Dorsey Ross Show
Hello, my name is Dorsey Ross, and I am the host of the Dorsey Ross Show. I am a minister and itinerant speaker. I started the Dorsey Ross Show to interview people of faith who have stories of faith and overcoming trials and difficulties. In this podcast, you will hear stories of all kinds. Some will make you laugh, cry, and even say I can connect with that story or that person. I would love to encourage you to check out these stories of faith, encouragement, and inspiration my guests share on the show. I hope these stories give you hope, to get you through your week and your life. Please share them with your family, friends, co-workers, and anyone who needs a little touch of encouragement today.
Dorsey Ross Show
Surrendering Your Finances to the Holy Spirit
What happens when we surrender our finances to God? Author and ministry leader Heather Day reveals transformative insights about breaking free from financial bondage through spiritual alignment.
Heather brings over 20 years of experience working with Christian ministries to this conversation, sharing how her personal journey through financial struggles led to profound spiritual revelations. Drawing from her book "Money and Spirit: Surrendering Our Finances to the Holy Spirit," she reveals how a parking lot prayer during a financial crisis became a turning point that completely changed her relationship with money.
The discussion goes beyond typical financial advice, exploring why Christians often struggle with money despite their faith. Heather unpacks how we frequently use money as a substitute for love, control, peace, and comfort—all things God intended to provide. She challenges the church's tendency to avoid financial discussions despite Jesus frequently addressing money matters, pointing out how this silence keeps many believers trapped in unnecessary financial bondage.
Through powerful personal stories—from her battle with postpartum depression to witnessing her parents' unwavering faith during serious health challenges—Heather demonstrates how authenticity breaks down barriers and creates space for genuine ministry. She emphasizes that financial freedom isn't about wealth accumulation but finding peace regardless of circumstances by recognizing God's ownership of everything.
Whether you're drowning in debt, struggling with unhealthy financial habits, or simply seeking a more spiritually aligned approach to money, Heather's insights offer a refreshing perspective that combines practical wisdom with spiritual depth. Discover how surrendering your finances to the Holy Spirit can transform not just your bank account, but your entire approach to life, bringing the fruits of love, joy, peace, and self-control into your financial journey.
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Hello everyone, thank you again for joining me on another episode of the Dorsu Show. Today we have a special guest with us. Her name is Heather Day. She is an author and ministry leader with over 20 years of experience in marketing communications and non-profit ministry. Haley's marketing for Barnabas Foundation was writing consultation to over 200 Christian ministries. Her book Money and Spirit Surrounding Our Finances to the Holy Spirit explores financial stewardship. She's written content for over 200 non including Christian Leadership Alliances, outcomes magazine, the University Today and Olivia the Magazine. Heather blogs about life, motherhood, marriage and faith-led leadership at HeatherDaynet. A communications and executive MBA graduate from LA Nazarene University, heather currently leads marketing communications for LA Nazarene University and League-like cases. She resides in Illinois with her husband, robert and their children, emma and Jackson. Heather actively participates in her local church as a member, board member and volunteer leader. Heather, thank you so much for coming on the show today.
Speaker 2:Dorsey, thank you for having me. Pleasure to be here, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Well, I'd like to open up with an icebreaker question. Today's icebreaker question is what's your favorite movie and why?
Speaker 2:Oh, my favorite movie. So my favorite movie of all time is the Parent Trap, the original one with Hayley Mills, and Hayley Mills which is playing her own twin. I've watched that dozens of times in my lifetime and it's just a sweet movie and brings back memories of my childhood of watching it and it just makes me happy. I love watching it, okay.
Speaker 1:Tell us about your first journey and how you've grown in your walk with Christ over the years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I was blessed to grow up in a Christian household. My dad is a pastor and my mom also has been in ministry roles right alongside him from the very beginning, so I knew Jesus as a young child. I don't remember a day when I didn't know of the love of Jesus in my life. When I was around eight years old I asked him to be my savior and from that point I felt a call to ministry. I didn't know exactly what that looked like, but in my young girl heart I thought I would be a missionary and I pictured I'd be over in another country doing something crazy for the Lord. And over time I came to realize through my college experience that God had given me gifts, specifically in the field of communication. I see how he has used that. I'm able to work with lots of Christian ministries and I have come to realize that God equips us for the areas where he leads us, that he continues to open doors, and ministry is really just about being available wherever he takes us.
