How A Budget Impacts Personal Finances

A budget can have a significant impact on your home finances by helping you manage your income and expenses effectively. Here are some ways in which a budget can influence your financial situation:

  1. Income management: A budget allows you to track your income sources and plan how to allocate that money. By understanding how much money you have coming in, you can make informed decisions about how to prioritize your spending and saving goals.
  2. Expense control: One of the primary purposes of a budget is to help you control your expenses. It provides a framework for categorizing your expenses and allows you to see where your money is going. By identifying unnecessary or excessive spending, you can make adjustments to cut back on non-essential expenses and focus on more important financial goals.
  3. Debt reduction: If you have debt, a budget can play a crucial role in helping you pay it off. By allocating a portion of your income towards debt repayment, you can create a clear plan to reduce and eliminate your debts over time. A budget helps you stay disciplined and consistent in making those debt payments.
  4. Saving and investment goals: Budgeting enables you to allocate a portion of your income towards savings and investments. Whether you’re saving for a down payment on a house, an emergency fund, or retirement, a budget helps you set aside money regularly and work towards achieving your financial goals. By prioritizing savings in your budget, you can build wealth and secure your financial future.
  5. Financial awareness: A budget provides a snapshot of your financial health. It helps you understand your spending patterns, identify areas where you can improve, and make informed decisions about your money. With a budget, you become more conscious of your financial choices, which can lead to better financial habits and decision-making in the long run.
  6. Stress reduction: Financial uncertainty can be a significant source of stress. A budget provides a sense of control and clarity over your finances, reducing anxiety and promoting peace of mind. With a well-planned budget, you can feel more confident about your financial situation and better equipped to handle unexpected expenses or emergencies.

Remember that creating a budget is just the first step. It’s important to regularly review and adjust your budget as needed to accommodate changes in income, expenses, and financial goals. Consistency and discipline in sticking to your budget are key to reaping the benefits and achieving your desired financial outcomes.

Look Past The Present

  1. As Believers, we can’t live off the same concepts and ideas as the world. We must navigate life with be faith and God’s truth
  2. Base your perceptions on faith and God’s wisdom and promises, not the circumstances surrounding you
  3. Don’t pretend presently that things aren’t the way they are
    -otherwise you can’t prepare, change or respond to them properly. Purpose is attained through preparation and proper response.
  4. Know that while God is working presently on your life he is setting things in order and making you whole!

5. Know your past is not your present and your present does not reflect all God has promised for your future. Pay attention to the present and look past it in pursuit of your purpose.

Lost and Found

Have you ever lost something that truly had value in your life? The purpose of this question is to help understand what has value in your life. Does your mind search for things lost that are tangible or things you’ve lost that the human eye cannot visibly see? Do you think of tangible things or things that truly hold the most value such as hope, faith, courage, belief or vision. 

A few days ago, a friend of mine called me in search of his daughter’s bracelet. My friend was a bit bothered that his daughter allowed this bracelet to fall off her wrist knowing the investment that was made in this piece of jewelry. She had misplaced a beautiful bracelet which in turn caused the money he placed into it to be lost as well. The great thing about this story is that the bracelet was found a day later hiding in the car.  

I believe this teaches us that many of the things we lose are not far from us. Sometimes they are so close and, in our search, to find them we overlook them because we just didn’t search well in all the possible places. 

My encouragement today is to remind you of the fact that what you’ve lost can be found. If you’ve lost hope for your life, this can be found in a relationship with a Sovereign God who is ready to prove there is an answer to your doubts.  

If you’ve lost the vision for your life, your family, your ministry, then certainly vision can be regained by connecting what you believed God for to what God has already promised you. God has the provision for your vision if you will be patient during the darkest times.  

If you’ve lost joy, peace and confidence that you can achieve what you desire, then you must simply need to begin praying for God to lead you on the path of blessing and favor. We must ask for God to order our steps so that we can fulfill our purpose and watch how in moving in direction led by God we will continuously be met with the things we need and regain the things that hold true value.  

I pray today that true value is found in your life today. Valuable things such as love for yourself and others. Such as joy and peace that can’t be dictated by circumstance. Such as courage to keep moving forward in your vision and strength that will allow you to absorb pain and disappointments as fuel. I pray that value in your life is not connected to things that can be removed by people or contracts but that value is connected to what God has placed inside of you.  

Be Encouraged  

Pastor Q

Don’t Fold Under Pressure

We cannot underestimate the influence of pressure. Especially the kind of pressure that influences desire for perfection or to meet expectations of popular society opinion.

Too many people bend in faith, lifestyle and beliefs at the hand of life’s pressures. But we must learn how to exert patience, demonstrate faith and trust that God’s grace will lead us through the pressures that have the potential to overwhelm us.

Remember, Greater is the Spirit of God that dwells within you than he that is in the world. You have the power to remain unmovable and prove victorious under pressure. So, no matter what, don’t fold under pressure

May God Bless You Today,

Aquila Carmon

Welcome to 2022

Welcome to 2022! A New year, New goals, New ideas along with some of us finding New motivation.

I want to encourage you to write your goals down, put them on paper and feed them to yourself every morning like your favorite breakfast food. Keep a consistent check on your progress from week to week making this the best year you’ve had yet.

I believe greater success will be achieved this year. I believe you will exceed health goals, financial goals, spiritual goals and academic goals.

From Hope Builds Legacy we pray for your prosperous and successful year! Let’s put our faith in front of us and move forward!

Aquila T Carmon

Man of Your Word

Recently, a song entitled “Man of Your Word” caught my attention. The writer noted in the lyrics that we have confidence that God will certainly finish what he started. Part of the hook states a simple phrase, “If you said it we believe it.” Over the course of life many of us have been able to attest to the fact that God answers prayers and God, indeed is a faithful way maker.

