Abundance in the Midst of Scarcity!

I look all around me and see such abundance. It's everywhere! All you have to do is open your eyes and look.

So in the midst of the 2020 Coronavirus panic and the dire predictions of gloom and doom and failed economy, etc, what should be our posture? How should you and I position ourselves as entrepreneurs? And how should we be thinking as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ?

It's really all about mindset. You can either see abundance or you can see scarcity and the choice is really up to each one of us.

As I thought about writing this blog post, a story from II Kings, chapters 6 and 7 came to mind. (Because everything I do goes through the grid of my faith.) I had to go back and read it to refresh my memory. Go ahead and find a Bible and do the same because this story will encourage you.

The story begins in II Kings 6:24 (NIV - New International Version).

24 Some time later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. 25 There was a great famine in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter of a cab of seed pods for five shekels.

The city of Samaria, under the king of Israel, was under siege from the Arameans led by Ben-Hadad their king. The situation was so dire that the people were killing and eating their own children. The king of Israel began to blame all the trouble on God and on His prophet Elisha. In verse 33, this is what he says:

The king said, “This disaster is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

Isn't that so typical of all of us in the midst of difficulty? We normally look for someone to blame.

But in spite of all of this unbelief, scarcity and despair, the prophet Elisha responds with this in verse 1 of chapter 7:

Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.” 

Since the king had given up on getting any help from the Lord, you can just imagine how little hope and little faith the people had! In fact, this is what the king's officer said:

2 The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?”

“You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!”

What can we learn from this? For one thing, we need to be able to see beyond the scarcity and adversity and with the eyes of faith, look to see what God is doing. None of this current situation with the coronavirus took Him by surprise, just like none of what happened during this siege was unknown to Him. We have to trust in the promises that He made to us. He is the one whose name is Healer, whose name is Provider, whose name is I AM. He is the one we need. And in Him is abundance!

The rest of the story is pretty remarkable - almost unbelievable. God used 5 lepers who were starving to step out in faith and go to the camp of the enemy. They were starving anyway, so why not take their chances and maybe find some food. What they found instead was an empty enemy camp. The Lord had routed the enemy and they had fled in terror and haste.

Even the king didn't believe it when the lepers came to the palace with the good news. After he checked out the story by sending 5 men out to see what had happened, the whole city rejoiced. The abundance in the enemy's camp was so great that there was plenty for everyone.

When Elisha said there would be abundance, this was what the king's officer had said (and the Bible repeats the earlier conversation:

19 The officer had said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” 

Wow! What unbelief! Here is the end of the story:

The man of God had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!” 20 And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

Our God is the God of abundance and of provision. His ways of providing for us and for all those who trust in Him are often beyond our understanding. And His timing is His alone. I'm sure He could have orchestrated all of these circumstances sooner, if that had been His plan.

God is still on His throne. I, for one, am looking forward to the great good God is going to bring forth through this world wide Coronavirus pandemic.

What mindset are you choosing to have? That of faith? Or that of unbelief? Are you trusting or are you casting blame?

Blessings,
Sharon Reece

P.S. If you're looking for a way to create residual cash flow that can literally be God's provision for you no matter if you lose your job, have a health crisis or whatever, click here for more information. I'd love to show you how.

Poverty Mindset to Residual Cash Flow

Many years ago I was introduced to a concept that gave me tingles of excitement and sleepless nights!

Can you guess what that concept was?

It was the concept of exponential growth resulting in residual cash flow.

Summed up in one phrase, it was my introduction to network marketing.

The whole idea was completely new to me back in the 90's and I just couldn't imagine why everyone didn't embrace this business model. It was the most logical idea I had ever heard in my 40+ years of life. Not only that, but I wondered why no one had ever taken the time to show me this business model sooner.

You must understand a little about me and my background. I grew up with an intense poverty mindset. I was very embarrassed when I was in my teens that our family was on welfare and had to go to the county seat once a month to pick up "groceries!" The only problem was that most of what we received was not the kind of food that was part of our normal diet. Peanut butter (none of us liked peanut butter sandwiches), dried beans (which my mother never did figure out how to make so that they were palatable), powdered milk (yuck!), etc. I don't even remember if there was a single desirable food item among all of those "groceries" but I assume we must have received some useful things or my dad wouldn't have continued to go and get them.

I was 2nd oldest of 8 children so everything I owned was either passed on to me from my older sister or other relatives or friends, or was made by my mother. My most outstanding memory was the yellow and black dress she made for me that was so ugly I could hardly bear it. Yellow is not my color - never has been and never will be! When I took Home Economics class in Junior High, I began to make my own clothes so I had a few things that were new - but never store bought.

Christmas was always a disappointment as there was never enough to go around and I felt like I was always slighted on the gift end. But I tried my best to help make sure my younger siblings never felt that way.

Fortunately we had a garden and I loved gardening, as did my mother. It was a great gift to me when we had enough strawberries and/or raspberries for ourselves and to sell to our neighbors. She would let me keep half the earnings from the berries in exchange for doing the backbreaking work of picking them. I also managed to earn a small amount of spending money from babysitting, but most of it I put into a savings account to use for college. I was determined to go to college from the time I was little. And, thanks to a need-based scholarship and my good grades, I was able to graduate from the University of Wisconsin with no school debt. That in itself was miraculous!

Everything was a struggle! Can you relate? The struggle sucks, doesn't it?!

I had such a poverty mindset, that I felt completely and totally inferior to everyone around me. I buried myself in books, but was careful to only read the ones that were on at least 2 of the 3 college bound recommended reading lists I had acquired from somewhere. I was the ultimate introvert.

So you can only imagine how amazing network marketing and residual cash flow sounded to me!

But it was a struggle, too. There were years of marginal success, but I always believed and knew deep down inside that it was worth doing! Slowly but surely over the years, my mindset changed. And my actions changed until last spring, my husband and I achieved a rank in our company that was worth recognition. Much of that was due to the belief and mentoring poured into us by our good friend, sponsor and mentor, Tim Darnell. Tim has written several books including 10 Secrets for Network Marketing Success, BOMBSHELL - Recruiting on Autopilot, and Facebook Ads Authority. He has been an entrepreneur all his life and has achieved great success in network marketing. His desire is to provide a system for others to achieve success as well, without all the struggle. And his insights were critical to enabling me to get rid of the poverty mindset. 

In addition, it helped immensely that we were not willing to give up - ever!

Now more than ever in these uncertain times, RESIDUAL CASH FLOW (RCF), is priceless. It is income that continues to be added to my bank account regardless of how many hours I work in a particular week, and it is the one type of income that is there even in times of distress and calamity. It does not involve trading hours for dollars, but rather involves putting in the work (and it does take work) to receive the rewards over and over and over again.

I knew there was a reason this kept me awake at night!

P.S. If you're tired of the struggle and would like more information so that you can begin to create your own Residual Cash Flow, just click on this link. It's never too late!