The Sojo Show
The Sojo Show makes Bible Study fun with spontaneous conversations between Arabah Joy and Jen Evangelista. Together we discover how the study of God's Word can impact our everyday lives.
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The Sojo Show
Simplify Your Life: Make Over Your Money
{FREE} Proverbs and Principles for a Simple Life: sojohub.com/simplifyfree
Discover the power of intentional living with our 'Simplify Your Life Summer Podcast Series' as Jen and AJ chat about ways to calm the chaos!
It's not just about tidying up your home or even managing your time and money; it's about creating a sacred space for God to reign supreme in your heart and life.
In this episode, we consider the life of the Proverbs 31 woman, drawing nuggets of wisdom for financial prudence and investment in everlasting treasures.
Get ready for actionable advice, peppered with scriptural wisdom, to help you strip away the excess and focus on what's eternally significant.
Join us in this conversation about making over your money and simplifying your life!
Join the Simplify Your Life Summer Challenge: sojohub.com/simplify
Read the Show Notes: sojohub.com/simplify111
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Become a member: www.sojoacademy.com
Sojo Academy is an ongoing membership for Christian women that provides a practical, streamlined, spiritual growth plan for every woman.
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Help us continue making great content for listeners everywhere.
Welcome to the Sojo Show with Jen and AJ, where you'll dig deep into God's Word alongside two imperfect, frequently ineloquent women, as we discover fresh ways to walk out God's truth together.
AJ:Welcome back to the Sojo Show everybody. This is AJ, and actually I'm sitting in person next to Jen and we're recording this on video too.
Jen:We are. It's a little awkward though.
AJ:It is because we're right on top of each other. But it's okay, we're friends.
Jen:We're shoulder to shoulder Long time.
AJ:So, yes, so if you're listening to the audio of this, you may want to go check out the video, just to see us.
Jen:We don't know where it is, but it'll be somewhere. We'll put it in the show notes.
AJ:Go find it somewhere. You're treasure hunting the internet.
Jen:We'll put it in the show notes.
AJ:Okay, so we are back though with a very exciting new series. Yes, I'm excited actually. And this is kind of a it's like retro, it is it's total retro. That's a good word for it. I was going to say revisiting the past, but retro. Retro is cooler, that's so cool.
Jen:Because we are so cool.
AJ:Yes, we are retro.
Jen:We actually really are, I know, not quite antique, but retro yeah.
AJ:Yes, I was going to say something else, but that's not very nice. We're mid-century.
Jen:We're mid-century.
AJ:We are, we're the real deal guys?
Jen:Yeah, we are Okay, but anyway, sorry, I digress.
AJ:So we have actually been thinking a lot about what is necessary to keep our focus on the things that are most important in life is necessary to keep our focus on the things that are most important in life and once again, the question we've been asking is how can we pave a way to keep God the center and the focus of our lives?
Jen:Right.
AJ:And a lot of times that means getting rid of some things. Sometimes it means adding to our lives, but a lot of times it means taking some things out which is really scary for yours truly and me too, I'm.
Jen:It's really really scary for me yeah, I mean that's hard it's hard yeah and yeah but necessary and there's lots of reasons for that.
AJ:I mean, that's something that really we could talk about if we wanted to. But there's lots of reasons why we can have some internal resistance to getting rid of some things, whether it's habit, whether it's stuff, whether it's mindsets. You know like there's a lot. There's lots there to play with. But the bottom line is is, from time to time we really do need to do that. We need to evaluate and see what needs to go and what needs to stay. We need to extract the precious from the worthless. So that's kind of what the series is going to do. Yeah, did I set it up? Real good for you.
Jen:You did, you did. Are you setting it up for me?
AJ:I'm setting it up for you. So tell them what it is. You want me to tell them what it is? Yeah, tell them what it is.
Jen:Okay, so, Okay, Okay. So I will back up and say why we are saying it's retro and that is because okay. So actually we were going down memory lane just last night and AJ and I yes, AJ and I were going revisiting all the times we had gotten together in person and like what we had done and talked through and prayed about and and I will say the time one of us peed in their pants and another time and another time both of us broke into an Airbnb, so we're talking some juicy stuff.
Jen:Good stuff, good stuff, good stuff. That time that we had to leave an Airbnb because there were too many roaches.
AJ:It was the roach motel.
Jen:That was terrible, okay, but anyway, regardless, we're off track the very first time we met. So we first met in April of 2019. And, like in person, we had done each other online, obviously, and we'd already been in ministry together for a few months, but we met each other in person and it was such an awkward experience. I'm not going to tell a lot of the story because but let me just frame it for you we had never met in real life, we only knew each other online, and we stayed in a hotel because this was pre before Airbnbs were cool and we stayed in a hotel and we each had our own room, of course, and we did all of our work from sunup to sunset the hotel lobby.
