Money

Ever since I started my entrepreneurship class this semester, the things that have been weighing on my mind have been addressed in my reading and preparation for the week.  Last week, it was relationships and life/work balance.  This week it’s about money.  Ever since my husband moved out a few weeks ago, my mind has been swirling with different plans for the various scenarios that may be facing us (aka, my mind has chewed through it’s leash again and is on the loose).  All of the various scenarios that don’t include my husband and I living happily ever after have me worried about one thing.  Money.

I’ve learned a lot about alimony and child support over the last few weeks and one thing is for sure:  Being a single mom sucks.  I find myself in a position in which I need to figure out how to turn a part-time, it-doesn’t-really-matter-if-I-make-any-money-or-not-because-I-love-doing-it-anyway, hobby, into something that I can use to support myself and my children.  This is not going to be an easy feat.  Because, while I am a talented, intelligent woman, who is a quick learner, and has a plethora of marketable skills, I also have no degree, and no workplace experience within the last 15 years.

So what is there for me to do?  Do something that this stay-at-home-of-six-homeschooling-mom-for-eight-years-motherhood-is-the-very-best-thing-in-the-world woman never thought she would say.

I need to focus on my career.

Yuck.

Now, before you all dismiss me, I should let you in on a little secret.  Just over a year ago, Matt and I were taking a family walk and I was telling him about my ideas for my photography business.  I remember holding his hand, and saying, “I don’t know why, but I feel like I have to make this work.  The Lord is telling me that, for whatever reason, I need to be able to take care of our family.”

At the time I thought maybe Matt would get in an accident and wouldn’t be able to work anymore, or, heaven forbid, I would be a widow.  I never once thought that I would need to support my family because of separation or divorce, but that’s where I find myself.

Ugh.

Anyway, as I was reading my assignments this week, these rules for prosperity caught my eye:

1. Seek the Lord and have hope in him
2. Keep the commandments, that includes the temporal ones, tithing and fast offerings.
3. Think about money and plan how you can become self-reliant.
4. Take advantage of chances for learning so you will not be ignorant of these matters. Education, as President Hinckley has taught us, is the Key to Opportunity.
5. Learn the laws upon which the blessings of wealth are predicated.
6. Do not send away the naked, the hungry, the thirsty or the sick or those who are held captive.

I pray the Lord will continue to lead me in the way that He wants me to go and show me how I can use my skills to support my kids and eventually (hopefully before too long) prosper.