‘Secret to Surviving Economy’

Cheryle M. Touchton lost her 200K executive position when the dot.com bubble burst. Now her husband's severance pay is being depleted as they try to sell their second home and make repairs from tropical storm damage.

But the director of Pocket Full of Change Ministries, refuses to whine. Instead she provides a helpful and hopeful article: "The Secret To Surviving the Economy."

Touchton draws heavily on God's promise from Jeremiah 29:11-12: “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Although she doesn't mention it, that Scripture was given to the Hebrews before they were taken into Babylonian captivity! Not a good time economically.)

Meanwhile, my friend, Keith Drury has a prophetic look at what Christians can anticipate during months and years to come: What Will Happen in the Church If We Experience a Deep Recession (or Mild Depression) and What a Severe Recession Means to Boomer Pastors.

And you can't go wrong with what Jesus said about tough economic times.

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Comments (14)

Very appropriate observations. After 20 years as a professional journalist, I was "downsized" a few months ago, and recently presented my master's degree resume to get a part-time private security job...

God is providing, and it has given me more time for volunteer ministry in my church. Brother Keith would be happy to know that I do not at present feel called to try to get paid for my ministry work. : )
Only in America can someone with a $200,000/year executive position, a husband with severance pay (unheard of in 99% of the world!) and a SECOND HOME consider it news that we have to lean on God for our everything. I don't want to play class warfare, though.

I'd rather focus on her HORRIBLE misapplication of Jeremiah 29:11–12. If she wants the promises of the OT, she'd better be ready to comply with the requirements of the OT! Further, if I hear one more message that tinkers with (or states outright) the idea that "God had plans for the people of America and America did have a future"... I don't know what I'll do. Seriously, what is that all about? Is that the depths to which our rigorous study of Scripture has sunk, that we think God wants to prosper America because it says so right there in Jeremiah?

"After all, even in the Great Depression, unemployment was only at 25%. God can help us stay on the good side of any statistic." For someone attempting to explain how to rely on God in the midst of troubles, she sure seems in a hurry to get through the trouble, or to have at least a mild *expectation* that "God can help us stay on the good side of any statistic." OR God can let you stay unemployed for years and years. Or God can allow that drunk driver to run down your family one night. THEN what shall we say?

God does not rescue us from our financial problems because of some promise He gave to ISRAEL or because He feels bad that we don't have big, fat bank accounts anymore. She gets it right that we need to lean on God, but not so that He can get us through this economic recession. He doesn't care about economies of money; He cares about economies of souls.

I lean on Him because HE IS GOD, though He may slay me.
Yes, I think Keith Drury has a much better take. We are going to worry. Worrying about how to pay the bills is no different than worrying about a drought when all human activity was agricultural. And God will do what God chooses to do, but it won't be a neat little package wrapped up with a bow. The possibilities of people turning to churches closer to home, rather than driving tens of miles to be at the hottest or largest church with the pastor on TV the mostest is quite attractive. Plus, daring to point out that churches have been part of the credit bubble and the real estate bubble -- imagine churches retrenching and focusing on people and a soft, spiritual sort of praise that isn't show business? But any rabbi will tell you, Jeremiah was prophesying for Israel, or actually, for Judah, since Israel was off the map. He wasn't promising financial benefits for 21st century gentiles across the Atlantic.
If you live in the world you worry about money,
If you live with our Lord you know he takes care of all,
What is there to worry about or talk about?
Only the truths of Jesus Christ our Lord is needed to spoken about.
Move from the world to God and have more riches then all the world!
When one door closes another opens and gives you another perspective on life. I've had many jobs in my life and survived them all so far. When you think that the job or money is more important than what you do for your family and others, then you have a problem. I have on occasion stood in my driveway and prayed that somehow I would get a new job or another job and it seems to always come out. I also find that people whom I really didn't know were helping me to either transend or acquire a new position or job, because they cared about their fellow man. Sometimes He moves us to other places so that what we can show Christs' example to the ones that need it. Don't worry and if you don't believe me look at Matthew 6: 25. In God's Grace John
I think that we need to just take Jesus by the hand and just trust Him daily.
Jesus is the answer to economy. I really love that scripture, Jer. 29:11
It is my srcipture to hold on to through this very difficult time.