On the other hand we’ve always had to face times that we weren’t too sure if things would ever change. I wanted to take a moment to encourage your faith today. I believe it’s important to be reminded we are not defined by where we are currently standing. Your NOW is certainly NOT your forever. Your circumstances are not the definition of your life. You not only have the ability to change your current conditions but our God who holds the whole world with omnipotent hands, desires to make you prosper in wealth and health.

John 16:33 says “…In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” Remember that you are an overcomer and The Lord, is what this songs describes as a “man of his word”. I don’t believe this song intends to limit God to what a “man’ can do. But on a human level if a person is referred to as a man of his word, we immediately associate trust and reliability with this person. All the writer is saying is, If God has made you a promise, He will keep the promise. My friend, You are what God says you are!

I pray for your strength today. I pray you are reminded that God is able to do anything but fail. I pray that you are reminded that no matter how much people would like to diminish your value, you know that you are powerful, gifted and unlimited of you can achieve. I pray that you let faith walk before you today. I pray that you speak in faith to every mountain and sea in front of you knowing where you are, is not where you will stay.

Have a Blessed Day,

Aquila T Carmon

Be Resilient, Be Confident

Recently, my wife and I took our twin boys to watch “Tom and Jerry” the Movie for their 8th birthday. All I will say is that I secretly loved it being that I’m and eighties baby was a Saturday morning cartoon kid who once relished in the cartoon for years.

As we watched the movie Tom and Jerry reminded me of a few things that I believe we can take with us through this journey of like. One truth is that we seem to always be faced with situations that we did not see coming. Life presents so many suprises from day to day, week to week and year to year that we have got to learn how to take TKO’s, lose a fight and be willing to get back in the ring for either a rematch or face the next opponent.

Tom, the overconfident cat, becomes outsmarted by Jerry, the mouse, time after time but after decades he came back in a movie to show the world that he would never give up his plight to defeat Jerry. Jerry, as a mouse faces constant rejection simply because of who he is and constantly must defend himself against the enemies that wants to see him destroyed.

Get this though. Tom never comes to a point where he gives up and Jerry never stopped finding small pleasure that he could truly enjoy. Both constantly hit with some hard tests, trials, and hardships but they never gave up, never lost confidence, and kept their joy. Sometimes we have to be a victim of pain, loss and hardship to be built for victory. Sometimes we have to be knocked down to learn how to stand up when we are hit.

My point is we have no idea what is around the corner. Many of us are constantly hit with things we did not expect. This past year we have an added enemy in the form of Covid 19 that has taken family members, friends, caused unemployment, pressed additional stress into the homes of families already doing all they could to hold and stolen the joy and peace of so many people.

We did not see this coming! What I do believe is that through resilience, our ability to press through or bounce back, and the decision to push one more day each day you wake up you will overcome. We will overcome. Do not let the thing we did not see coming dismantle your life to the point that you give up. A house that is torn down can be rebuilt. It may take new wood and nails, but it can be rebuilt. Your life can be rebuilt. It may be in pieces but use what is left starting with the breath in your body and the grace that God has surrounded you with and rebuild.

Internal Wins

This past week a recognition of internal warfare came to my attention. Regarding success and life, I began thinking of where I am versus where I want to be. Internally I have been battling with wondering if I am able to get it all done. The financial goals, health goals, parenting goals, marriage goals, ministry goals and the list just keeps going. I become paramountly aware that the mark has been missed….Or has it??

Did you see that?? This is my battle! One part of me says, Man…. you are way of course. While the other part says, no matter what you have done, look at what you are now doing. You are heading in the right direction!

Frustration sets in while we are contemplating who we are or what we should be accomplishing. Trust me, this is even a problem for people who look like they’re holding it all together. Rich, broke, healthy or not so much, no one is absent of feeling like they have missed the mark or that they have not lived up to a standard. But each of us, despite our current circumstance must keep believing in ourselves. We must believe in ourselves just after failure, in the middle of losing and right after setbacks.

If we are not walking towards purpose or in purpose, we will “feel” lost. But that does not mean we are. There are times I have been driving and thinking I knew where I was going but then I see landmarks that don’t look familiar. So, I’ll turn on the GPS to realize that I’m still on track to my destination. Achieving success is not about a feeling but a conscious decision to keep going!  

Its the reason that Internal faith must be present because our roughest fights are internal. The hardest fights to win start with decisions of discipline such as waking up early, praying daily, exercising, eating healthy, and managing our time well. Too many external battles are lost because we are bleeding out on the internal battlefields.

Take a moment to think. How can “I” be better today and prove to no one but “me” that I am enough. God didn’t create you to be insufficient. You are enough!

Today, because somebody needs your best you, give them your best you!

  1. Have confidence in who you are. And do not let anyone insinuate that you are not enough! You are!
  2. Understand you may not have all the knowledge or skills but giving it attention and consistency will produce success.
  3. Plan your steps. Begin your day with a plan and press through with passion.
  4. Keep your purpose or your why at the forefront of your mind and focus on the actions that will fulfill this.

Have a blessed day  

Aquila T Carmon

Faith In Action

No matter what you call it, “Faith” is the foundational principle of anything that has ever been accomplished. Someone took action because they either knew they could get it done or believed if they tried it was possible.

It’s important to believe in the possibility even if you’re not completely certain of the outcome. The amazing thing about Faith is the ability to be blind to a visible result, yet believe you will see, then taking action to witness the manifestation of it.

I want to encourage you today to move in Faith. God honors faith and will move with you. In Isaiah 45:2 The Lord told Cyrus “I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:”

You see, you aren’t going at it alone. You can’t see how this dream will happen but God is already preparing your future victory. What matters now is converting your faith into action here in the present!

Have Faith Today!