Speaker 1:Right. Can you share a pivotal moment that deeply impacted your faith learning.
Speaker 2:Yeah Gosh, there are so many, it's hard to isolate it down to one. I know that in the last few years in particular, my parents have gone through a lot of health struggles and I have observed both of them, but my dad in particular. On the really hard days where he was in pain and feeling lonely and just where things really looked dark, he continued to shine the love of Jesus to the nurses in his hospital room and God continued to minister to him, and I just took great inspiration from that. I'm not, I'm just realizing, um, god is walking beside us on the days that are hard, and there is no moment, no matter what we're going through, that God can't turn around and use it to minister in the lives of others.
Speaker 1:Amen. How have you seen and you just mentioned a couple one of them there, but how have you seen God work through the struggles of your life? The ministry, whatever you want to talk about?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have.
Speaker 2:So over the years, you know, of course, like anyone else, I have faced a number of struggles, both in my personal life and with my family, whether it's been health-related issues or financial struggles.
Speaker 2:Or there were times where there was a time, at one point, where I lost a job and just felt like really was reeling around figuring out my identity and what's next and what is my contribution to this world, and I found that it was often in the darkest times where I sensed God's presence the most. It was often in the darkest times where I sensed God's presence the most, and sometimes that looked like just being aware of his peace and comfort in those moments. That was unexplainable, but it also came in the form of his people that just were obedient and ministered to me in ways and said things to me that they didn't even realize the significance of what they were saying at the time, but I knew that it was. I've heard somebody call it a God wink. That God was, you know, showing up in my life and working through the people and his people that just were obedient to minister to me in my time of need.
Speaker 1:Tell us about some of the writings that you have done, especially the personal stories, authenticity that you write about, and why is that so important to you?
Speaker 2:I think that actually, one of the things that I have dealt with personally is after my first child was born, I went through postpartum depression. After my first child was born, I went through postpartum depression and I think that one of the things that was the hardest at that moment was feeling like I was all alone and that I was unique in my struggle and that nobody could understand. And I remember how freeing it was when I finally had the courage to talk about it with a close friend and she experienced that she had gone through that too in her life and I realized that, like, sometimes we're so careful to guard pain and our struggles that we don't, um, we aren't able to process that with other people, but also we're cheating uh, cheating others of the opportunity to minister to them. The more real we can be and the more that we could talk about our stories and how we've seen God at work in our lives, the more like people connect with stories. People connect with real.
Speaker 2:You know, on my, on my blog and in my book I tell stories that are sometimes not very flattering of myself, where I just admit you know silly things that I've done or things that weren't you know kind of boneheaded decisions. But, but I really, but in those ways, when we're authentic, it breaks down walls where other people feel like they can be safe and talk with you as well. When we put up a guard where we pretend we've got it all together, that we know everything we need to know, it makes people more apprehensive about being real with us. So authenticity breaks down those walls and ministers in a way that fakeness just can't.
Speaker 1:I think how did you get involved with writing, but also with the financial aspect of your writing as well? How did you combine the two of those together?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so writing has been something that I've done since I was a little girl. Of course it looked completely different, but I just always love to tell stories and write those kind of things and, as I said, I had ideas of how God might use me, but I realized that he planted those loves and skills early in my life, that I could start using writing for my work. So over time I've written about a lot of different things. I've written content about organizations, but about three years ago I worked for an organization called Barnabas Foundation and we started talking and praying about how we could serve churches and Christians more effectively.