Jen:In the lobby.
AJ:People walking in and around. I mean, we're recording live videos, we're alive. I'm chomping on my gum, so you guys remember that. Yes, and people are walking around us, the reception.
Jen:They change shifts a couple times. We're just still sitting there. The reason I tell the story is because that is the day that this was born, this thing that we're doing. Okay, Because we asked the exact same questions then in 2019. What do we need to do to prepare our hearts to get the most out of the spiritual disciplines and Bible study? And what we discovered was this idea of simplification and simplifying different key areas in our lives, focusing on them, getting a biblical perspective of what it means to do that and then taking very practical steps. So we had a within Sojo Academy, we had a series I think it was actually not called Simplify your Life. Then I think it started like Summer or something.
AJ:Summer Simplified your Life. Then it was called Summer or something.
Jen:Summer Simplified or something like that, yeah, something like that. And then, and we took six different areas, key areas, and we did challenges on them, we studied them and it was powerful and it was good, and so we are actually bringing it back. We're bringing it back, we're bringing it back and we are Simplify your Life Summer 2024 Edition. We have those six different areas We've added a seventh along the way as a special bonus and we are well for one thing full disclosure. We're selling this course or this project, this whole thing. We're selling this course or this project, this whole thing, for and we're selling it actually for a fraction, literally over 75%, of what we have sold it for in the past. So we're selling it to you at a tremendous discount. But, more importantly, we're encouraging you to look at these areas, the ones that you find are most important, and do the challenges.
AJ:Do we want to go ahead and tell them what the six plus the bonus areas are? Would that be helpful? Sure, if I can remember all of them. Okay, well, we can remember them.
Jen:We can remember them. Go ahead, start with the one we're going to talk about today.
AJ:Okay, yeah, so the one we're going to talk about today is the area of finances and money, because this creates so much stress in our lives. It just and I think it's actually the number one like conflict in relationships, marriages. It is a huge deal and I don't need to explain why it's important, because I'm sure all of us have experienced financial stress and strain to some degree and it can wreak havoc on our lives and cause just an underlying anxiety level that we just kind of have to live with.
Jen:Right.
AJ:So we want to simplify that. We want to look at scriptural principles and implement those principles into our lives in a way that's super practical, really doable, because God intended us to function a certain way and to have a certain relationship with our finances, and so that's what we're going to talk a little bit about today, and then, in the course, you are going to have very specific exercises to walk through that will get you on the right track.
Jen:Yeah, the second area is and we'll run through these really quickly is time. Actually, I believe that that's going to be our podcast for next week is talking about time because we, as someone famous said, we all have the same 24 hours in the day and yet we find it more and more difficult to manage our time and to be and when I say productive, I mean that in a sense of being, you know, being whole and being well and using our time in a God honoring manner is difficult. So we're going to talk about time. That's number two. Number three is what's another one?
AJ:We're going to talk about image and how how our health and our body really is meant to be a tool, a vessel.
Jen:The image of God is what that was that's about. Yeah, we're made after the image of.
AJ:God, so our health and wellbeing. And then the fourth one, space.
Jen:Well, after the image of God, so our health and well-being. And then the fourth one, space. Well, we may not talk about this one, but space is one of the things, and that is our actual physical space, right, and possessions. Kind of studying, yes, studying how stuff affects our heart, right? So that's one.
AJ:And then I mean this doesn't sound super spiritual, but we're going to talk about menu planning and meals, because we have to eat and the people in our house have to eat. Houses have to eat every single day, multiple times, so, like something that is so regular and that requires so much daily attention, how can we really streamline that and use that for the glory of the Lord? How can we make that happen? Simple?
Jen:Yeah, and it fits in with everything else, because that's part of managing our time, it's part of managing our health and money and our money. So this kind of it's, it's a very, very practical module that is, I think, helpful in other areas. Yeah, the sixth one I think there is the sixth one is putting God first. Yeah, it's really figuring out how to make that happen. Again, it overlaps with the other things, and so we do a lot of discussion on what it means to have God as our Lord, christ as our Lord and Savior, and what it means to be in Christ and Him to be in us, and so it's and we touch on the spiritual disciplines in that, like living a life of worship, making your whole life about putting Him first through worship, and whatever it is that we do.
AJ:And then there's one that we added on as a bonus, and that one is that one is digital detox, because we spend so much of our lives in front of our screens. I mean, we're looking at two screens actually right now as we're recording. Well, no, three, three three screens in front of of us.
AJ:So it is just such a part of our lives it can be helpful or it can be harmful, or some combination of the two, and so we have devised this module to let you assess where you're at in your digital life and the way you use technology, and then really pick those things and activities, apps, et cetera, that are helpful for you, and we have a process and an exercise for you to walk through to do that.
