So, I started down the nomad journey, then took a huge detour. I found myself stressed out and heavily burdened. I love teaching. I thoroughly enjoy helping people with financial problems, or learning English, or just working through some issue. I also really love pointing people to their ultimate source: Jesus.
And, since Jesus is my ultimate source, I listened when I started having verses pop up in my mind to quell the raging storm.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4
Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.
Psalm 127:1-2
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
In all of this, it was abundantly clear that I was striving in vain. I was seeking the kingdom of this world and not the Kingdom of Heaven. I was taking on another burden other than the one Jesus offered me.
So, I stepped away from it all.
This wasn't too hard. I was struggling to find the right passion to pursue. And looking back, I'm so glad I stepped away.
I believe that as a gift from God, I now have the right passion(s) to pursue.
So many of my friends have had to listen to me over the last 2 or 3 months. I've practically droned on and on about a newly discovered game. To them, maybe it's not so much a game. But to me it brings me exceeding joy. It doesn't cease to find a way to brighten my week. In fact, at least once a week I have something to rejoice over.
What is it you wonder?
Dividends!
I've begun dividend investing thanks to the encouragement of a good friend. And since she didn't do much other than tell me to go Google a phrase. I've learned a lot. I've made a few mistakes, but thanks to her guidance and my own acumen for numbers, I've mitigated most of my risks (accounting talk, sorry).
Furthermore, the exercise in being patient when I 'lose' money from an unrealized loss, has built my ability to trust God when it doesn't look like things are going the right way. The patience of having to wait until 9:30am each day for the market to open and on the weekend for a few days, has helped me to wait on the Lord. And, since dividends don't have a great amount of immediate payoff, I've learned to appreciate the small gains. Which again, has built in me an ability to appreciate the small gains in other ares of my life. Crazy, huh?
The best thing about this, is that it can only consume so much of my time. The market closes. I run out of things to research. I have to wait for changes in stock price. I have to wait for monthly or quarterly dividend payments.
It's been amazing.
So, why am I back to writing on this blog?
I found my passion. I found my way to become a digital nomad.
All of my friends have expressed interest in learning more about dividends, as they've listened to me talk so excitedly about what this means for me. However, most of them need someone to bridge the gap between knowing nothing about 'the stock market' and being able to buy stock that pays dividends. I've had to figure this all out on my own. So, I decided that I would create a simple course to explain the basics of dividend investing.
Within a few hours, the outline of the entire course had appeared on paper. The next day, I wrote most of the intro to the course. And the next day, I had done most of the first module and pulled together details for several of the others. I don't expect that I'll have it done in a week. Many of the modules will take a lot more time to write. I am, after all, an accountant. I have to take it down a notch when I explain things. Unrealized gains and losses make perfect sense to me. But the average person may not get them without explanation.
On top of all that, I have also had an opportunity come up in one of my other passion areas. I'm waiting to hear back about a part-time position that would have me working directly with incoming refugees to help them get oriented into my city. For many of them, culture shock will be immense. I've been to their part of the world, so I know how much harder it is to live where you have to have a car to get around or your neighbors don't talk to you. And so many other things.
Even applying for that was a serious step of faith. It meant applying for a job that I wasn't sure about. I wasn't sure I would get it, and before I learned more details of the actual position, I wasn't sure I wanted it. And I'm still not sure. It's part-time and my full-time job doesn't allow much room for another job. I'm having to trust God with the outcome.
But, at least my journey into frugality over the last several years (ok, more like away from frugality and quickly back into it in the last few months) will pay off. My insurance got reduced a couple months ago. Student loans are down 65% and about 15% was done in the last two months. Another step of faith. Letting go of that much of my emergency fund was hard. I'm likely getting a new renter in the house. Cha-ching. I've been monitoring my spending like a hawk. Refusing to even go into stores where I might buy clothes. And I can wait for the next clothing swap, which is where I've gotten half of my favorite items anyhow!