Speaker 2:And one of the things that we talked about was how people are often in financial bondage. Where they are just, they're consumed, whether it's through debt or whether they're agreed or just worry and fears that there are lots of people under the bondage of money. And that resonated with my personal story, because I remembered a time early in my marriage with my husband where we were just. We were up to our eyeballs in debt and were overwhelmed and didn't know what to do, and we had this really profound moment in the parking lot of a restaurant where we just came to a head and we prayed. You know, god, we've made a mess of things, we don't know what to. Can you help us out?
Speaker 2:And we literally walked into restaurant and and, um, and a friend of mine was there and talked about how he had just come from a financial peace uh workshop and how it was the best thing he'd ever done. And it was just this crazy moment of like surrendering what was overwhelming us and surrendering it to God and watching how he not only cared about it but put a solution right in front of us. And it wasn't like things changed overnight. We had to do a lot of hard work and be faithful in the small things and go back to the basics, but we found that by surrendering our worries and what was holding us bondage, by surrendering that to God, he could work in our lives. So that was really the genesis of this book, was just this thought of like what does it look like to surrender our finances to the work of the Holy Spirit and see what he might do through that? So that's really what the book is about.
Speaker 1:Why do you think so many, especially us as Christians? Why do you think we struggle with money and you know dealing with, you know whatever it be, you know, like you said, greed or debt and whatnot. Why do you think we deal with it so much?
Speaker 2:I think it deals. It's a symptom of our nature to have misplaced priorities and try to replace what God is there for, replace it with things and with objects. And so we look at like money. We use it as to fill the void of a lack of a love or affection in our life. We try to buy those things, or we want to have greater control in our life. Try to buy those things, or we want to have greater control in our life, so we want to amass money to make sure that we're in control of things. We want to have peace, so we start stockpiling things. And money was never meant to be our source of love or joy, peace or comfort or control. Those are all things that God wants. And so we struggle because we always have that battle within ourselves of trying to take control and do things our own way, and money just happens to be a really easy one to slip into that battle.
Speaker 1:Christian. We encourage Christians to keep the focus on you know Christ and you know. Let him, like you said, let him be your source of peace and your source of comfort and not have it be. You know their finances, or what money they have in the bank, or you know whether it's a lot or a little. You know how would you encourage them?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would say it starts with recognizing money's proper place in our life, that it's a gift or a tool that God gives us in different amounts, just like he gives any other gift. But it was just a gift to be used for his glory, not to be the object of our affection. God wants that place in our heart of first priority, and so getting our finances in order, like anything else, if I were struggling with an addiction or if I were struggling with a health issue, whatever the case might be it starts with saying God, how do you want to work in this? And I give this over to you. So getting our monies in our proper place starts with putting God in his proper place, which is number one in our lives, and then from there he can do amazing things that will allow him.
Speaker 1:And I think you're right and we actually, you know, obviously we need to put God in our proper place. We, when we do that and we have them in there for a long time, we sometimes, you know, let it slip and then put whatever you know, whether it's money or, you know, a new house or new car, whatever we sometimes put you know, forget about that and put that you know above.
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, and it's an ongoing struggle. My, my husband used the analogy. I really liked this analogy. He gave like sometimes, like he's been on weight loss journeys where he's tried to lose weight and then he'll have a day where he eats too much and he's like, oh, I wrecked everything, I'm just going to eat everything, say, and I'm done with my diet. That's not productive and not healthy.
Speaker 2:When we mess up, we get up and we make things right and we start again. And so when we find ourselves slipping into those old patterns of putting God out of the right place or elevating money above where it should be, first of all, we have to catch that and recognize that. We don't have to say I've messed up, I'll never be able to handle this. We can say you know what I messed up, but this is just a little trip on my journey. I'm going to pick up, I'm going to stand up and I'm going to surrender it to God again. Keep going. One of the common themes in the book is that this is a constant journey of surrender. We don't just say one time to God you can have my all, and we never, we never go through that again. Surrender is a daily, if not hourly, if not minute by minute, acknowledgement of I need you, god, I can't do this on my own. Lead me how you want me to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you just mentioned the book that you wrote, and it's called Money and Spirit. Tell us about the book. What is it about and what made you like the book?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So Money and Spirit is all about this daily journey of surrender and what it looks like in our finances. It is something that can be read as an individual, but it's also got discussion questions in there where you can go through it with your spouse or a friend or a loved one, or even a small group. I've just done a Bible study at my church, but the whole premise of it is that if we will surrender our finances to the Lord and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can start to experience what the fruit of the Spirit looks like in our finances and how we manage and think about money.