Thanks Kasandra
Thomas (18:08:47) :

It is no wonder that the USA is in the mess it is in. We have taken GOD out of our schools, We can’t pray at football games or any other sport, They want to do away with ” in GOD we trust” on our money, We can’t say the pledge of allegiance any more, and in most parts we lost the family values that most of us had when we were kids, like families sitting down to dinner every night, and getting on our knees and praying before bed, and saying grace when we eat. So I know that I trust in my great LORD and have full FAITH in him and all will be OK. My life was built in great soil and my kids are living the same way.
What alternative USA do you live in? Who can't say the pledge of allegiance any more? (I personally do not join in reciting it, because I believe it violates the Second Commandment to do so, but I hear it at the opening of my local union meeting, gatherings at the Boys and Girls Club, and so many other events.) What "They" want to do away with "in God we trust" on our money, and how much progress are they making? It was still on the Almighty Dollar last I looked, perhaps more than the dollar deserves. By the way, that wasn't on our money for the first 100 years of our history. If you want to pray at a football game, do so. I have seen countless games that open with a prayer, but if some don't want that, it doesn't stop you from praying. And, as for taking God out of our schools, what kind of omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient being is this who is present everywhere in a universe 26 billion light years across, and growing, EXCEPT for certain brick buildings on a certain planet where some puny hairless bipeds forbid him??? But I agree about families sitting down to dinner every night. We need to get back to that custom, which has been abandoned, not because of government decisions, but because individuals are busy chasing after extra jobs, money, activities, etc. and don't take time to sit down as a family. But I bet thousands could respond "Our family does, why doesn't yours?"
I don't know what state you live in but in CA they did away with saying any kind of prayer at any school football games. My kids cannot say the pledge of alliance at school. As for the money, They made a new dollar coin that took off "In God we trust. I do sit down with my family and pray and eat dinner every night. So before you write me telling me that these things have not been done please do some checking. I do live in the great USA and I am a disabled vet. My oldest son who has spent 3 tours fighting for these rights that we all have. So please do some checking.


Trust in the Lord ,  He always comes First.
The lack of "In God We Trust" on the one dollar coin is a bit of an urban myth. Some of the first coins didn't have it inscribed on the side like it was supposed to. It was apparently an error on the mints part.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17...

Here are the mint standards for the dollar coin. In 2009, "in God We Trust" will go from being on the side to being on the face.

http://www.usmint.gov/pressroo...

I hope this helps.
Jerod I am sorry if I offended you with any part of my opinion. I am a US citizen and my son and I did our part for this great country we live in. That is why I give my opinion on matters that mean something to me. Like I said I am sorry if I offended you. This is such a small matter to be writing back and forth over. If I made a mistake then I am sorry. Life is to short for little misunderstandings. I love my GOD and my country. But my GOD and my family will always come first. have a great day and a good thanksgiving.


Trust in the Lord ,  He always comes First.
I wasn't offended at all. Sorry if it came out that way.

I just wanted to present that stuff to help out with your conversation.

Thanks for being a part of this community.

I'm sort of editing my intended response as I go along, in light of your discussion with Jerod. Now my next sentence isn't because anyone has made "a mistake," but because many Christians seem, in all sincerity, to get emotionally wrapped up in urban legends. I haven't gotten my hands on every dollar coin ever issued, but I checked every bill and coin in my pocket, including several $1 bills, the "new" $20 bill, two $5 bills, a $10 bill, old and new nickels, a quarter, several pennies... they ALL have "In God We Trust" on them. Personally, I don't care if it's there or not, render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God what is God's. I don't rely on seeing slogans on the coin of Mammon to reassure me in my faith. But why all this moaning and groaning that its not there, when it IS? Kids in California cannot say the pledge of allegiance? As I recall, Michael Newdow's supercilious (and ultimately unsuccessful) little lawsuit began with the fact that his daughter in a school district near Sacramento WAS saying the Pledge of Allegiance in school every day! I bet they still recite it in Kern County, probably Tehama, likely in Shasta. I live in Wisconsin, a state not located on either left coast, although our rural counties voted for Barack Obama as heavily as our urban ones. EVERY public event I've seen or heard of, including school days, begins with the Pledge of Allegiance. Again, I don't really care, I would rather not see the Holy Name of God profaned by insertion into a mere patriotic verse, but what motivates all this bewailing that its not there, when it IS? I expect that football games are all over the map, from one school to another and one county to another and one state to another, but exactly which "they" did away with saying any kind of prayer at any football game in the state of California? So much of this sounds like someone saw something in an email broadcast by someone who heard something on the radio from someone who got a phone call from someone who picked up a leaflet printed by someone who read an email from someone who heard it on the radio... You are the world's foremost expert on whether you sit down with your family and pray and eat dinner together every night, and God bless you for it, but the rest of this needs some details to check. Why do Christians pick up on these stories? Try church attendance figures... those are real, and they are not government controlled. Church attendance, or staying away, is strictly voluntary. Now that would be something to work on, if anyone knows a way.
For what it's worth (not much, I'd wager), my son says the Pledge of Allegiance every day in his second period health class. He attends a public high school in California, Los Angeles County.

Not only is it not illegal, it's compulsory in his class.

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