Jen:So yeah, so it's super practical. It's super quote unquote simple to go through the process, but we do feel like that. It is super helpful as well, and the summertime is to do it. So we are excited about it. Let's move back around. Let's go all the way back up to the top and talk about money.
AJ:Yes, let's talk about money. Okay, so there's so much to say about money. Actually, the Bible has a lot to say about money and Jesus.
Jen:Are you going to ask me a question?
AJ:Oh, oh yes, I do have a question, okay, so if you guys have listened to our podcast, we used to do this we used to do this, and we haven't recorded a podcast episode in a while, so I'm kind of out of touch.
Jen:And we haven't done one together in forever.
AJ:So yeah, so this is the question you're going to're gonna get a question yes. I'm popping it on, jen, so tell me what? Is there? A purchase that you have made, a way that you have spent and used money that you don't regret, like just a purchase that you're like. That was one of the best things I ever did.
Jen:Okay, all right, so there are actually several, because I'm a bit of an overthinker when it comes to spending money. I am the type of person. I'm the type of person who's wearing the same shoes from 15 years ago and the same clothes from forever. I mean, I just do not spend a lot of money. So when I do spend money, I typically make sure that it is something that I'm not going to regret. But, in particular, one thing comes to mind because we were discussing this so AJ needs a new mattress, because because, nope, let me tell you. Okay, she's going to tell.
Jen:Because, she just had a birthday and she's getting old.
AJ:Bladdery will get you nowhere.
Jen:So, because she's getting old, her back is starting to hurt my joints, my legs my shoulders.
AJ:She's waking up. Creaky, creaking, it hurts. She's creaking and I'm a side sleeper, so like I feel it in my shoulders. She's waking up, creaky, creaking. It hurts, she's creaking and I'm a side sleeper, so like I feel it in my shoulders.
Jen:Mm-hmm. Anywho, I had, we had this discussion and I mentioned that early in our marriage. This was probably 25 years ago, if I had to guess, so we'd only been married a few years at this time, my husband and I and we actually we were young, I and we actually were young then and we actually were waking up sore in the mornings. That's pretty bad. No, that sounds bad.
AJ:Not for any reason the mattress was beating them up.
Jen:Oh, my goodness. So we needed a mattress. We needed a mattress that was going to make us not wake up sore, and so we really splurged on a mattress. I think it was Pintimperpedic. We're not doing an advertisement for them. We're not getting paid for this. For all the millions of you that are listening, you're probably not buying a mattress.
AJ:And what meaning would I like.
Jen:So we splurged because, and the reason we splurged because, and the reason we splurged is because someone in our church was selling them and gave us a discount. So, honestly, that's the only reason we could afford this really nice mattress. But it's now been 25 years or more. I'm trying to think of when we bought it. We've been married 30 years. It has been over 20 years and it is still the most comfortable mattress ever. I love it so much.
AJ:That is definitely worth it.
Jen:And so it was worth the investment. Yes totally.
AJ:Well unfortunately, not all of our purchases can fall into that kind of category.
Jen:Well, and there are times when when you know there are times when you actually like invest money in something that ends up being a poor decision, but you don't know until after the fact, right? So I think that there's a lot of, there's a lot of things to think about when it comes to money, um and and there are some things that everybody's going to have regrets over some things that they purchase, and everybody's going to have some things that they are really thankful that they splurged and purchased, right. But I think, really, what it comes down to is what does the Bible say about it?
AJ:Right and again, there are so many principles around money, but I think the key takeaway for us to remember, as believers, is that our checkbooks can be a means of honoring God and bringing glory to him, and he has given us very concrete ways in which we can do that. Specifically, and that's kind of what we're going to do in the course and simplify your life course is we're going to talk about what we call value-based budgeting, and that is to look at your finances based on your values as a believer and, instead of making sure everything ticks and ties from a numerical standpoint, make sure your expenditures tick and tie from a value standpoint and that the way you're spending your money and the way you're using your money is in alignment with not only God's word, but those dearly held values that we have. Our values are the souls of people and the glory of God and eternity, and so are the way we're using our funds reflective of that. That's the question that we want to pose.
Jen:What is an example of something that we need to think through about how we are spending our money?
AJ:Well, I mean, for an example, we have right here the Proverbs 31 woman and I know she's like she's not a real person.
Jen:We have a whole podcast on her, by the way. We'll put that out there.
AJ:So we're not like using this as a standard to say everybody has to live this certain way of life, okay, but we do see in her example ways that she handles money and lifestyle choices that she then makes based on those things.
AJ:She gets up early in the morning and provides for her household. You know she's diligent with her hand, she's working, she's laboring, she's buying and selling things, and so there are things that we can learn on how to be wise with money. Another example that really stood out to me just this morning as we were looking over this material for this is the verse that talks about the hands of the diligent makes one rich, and it really struck me because I'm like you know, a lot of times we want to avoid talk of getting rich as Christians.