Speaker 2:So, for example, what does it look like if we look at our money through the? What does it look like if we look at our money through the? What does it look like to have the fruit of love in our finances, where we look at our money as a way to show love and to receive God's love? What does it mean to have peace and joy and self-control and gentleness and kindness and all the fruits of the spirit? So that's really what this book is about. It's not a guidebook of tips and techniques although you find a few references here and there but it's more about getting our heart right, because we're recognizing that true change starts when we allow the Holy Spirit to change us from the inside.
Speaker 1:Can you go into a little bit more detail about connecting the spiritual and the financial in your book.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I wholeheartedly believe that money is spiritual. We've treated it as this taboo word and things we don't want to talk about in the church, but Jesus talked about money a lot and that's because he recognized that this is something that tends to get a grip on us. So it is a spiritual issue because when we have financial issues, it's a symptom of much troubling underlying cause of greed and misplaced priorities and not following the Lord's leading. This book is not a make no mistake. It's not a get rich scheme. Like you know, you can follow the Holy Spirit's leading and still be poor. But it's about finding peace and joy and self-control with as little or as much as we have, recognizing that God owns it all and being faithful for what he wants us to do with it.
Speaker 1:You know you mentioned it in the beginning of your answer to the last question there about talking about money, and it's almost like a taboo subject when it comes to talking about it in the church. Yes, why do you? I mean, we talk about tithing, we talk about giving offerings to the church but that's about it.
Speaker 2:Why do you think that is? I think it's for a few different reasons. One I think that we think it's too personal. I would never walk up to a friend and say how much do you make. So we treat money as very deeply personal and we don't talk about it. We don't talk about how much debt is on our credit cards. We see this as deeply personal. So I think that's one issue.
Speaker 2:But then also, because it tends to get a grip on our hearts, we feel like our toes are being stepped on anytime money is mentioned, like how dare you judge how I use what's mine, you know? So I think it's taboo for that. And then you know. And then another reason I think it's taboo in the church is there a lot of for good reason, there's a lot of um, sensitivity, people uh, we've watched pastors that have preached from the pulpit and misused finances, and so I think we're hesitant to talk about money because we don't want to be perceived as after people's money that are going to the church. So we just don't talk about it. But the problem in not talking about it is that people are weighed down by heavily and they're in bondage and we're not talking about the topic that is their greatest struggle. So we're missing out on an opportunity as a church to meet the needs of those who are really struggling with. Where do I go from here?
Speaker 1:Going back to your book for a minute. Was there a particular moment or experience that spurred you writing the book?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we had a meeting here in the office where we were talking about how to help our churches. We work with a lot of churches and ministries at Barnabas Foundation and so we were talking about all these different ideas and we, legitimately, were stuck. It was one of those meetings where we were talking in circles and weren't sure where to go from there, and so my boss, who is a deeply spiritual man like he lives out the walk of faith like stopped the meeting and said let's just pray about this. And he started praying God, guide us to the right resource and what is ours to do to help the church. And it was really out of that that the idea formed about starting to work on this. It started as a Bible study and eventually became a book, but it came out of that. It was really born out of prayer and out of getting out of the way. We're not going to push our ideas God, what do you want us to do? And out of that conversation, then that prayer is where this idea from the book came.
Speaker 1:Your book begins with a story about a public battle of wills yes, public battle of wills with your preschoolers. How does that experience reflect? How?
Speaker 2:we often view and manage our money. Okay. So I tell this story at the beginning of the book. He's 13 now, but at the time he was three years old and we were at Disney World supposedly the happiest place on earth and he was just tired and sunburned and not his best self and he was just having. We had this whole battle of he wanted to go. I don't even remember what it was all about. It's probably like I told him he couldn't have a cookie or like that. Who knows what the subject was.
