How do you balance finances and your business, as Christian women?
A question we have heard a lot over the years is how we handle our spiritual life while running a business. Does money and our christianity clash? Do we clash, as two followers of Jesus, over the topic of money, profit, and income?
While this hasn’t been the easiest road to maneuver, it has not exactly been an issue between us as partners either, or between us and our relationships with God. In fact, if we have to admit anything, it would be that our hearts for charity have taken over in quite a few cases. It is far too easy to just give away our services, in a sense. Maybe we feel bad for our client, feel guilty that our client thinks our prices are too high, or feel like we are not being the best witness we could be for Christ. So we give.
We have learned a lot through this journey…what it means to be stewarding our money, to be wise, to be kind, to be discerning. Our husbands have both helped us a lot – we hear this phrase often, “You are running a business, not a hobby.” In fact, we have grown more wise in our finances in the past 2-3 years of being married to Michael & Eli, then in the 4 years prior. How true they are. A hobby is doing something for fun and just giving of our talents, and while this is great and wonderful and we love the feeling of giving to those we love, it’s also not doable as individuals in society. If we continued down this path, we would be making zero profit, and in turn, be paying for our bride’s wedding invitations, costing our husbands money, and eventually lose the joy in the work that we do.
While Jesus wants us to be cheerful givers, and to be charitable always, He also calls us to be good stewards of our money and our businesses. The Proverbs 31 woman herself, makes goods with her hands, and then sells them.
“She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.” Proverbs 31:24
Don’t take us wrong – our first and ultimate goal with East to West is to share the joy of Christ, to be a witness, to show others just how wonderful it is to walk with Jesus. We have since learned that we can still do that, even if a perspective client turns us down because of cost, even if we do not make the profit we were aiming for at the end of the month. If we keep the joy of Christ first, this will not only be shown in our work and our words and our interactions with people, but it will also carry us through the season where the business is just a ‘hobby’. We give as we feel led, we love everyone we come in contact with, and we pray that East to West can glorify Christ through not only our work, but also our finances.
XOXO
