a six month mission trip to a third world country because it's, that's not a statement of faith either.}

{\pard \line \par}

{That's just a statement of. Reality of just being able to see how different it is in other parts of the world. And like you said, at it's both ends at one time, you're seeing people that have from our eyes very little, and yet they often have. Things that we look at and say, wait, we don't have that here.}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ I, and that's not unique to I not unique to other parts of the world. I, I talk about, in the book, I talk about the Roseland community. }

{\pard \line \par}

{Truly one of the most impoverished communities in the us. It's a, it's in, as a place in Chicago, and I went there with a group of teenagers from my church, and literally there are people.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Just barely scraping by who are just barely making }

{\cf2 [00:14:00]}

{ it. And yet their generosity was astounding here. We were a group of teenagers and adult leaders from middle class America that traveled there that week and they didn't. They didn't all know we were gonna be there and they didn't have enough food.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And they were like, please stay. We would love to give you our food. And we, and they were just pouring into us and inviting us into their service and inviting us into what they were. And I thought, this is extraordinary generosity, because on the surface, they have nothing to give, and yet they made us feel so warm and welcome through just their joy and peace.}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ So you mentioned earlier that some of the book is coming out of your own journey to, to recognizing that your finances was something that you needed to turn over to God. Could you share a little bit more about your personal journey with your finances and how that has shaped the message that you're putting out?}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ Absolutely, I'd be happy to. My husband and I came from very different backgrounds. I came from, as I mentioned, a Christian }

{\cf2 [00:15:00]}

{ background lived in the church literally and figuratively, almost literally. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Yeah, you're a pk }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ yeah, exactly. So my husband had the complete opposite experience. He did not grow up in the church.}

{\pard \line \par}

{But we ca so we came into marriage with different perspectives on just about everything, including money. And I had lots of great lessons in my life. But but we had not talked a lot about financial principles. Other than tithing so we talked about tithing, but I got my first credit card when I was in college.}

{\pard \line \par}

{I had came out of school with student loans. We made. Just a series of decisions. And we came to this place where it was just, there was a lot of tension in our relationship around finances and how we should spend it and not having enough and worry and fear. And it came to a head to on one particular night my husband, and we know you fall into these roles of who does what, and he's always been the one that's literally writing out the bills and paying the bills.}

{\pard \line \par}

{There was a night where we just were. Bickering and I'm like, what }

{\cf2 [00:16:00]}

{ is wrong with you? Why are you trying to pick a fight? I thought we were out to have a good time and he just confessed that the weight of our debt that we had accumulated accumulated was just. Weighing heavily on him.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And he felt like we were one minor emergency away from losing it all. And I knew that we had debt, but I, that was really the first night that had truly understand, stood the weight of it and my eyes were open to where the path we were heading down to. So we were out together. Our kids were at home and we just prayed.}

{\pard \line \par}

{I said, I don't know what to do other than to pray. And I was just taken aback and had a complete loss of how to get ourselves out of this. So I remember praying, God, we have made a mess of things and we don't know what to do about it. We need your help. And there was not a check that arrived in the mail.}

{\pard \line \par}

{There was not like, we didn't get this giant windfall, but what we did have is almost immediately, and I tell the story in my book about somebody that came into our life. Like we literally prayed in the parking lot of a }

{\cf2 [00:17:00]}

{ restaurant. We walked into the restaurant. And somebody that I have not seen in a long time told me how him and his wife had just come from a financial workshop at their church and how they had always been weighed down by it and they had always bickered about it, and this was the best thing they ever did, and we should go do something like this too, having no idea.}

{\pard \line \par}

{The conversation we just had. }

{\pard \line \par}

{So my husband and I had this moment of like just our jaws hitting the floor. It was, to this day I still say it's one of the quickest and most obvious answers to prayer we've ever had. And that started a journey again it's not like it was fixed overnight, but that started a journey of surrender, of just inviting God to, to show us where we were out of alignment with how he wanted to do things. So that started with my husband had not grown up tithing and it felt like completely ludicrous idea to him that we would do that. But he, he will say that was the biggest transformation, not only in our finances, but in his faith journey.}

