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When my husband and I first started dating we had a lot of conversations about money. It wasn't something I was used to because I admittedly thought of money as a pretty taboo topic. It wasn't something you just asked people about.
Pretty quickly, I realized how important wealth was to him because of the calling God had placed on his life. He continually told me he felt called to finance the kingdom of God. I thought he was pretty cute so I didn't really think that had a big impact on me and would just say stuff like, "great, wonderful, good for you!"
When our relationship got more serious, I realized how important our money conversations were.
When we got married, I realized how what we do with our money often reflects attitudes we hold in our hearts towards God and the Kingdom.
For me, the journey of learning about God's view on wealth has been a long one. I didn't grow up in a home where we talked openly about wealth, and I didn't know a lot about it except that you should save some of your income.
While I got on board with the mission God had given my husband, I assumed my money mindset was so good. We gave away more money than anyone I knew personally (because, you know, people don't talk about money), and we were "cheerful givers!" I felt like I could check that box.
The title of "Poverty, Riches, & Wealth" caught my eye and I'm a fan of Kris Vallotton so I thought it was worth a read. I had no idea that the Holy Spirit had a lot of convicting to do as soon as I picked it up. Outwardly, my actions around wealth seem pretty healthy from a biblical perspective.
But as I read this book I realized how easily it is to adopt a poverty mindset in life, and this mindset goes far beyond what we do with our money.
In this book, Vallotton shares his own journey as he moved from a poverty mindset to a wealthy mindset. He differentiates between what it means to be "rich" and what it means to be "wealthy."
He thoughtfully walks through various biblical passages showing how our mindset impacts our ability to both give and to receive. His personal stories share insight and encouragement to anyone who is at any point on their own journey with wealth.
Personally, I took away so much from this book, but mainly felt led to reconsider where in my life I was accepting a poverty mindset. He shares how to expand your personal capacity to grow and gain wealth, and ultimately impact the Kingdom of God.
This book is a lot less about where to invest or how much to invest, and a lot more about how to change the attitude of your heart from someone who wants to make sure they just have enough to get by to being an avenue God can use to steward blessings and provision for yourself and others.