Trusting Jesus is always worth it! And I want to trust Him with all that I am.
And, since Jesus is my ultimate source, I listened when I started having verses pop up in my mind to quell the raging storm.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Jeremiah 17:9
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4
Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.
Psalm 127:1-2
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
In all of this, it was abundantly clear that I was striving in vain. I was seeking the kingdom of this world and not the Kingdom of Heaven. I was taking on another burden other than the one Jesus offered me.
So, I stepped away from it all.
This wasn't too hard. I was struggling to find the right passion to pursue. And looking back, I'm so glad I stepped away.
I believe that as a gift from God, I now have the right passion(s) to pursue.
So many of my friends have had to listen to me over the last 2 or 3 months. I've practically droned on and on about a newly discovered game. To them, maybe it's not so much a game. But to me it brings me exceeding joy. It doesn't cease to find a way to brighten my week. In fact, at least once a week I have something to rejoice over.
What is it you wonder?
Dividends!
I've begun dividend investing thanks to the encouragement of a good friend. And since she didn't do much other than tell me to go Google a phrase. I've learned a lot. I've made a few mistakes, but thanks to her guidance and my own acumen for numbers, I've mitigated most of my risks (accounting talk, sorry).
Furthermore, the exercise in being patient when I 'lose' money from an unrealized loss, has built my ability to trust God when it doesn't look like things are going the right way. The patience of having to wait until 9:30am each day for the market to open and on the weekend for a few days, has helped me to wait on the Lord. And, since dividends don't have a great amount of immediate payoff, I've learned to appreciate the small gains. Which again, has built in me an ability to appreciate the small gains in other ares of my life. Crazy, huh?
The best thing about this, is that it can only consume so much of my time. The market closes. I run out of things to research. I have to wait for changes in stock price. I have to wait for monthly or quarterly dividend payments.
It's been amazing.
So, why am I back to writing on this blog?
I found my passion. I found my way to become a digital nomad.
All of my friends have expressed interest in learning more about dividends, as they've listened to me talk so excitedly about what this means for me. However, most of them need someone to bridge the gap between knowing nothing about 'the stock market' and being able to buy stock that pays dividends. I've had to figure this all out on my own. So, I decided that I would create a simple course to explain the basics of dividend investing.
Within a few hours, the outline of the entire course had appeared on paper. The next day, I wrote most of the intro to the course. And the next day, I had done most of the first module and pulled together details for several of the others. I don't expect that I'll have it done in a week. Many of the modules will take a lot more time to write. I am, after all, an accountant. I have to take it down a notch when I explain things. Unrealized gains and losses make perfect sense to me. But the average person may not get them without explanation.
On top of all that, I have also had an opportunity come up in one of my other passion areas. I'm waiting to hear back about a part-time position that would have me working directly with incoming refugees to help them get oriented into my city. For many of them, culture shock will be immense. I've been to their part of the world, so I know how much harder it is to live where you have to have a car to get around or your neighbors don't talk to you. And so many other things.
Even applying for that was a serious step of faith. It meant applying for a job that I wasn't sure about. I wasn't sure I would get it, and before I learned more details of the actual position, I wasn't sure I wanted it. And I'm still not sure. It's part-time and my full-time job doesn't allow much room for another job. I'm having to trust God with the outcome.
But, at least my journey into frugality over the last several years (ok, more like away from frugality and quickly back into it in the last few months) will pay off. My insurance got reduced a couple months ago. Student loans are down 65% and about 15% was done in the last two months. Another step of faith. Letting go of that much of my emergency fund was hard. I'm likely getting a new renter in the house. Cha-ching. I've been monitoring my spending like a hawk. Refusing to even go into stores where I might buy clothes. And I can wait for the next clothing swap, which is where I've gotten half of my favorite items anyhow!
Trusting Jesus is always worth it! And I want to trust Him with all that I am.
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