AJ:Well, it's either we avoid it or like that's the thing we focus in on right. It's like two extremes, but the biblical principle is is that diligence oftentimes leads to wealth and whatever you want to do with that, there is the principle there that if I'm not being diligent, I may be missing out on some wealth that I could have if I was diligent. So we're just evaluating some of these biblical principles and asking you some real personal questions that are just between you, your spouse and God but that are going to make you think of oh okay, I can realign in this area and that is going to be the domino that kind of falls other areas of my life into place.
Jen:That probably wasn't very well said, but yeah, no, but I know what you're saying. And again, things fall on top of each other just like the dominoes, and the Proverbs are an interesting place to study when it comes to these practical, because the Proverbs are very practical, and so there are several verses in Proverbs just like this, and so maybe that's something that's an exercise for you today as homework. Go through and see what the Proverbs says about your finances and about money.
Jen:And a lot of it has to do with, you know, being diligent, as you mentioned, not being lazy, not being slothful, and managing your money well.
AJ:Right.
Jen:Managing it for really, for what our needs are and for advancement of the kingdom, which is something sometimes we don't always think about, but we need to be thinking about. So right, and you know what? Here's the thing I was thinking about this a minute ago, how we kind of came up with these ideas several years ago 2019 I just admitted that but they're even more. They're not even more because there's, they're all the same, but they are just as important today and we were thinking. I was thinking about it and the longevity and the and how. What the word says does not change. It does not change, but our society does, and our right now, in summer 2024, this is a big stressor. It is, and all of these things are time, money, health. All of these things are even more important for us to focus in on what the word says and to be diligent, to be diligent Christians, and I need this again oh yeah, yes, yes, exactly.
AJ:I mean there's no like growing out of it you know, these are timeless principles, and I mean talking about the timeless principles. I think one of them is, you know, to avoid debt, that the debtor is a slave to the lender. Did I say that correctly?
Jen:Is that right? Okay, Something was like yes, but okay.
AJ:So, and and and. Honestly, if you are in debt in any capacity, you understand that to be true and being a slave to the person that you owe money to, whether it's, you know, a bank for house, car credit card, whatever there's you have to keep that up, you have to keep those payments going, and that can oftentimes cause a lot of stress. And so if we work to reduce that, or if we come up with a strategy to reduce that and to not add to it, we're improving the quality of our lives.
Jen:Oh, my goodness. Okay, I have to say this because you just prompted this. I just saw this last night. I'm like wondering. This might be completely inappropriate, but it was on Instagram, but it was a Saturday night live skit with Steve what's his name, anyway, it doesn't matter, but it was Saturday night live skit and it was just on Instagram, so it was very clean. It was fine. But they were talking about how, so here's how, so here's how to not go into debt. If you don't have the money, don't buy the thing. And the girl's like but what if I really want the thing? You don't buy the thing if you don't have the money. And it was so funny and she was like but what if I? What? What if what?
AJ:if it's something that I really want.
Jen:So, but it was the whole, that whole thing of yeah, we have to be careful and we have to figure out a way to not buy the thing if we don't have the money for the thing Right.
AJ:So anyway.
Jen:So it's a big topic and I think that it is worthy of study and worthy of implementing ways to simplify our outlook on finances and our actual finances.
AJ:Right and honestly, it goes back to the very first step of saying okay, how do my current choices align with scriptural principles? And just doing that personal inventory, which is what a lot of this module in the course is going to be about. It's just getting really honest and, yes, we'll get up in your business a little bit, but you don't have to give us your answers. No it's all good, it's all between you and God.
Jen:It's all good, all right? Well, we will see you next week. We're coming back next week and we're going to talk about time, which is really kind of funny, because we're actually going to do it right now. Yes, but you won't hear it till next week, that's right.
AJ:So I might go change my shirt. I feel like it's a new day. Oh yeah, we could like fake it.
Jen:We could fake it, Totally fake it, I know Well. Regardless, we are going to be back and we're going to talk about simplifying your time and just some, some, some time and just some some, some quick, practical things that we can learn from the word about that topic.
AJ:Yeah, sounds good, yeah.
Jen:Yeah, sounds good. In the meantime, if you do want to check it out, it is live. The course is live as of today, as a matter of fact. So socialhubcom slash simplify, go and check it out. We'll have a link down below. You are more than welcome to join in. We invite you to join in. We have some really cool things going on this summer and feel like that it will benefit you?
AJ:Yeah, absolutely, this is definitely worth making your summer project your summer 2020.
Jen:Yeah, yeah, so fun. All right, we'll talk to you later, bye, bye.