{\pard \line \par}

{It was faithful, was just }

{\cf2 [00:18:00]}

{ a. A decision that, okay, we're gonna start with doing the things that God has asked us to do and we'll pay tide off the top and then whatever, if we, or we lack at the end of the month, we'll cut back in other areas, but our tide is always gonna be prioritized. And we saw God's faithfulness over and over again that somehow not only do we not on, not just have enough.}

{\pard \line \par}

{To make that work, but somehow we always had a little bit extra that enabled us to give or to set aside for things that, for emergencies and all these sorts of things. But it all started with. Surrender and decision to give it all over to God. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Yeah. I, and I will share, some of my personal journey and folks that if they listen to the show, they've heard me share it before that similar of going through a period where my wife and I were facing a tremendous amount of death, I was actually suicidal because of the financial stress and strain.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And they'll tell you that's actually the number one cause of male suicide is financial worries. Yeah, I can see that. It just because. Like you said we, for whatever }

{\cf2 [00:19:00]}

{ reason, men often will carry that weight. It weighs very heavily. But then because of how we're taught and how we're raised, we don't necessarily share it with the very person that our people that we should 'cause you needed to know that you deserve to know that. I'm glad he shared it with you before it ever got to, to a more devastating point. But but like you said that's the day that shifted it. But it's not because it was. It's not because you were out of debt, it's because your mindset changed.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Your behavior changed and then worked to get out of debt and to have the other things change. Yeah. What would you say is for somebody that's listening out there that maybe, they're prob they may be doing financially okay, maybe they're struggling right now you know that's indifferent, but they're hearing your message of surrendering their finances.}

{\pard \line \par}

{To God. And maybe that's something they feel led to do, feel called to do, feel maybe they haven't done completely. What are some of the things that you would advise for them to start thinking about or }

{\cf2 [00:20:00]}

{ examining their heart about or praying about as they begin to focus on that? }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ Yeah, I think back to that moment and what, and just responding to you and what you just said there was.}

{\pard \line \par}

{There are people out there and it may or may not be debt. It may also be the weight of managing a business. It may be they, since God is calling them to do something and they don't feel like they have the resources to do that. It may be any number of things, but I think back to the heaviness of that and the weight of that and the shame of that, of feeling like I'm all alone and this is my burden to carry.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And I felt that and my husband felt that. And you go into the shame spiral, and I think that one of the first. No, not one of the first thing that we need to do is just pray to God and acknowledge the problem and acknowledge where we're at. We have this we believe this lie that we're the only one that feels this way and we're all alone and nobody would }

{\cf2 [00:21:00]}

{ understand and we have to fix the mess that we've made.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And meanwhile. We're sitting in this hole of darkness and God's holding out his hand saying, I wanna pull you out of that. I want to take you from the whole, the wholeness. So it starts with just acknowledging the problem and asking God. To intervene and trust him, and then inviting him to examine our hearts and examine our souls and ask what?}

{\pard \line \par}

{Show me God, search me and reveal in me anything that is not like you, because I wanna become more like you. And then being open and obedient to what he. Yeah. And he will re when we honestly seek him and we ask him to show us wisdom and ask us to show what's not in alignment, he will reveal it.}

{\pard \line \par}

{So then we have to be obedient. And then the second thing that I would say is that not only were you not meant to do it alone without God, God wants to walk on this journey with you, but }

{\cf2 [00:22:00]}

{ also. He, we, he designed us to be in community. And so if you are married, it starts there. Talk with your spouse.}

{\pard \line \par}

{No more hiding, no more secrets, no more thinking that you have to carry this all alone. Talk with your spouse, but even if you're not married, sharing it with a trusted friend or a pastor or a counselor. Or your small group and just opening up and saying, this is what I'm struggling with. This is what God is dealing with.}

{\pard \line \par}

{I'm on this journey. Will you walk on this journey with me? And I think you'll find yourself surprised. How common your experience is and that they're in the same boat and waiting on somebody else to be brave and say it out loud. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Yeah. I've been blessed to work now as a coach and a lot of my clients' finances is the area that, that brings them to me.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And everything you just described, has come to me and every single person that comes, starts with. I know this is probably the only time you've heard this, or this is the worst }

{\cf2 [00:23:00]}

{ situation you've ever had. Or the what? And or they'll have a fight in front of me and they're like, oh, I'm so sorry we had a fight in front of you.}