Speaker 2:But he really was digging his feet in, like he was determined to do things his own way, and I just kept saying, jackson, if you'll just listen to me, we can get on with our day and go do something fun. But he was so set on his own way and doing things his way that we spent a good 45 minutes to an hour just in meltdown mode and missing out on all the fun that we could be doing. And I talk about in the book how you know we're just we're just adult versions of that strong-willed toddler. We often so set on doing things our own way and we're thrown these you know adult-like tantrums to God of I want control and I want to do things my way and I know what's best. And meanwhile God is saying if you'll just listen to me and do the things that I want, would see that I have what's best for you in mind and there's joy and there's fun and there's fulfillment just around the corner If you can just get out of your own way of trying to do things your way.
Speaker 1:Right. What does it look like to find peace and glory, regardless of our circumstances?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like I said, I have met Christians. I did a trip to India and I met faithful Christians there who literally had nothing, you know, just enough for survival. And I've also met very wealthy people who and we've seen them in public figures who just can't seem to find fulfillment, no matter how much money or stuff they have. And so I truly believe that joy and peace has nothing to do with our bank account or how much or little we have. Joy and peace is recognizing that God is our provider. He leads us beside still waters, he provides just what we need at just the right time, and we truly embrace that and accept that we can have joy regardless of how much or how little we have.
Speaker 1:How do you hope the mentions of your book will impact readings in the long term?
Speaker 2:My hope is that this book will get into the hands of those who feel like they have no hope, that they are just stuck, that are just really struggling and they're in bondage of finances for whatever reason, and my hope is that they will recognize that God wants to deliver them from that and bring them peace and freedom.
Speaker 1:For those who might feel overwhelmed or unsure about their financial situation what small, what one small but thoughtful step they can take to begin aligning their finances with their values.
Speaker 2:Well, first of all, I've been there. You know, I talk about that moment that my husband and I prayed and we were just at our wits end, didn't know what to do. It starts with acknowledging that there's a problem and inviting God to be part of it. So just inviting God's work in our life and surrendering it Sorry, swither, you don't have to have all the answers just asking him to be part of it.
Speaker 1:Did you experience any personal or unexpected revelations while writing this book, and can you share one that stood out?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I was writing this book in real time, living real life as a wife and mother, and one of the realizations I had while working on this book is just a reminder that this is a daily struggle and that even that we're not on the other side of. I figured everything out now and I never make mistakes, but even as I was writing this book, there were new temptations and new struggles and new things that would come up along the way. So again, it was just a realization that it had to be a daily surrender, it had to be ongoing thing. There's not a I have arrived and now I figured it all out. I have to keep coming back to God and surrendering that to him over and over again.
Speaker 1:As we get to the end here, I always like to ask my guests what's one word of encouragement or one word of knowledge like to give my audience.
Speaker 2:I would just like you to know that God loves you and he cares deeply for you, and there is nothing going on in your life that he is not aware of and that he doesn't want to be part of. He is our source of strength, he is our source of comfort, and you don't have to walk this journey alone. He wants to walk it with you. So I would just encourage you to recognize that the God who loves you deeply wants to walk daily with you. Amen.
Speaker 1:Well, heather, thank you so much for coming on the show today. We greatly appreciate having you. Thank you so much. And where again can people pick up your book? And even if they want to check out your writings and your blog and everything, where can they find that?
Speaker 2:Yes, I blog semi-regularly at HeatherDaynet. Just simple spelling Heather Day like opposite of night dot net. You can also look for me on Facebook. Heather M Day.
Speaker 1:Again. Thank you again for coming on and we greatly appreciate having you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I really appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 1:Guys and girls, thank you so much for coming on and for listening today. We greatly appreciate having you to listen and to be inspired and be encouraged about this topic. And please go and check out Heather's information and her book. And please go and check out my website at wwwdorseyroastshowcom. And until next time, god bless, bye-bye.
