Wow! If you missed the Town Hall for Hope tonight, you really missed out!
If you've spent any time at all on this blog, you know good and well that I'm a big fan of Dave Ramsey. I've listened to him countless times on the radio, watched some of his television show on Hulu, read his books, gone through Financial Peace University twice, attended two of his live events, and even met him in person (okay, so it was all of about thirty seconds at a book signing, but I have shaken his hand and had my picture taken with him and his wife!).
So, I was expecting tonight to be good. But it far exceeded my imaginations. In fact, Dave's message of hope and personal responsibility was an out-of-the-park home run!
I could write twenty different lengthy blog posts on things he shared tonight, and maybe you'll see some of those over the next few weeks and months. The biggest takeaway from tonight for me was the reminder that change begins with me.
It's easy to want to blame others for our failures and mistakes, but we need to own up to our own actions and take personal responsibility for them. We need to stop expecting hand-outs or expecting the government to be the solution. Change begins with me.
I read a book earlier this week called Do Hard Things and one of the quotes from that book really stuck out to me: "What each of us will become later in life largely depends on what we become now."
What are you doing now to be where you want to be next year or in five years or in twenty-five years? Don't just wait around for a lightning bolt to strike you and change your life. Start setting goals, start taking steps, and start seeing results. Change begins with you.
Stop participating in this recession by letting the fear-mongering talking heads bring you down. Get up and get busy living your life, pursuing your goals, and making a difference in your future and in the lives of those around you.
And remember, that the greatest hope and change you can ever have is found in Jesus Christ.
**************************
If you missed tonight's broadcast, you can read Passionate Homemaker's live-blogged post here. Also, be sure to check out the Three Things You Can Do to Choose to Commit to Hope.