{\pard \line \par}

{That's gotta be so horrible for you. It's like you're not even in the top 50 fights, so come on. Yeah. Y'all are gonna have to do a lot better than that. It's because it's, it is, it's such a common experience for, I think we all struggle with it at some level. I don't claim to have it all.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Perfect. I certainly don't have it all. Perfect. No. And yet, like you said, we've been taught to not share that, not talk about, it's almost oh, I can't share this until I get it. All right. Yes. Wait that, that's I've gotta clean my house before the maid comes over to clean my house.}

{\pard \line \par}

{It's this weird thing. It's funny you say }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ that because I one, so you, I you, I do tell this story of victory and as if this was my problem and now it's all gone. But the reality is like this, surrender is a lifetime of surrender and a lifetime inviting God to show us new things.}

{\pard \line \par}

{So my pastor, after I this book was published, he asked me to lead a small group in my church. }

{\pard \line \par}

{And at first }

{\cf2 [00:24:00]}

{ I was like, Ooh, that feels self-promotional. I don't wanna do that. But he really strongly encouraged me to do it. So I said if I'm gonna do this, Robert's gotta do it with me.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And he like. Listen, he is super supportive and he was glad to be part of, or glad to help me with things, but he's I don't know Heather. I can't do this. They're gonna think who are we to tell people? We're still figuring it out and we're still like, we still make mistakes and, I can't talk about this because do they know like we're still trying to figure out how to pay for college for our daughter and all these kind of things.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And the fear of I don't have my act together so I can't talk to others. Was continued to be an issue even after we've been through this journey. But what was the. Incredible about that experience is that when we had, when we started this small group, we were able to te teach a few things, but we were also able to learn and glean so much from the experience of others.}

{\pard \line \par}

{There we had struggles that other people had navigated }

{\cf2 [00:25:00]}

{ and had insight and encouragement for us and vice versa. We had insight and encouragement for the things that other people were going through, and it was just a beautiful picture of. We don't have to have our mess all cleaned up before we can have real community and impact in the lives of others. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ And sometimes even just sharing with somebody that you're going through it, like you said, because they feel, everyone feels like I'm the only one that's ever dealt with this, and yet we're all dealing with it, at some level it's I've, I, and that's the other thing I think is the way we relate with money is so easy to.}

{\pard \line \par}

{At some level to make it almost invisible to the people around us, right? You can drive a nice car and be broke, right? You can wear nice clothes and be broke, right? You can, and yet it appears. Everything's fine, you for a long time. Eventually it might catch up with you, but you can fake it for a long time.}

{\pard \line \par}

{You really can. And so it's invisible if we want it to be, now again, there's extremes and }

{\cf2 [00:26:00]}

{ situations where that's not true. But I think a lot of us fake it for longer than maybe we should. If that makes sense. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ Absolutely. No, I have this card again. It's a beautiful cardigan.}

{\pard \line \par}

{It looks very professional. And I was going to wear it to an event, but the problem is the elbows, I've had it for so long that the elbows are worn out. So I just have to be careful not to hold up my elbows. So day by seat, our finances are like that. We just keep our position in the right way. We don't raise our arms and we don't say anything about it.}

{\pard \line \par}

{And they don't let 'em look too closely. If they don't look }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ too close. Look }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ really put together. But truly, but meanwhile, we're falling apart. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Yeah. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ Yeah. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ And again, for those people that are out there that are hearing this it's normal. But that doesn't mean it has to be that way either. You can live in a different way and it's not about having a bunch of zeros in your bank account, like you said. It's about the way you relate to the, that bank account. Exactly. And the way you have where is your faith in security really lying. That Exactly.}

{\pard \line \par}

{That's so important. And again, that's }

{\cf2 [00:27:00]}

{ a. I tell people I only struggle with this on days that ended. Why the other days I've got it all together. Yeah. Yeah. So I've got a few questions that I like to ask all of my guests, but before I ask those, is there anything else about this topic or your book, money and Spirit that, that you think, or that you'd really like to share with the listener?}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ Yeah, I, I just come back to again, what you were just talking about. Struggle is normal, but victory is normal too. God doesn't want you to live there. If you are, whatever you're worried about, whatever you care about he cares about it too. And if you are in bondage financially or otherwise, he wants to free you from that.}

{\pard \line \par}

{But it starts with inviting him to be part of it and not only just be part a piece of it, but to lead the way. He wants what's best for you but you have to be willing to to take him by the hand and go where he leads you. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ So I mentioned earlier my brand is inspired stewardship, and I run things through that lens of stewardship, and yet that's one of those words that }

{\cf2 [00:28:00]}

{ I've discovered can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.}

{\pard \line \par}

{So for you, when you hear the word stewardship, what? What does that word mean to you? }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ I think of stewardship as I have in my current possession and under my influence. Things that have been given to me but they're not mine. They're just, I'm the holder of those. So I have I have money falls in that category.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Influence falls in that category. Time falls in that ca category, but these are all just on loan from God who has said. I'm gonna give these to you and I want you to use them wi wisely. So stewardship to me is all about I am handling these things that are god's. How can I use them in a way that honors and glorifies God?}

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ So this is my favorite question that I like to ask everybody. Imagine for a moment that I invented this magic machine, and with this machine I was able to take you from where you are today and transport you into the future. }

{\cf2 [00:29:00]}

{ Maybe 150, maybe 250 years. Yeah. But through the power of this machine, you were able to look back and see your entire life, see all of the connections, all of the ripples, all of the impacts you've left behind.}

{\pard \line \par}

{What impact do you hope you've left in the world? }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ I hope that I hope that people will know because they were with me that they're loved and valued in a beautiful creation of God the father. I hope that whatever I do that it's just, it's not only making them feel valued, but making them understand at a deeper level how much that God the father wants to have a relationship with them.}

{\pard \line \par}

{That's my greatest desire. I don't the things I do on earth will, will fade away, but the things I do for his kingdom will last forever. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ So what's on the roadmap? What's happening as you continue on your journey through the rest of this year? }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ So a few things are unfolding. One, I, I have talked about.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Privately with a few people. I just feel the Holy Spirit }

{\cf2 [00:30:00]}

{ stirring, and I'm not sure what that's all about. I'm ex excited to see what God is gonna do next. So that's a vague answer, but I'm just I feel this sense of discomfort that, hold on. I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask you to do something. And as I'm in this period of waiting, of asking what God is or seeing what God is gonna ask me to do but the other thing that's.}

{\pard \line \par}

{A fun project. Not that's not fun, being terrified of what God's gonna ask me to do. But the other thing is I'm working on my second book it's completely different. I have I wrote this book format or the, my organization I work with Barnabas Foundation. I wrote Money and Spirit for that, but I'm currently working on a passion project.}

{\pard \line \par}

{It's about a woman and her mom that lives in my. Community that's just had an incredible life. She was born on a sharecroppers farm and has had an incredible journey through the Civil Rights era and the Great migration, and now just is living an incredible life }

{\cf2 [00:31:00]}

{ of pouring out everything she has into the lives of children and teenagers who have been discarded by society.}

{\pard \line \par}

{So I'm really excited to tell that story. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Awesome. So you can find out more about Heather Day over at her site, which is@heatherday.net. Of course. I'll have a link to that over in the show notes as well. Heather, anything else you'd like to share with the listener? }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf3 Heather Day:\b0}

{ Yeah, I would love to stay in contact with you.}

{\pard \line \par}

{I'd love to hear your stories. I'd love to hear how God is speaking to you through this. So again, follow me@heatherday.net. All of my socials are on there. And then of course, I I love the organization. I work with Barnabas Foundation. You can find out more information about.}

{\pard \line \par}

{barnabas@barnabasfoundation.org we help generous Christians give to their favorite ministries in ways that honor God and provide for their families. So I'd love to tell you more about that. }

{\pard \line \par}

{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

{ Awesome. And I'll definitely add a show a link to Barnabas foundation as well over in the show notes. So if you're driving right }

{\cf2 [00:32:00]}

{ now and didn't get a chance to write that down, don't panic.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Just go over to the show notes and you'll be able to find the links there as well.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode. Please. Please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes.}

{\pard \line \par}

{Rate all one word iTunes rate. It'll take you through how to leave a rating and review, and how to make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you can get every episode as it comes out in your feed. Until next time, invest your time. Your talent and your treasures. }

{\cf2 [00:33:00]}

{ Develop your influence and impact the world.}

}