The Ramsey Show - App - A Message of Hope Series: Anthony ONeal

Episode Date: April 7, 2020

It’s scary out there, but hope is greater than fear. In times of crisis, facts are your friends. So get the facts and other common sense guidance on life and money from thought leaders Dave Ramsey, Ken Coleman, Rachel Cruze, Chris Hogan, Christy Wright, Anthony ONeal and John Delony. Get a FREE trial of our life-changing Financial Peace University today: https://bit.ly/3dFT7ir  daveramsey.com/hope

My name is Anthony O'Neill, Ramsey Personality. A lot of us are unfortunately living in dark times right now. And the truth is, we need a light to give us hope. It was about a week ago, and I decided to go running on this one particular night because unfortunately, with everything going on today, our gyms are closed. And if you follow me, you already know that I enjoy going to the gym. I enjoy making sure that my body is healthy. And so on this one particular night, normally it is well lit because cars are driving on the road. There's really no light poles out there. But on this particular night, there were no cars. I'm on the street and I'm running

and I'm like, okay at first. But then I started noticing it's really dark out here. And I started getting scared because I noticed that it's really dark. The possibilities that a car could come down the road and not see me and possibly hit me scared me. The possibilities that someone could be just down the road and they can see me scared me. All these what ifs because I'm surrounded by darkness started taking over my mind to where I couldn't even focus on what I was doing, which was running. My mile pace went from running about 10 minutes to about 18 minutes because I'm so focused on what's around me, which is darkness. All of a sudden, I saw this small thing. And this thing was a light.

And I was like, yo, that's light. And I started speeding up because I'm getting excited. I'm about to get out of darkness and get surrounded by light. And when I got there, I still saw darkness, but check this out. I was surrounded by the light. And right now, this world needs you and I to be the light. More importantly, your family, your loved ones, your friends, your peers, our loved ones need us to be the light during these dark times. And I know you and I can. So last week you had the opportunity to hear a message of hope when it comes especially to your finances from Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruz, and Chris Hogan.

And today, I don't really want to talk about your finances in particular. I want to talk about how can you and I, how can we together become the light that the world needs today. And there's a few things that we can do together today that not only impacts today, but it also impacts our tomorrow. It also impacts our future. And here's the very first thing that I really want to hit on is that you got to take faith. You got to operate in faith over fear. And how do you do that? Number one is you got to acknowledge that fear is real. Be honest with yourself. Write down on paper, what are you scared about? Speak it out loud. This is what I'm scared about. This is what I'm feeling on the inside. Be

real because that is your truth right now. So when you get this stuff down, this is what I want you to do. The very next thing is say, you know what? But my God is bigger than everything that I wrote down. I'm scared because I possibly lost my job or I may lose my job. I don't have income coming in or I don't know what tomorrow holds. But here's the truth. God is bigger than all of that. For me, I pray like it all depends on him and I work like it all depends on me. You may be the individual that was sent home to work from home and you really don't know what the future holds. Your job may say, hey, we have to let you go. But you know what? This is what faith is. You're going to come home and you're going to

work hard. You're not going to think about what are the what ifs for tomorrow. You're going to be thinking about what can God do tomorrow? And God can do all things. And when I think about operating with faith over fear, the very next thing is you got to be mindful of what you speak. There is death and power in what you speak. So number two is I want you to speak what you seek. Speak what you want to see. Speak faith. Speak truth.

Speak power. Speak love. Speak joy. Speak positive things, not negative things. I know some of us are watching CNN and Fox and all these different kind of news stuff. And we're getting scared. We're getting fearful. We're speaking what we're hearing.

But here's the truth. We're going to be okay. That's what I'm speaking. I'm speaking that I am going to be okay. I'm speaking that my family is going to be okay because that's what I seek. Are you speaking during these times what you seek? Are you speaking that your son, your daughter will get through this season, even though they may be feeling a certain kind of way because they're out of school and they may not go to graduation?

They may not go to prom. Are you speaking life into them? Are you going out to the restaurant to get something to eat? Are you speaking life into that person that's serving you food? Are you speaking love? Are you encouraging them? I was at the Waffle House. I decided to go there every morning for my breakfast this week because, you know, the Waffle House employees get paid pretty much off of their tips.

And I said, you know, you guys, I'm going to come out here every morning during this season, and I'm going to get my normal, my normal sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich, and there was some mayonnaise, and some horseshoes. And I told them, you guys are going to be all right. And if it's up to me,

I'm going to do everything I possibly can to keep some money in your pocket during this time. But you guys are going to be all right. And I pray for each and every single one of them there. And every time I go in there, I don't pray, I don't get super spiritual, but I give them a tip and I tell them, thank you. Thank you for still being here. And I am praying for you.

Are you speaking love into someone's life right now? Are you encouraging them? When someone comes around you, are they feeling good? Like, yes, this is what I want to be around. Or are they just getting the same drama, the same stuff that they're getting from the news? If you got laid off of your job, are you speaking, you know, are you, are you speaking fear? Are you speaking, you know what? I'm going to be all right. I'm going to find my unemployment. I'm going to do the things necessarily that I should be doing right now. But I know that my God is going to

give me a better job. I know that I'm going to come out of this thing so much better that you're getting so excited. And I don't know about you. I'm getting excited. I'm blessed and fortunate enough to still have what I'm having. But I know this one thing. I'm speaking that when we get out of this season, I'm coming out of this season better, stronger, wiser. Why? Because it leads me to my number three thing. And I'm going to sit here for a little while. Are you minding your business during this time? If you follow me, you already know what I'm about to say when I say that, because I believe that our number one asset is our mind and our mind is our business. Are you minding your business? Are you filling your business with a bunch of junk, with a bunch of crap? Are you feeding your business with wisdom, with books? Are you binge watching Netflix right now?

Now, I'm not knocking Netflix because I'm watching a little bit of Netflix, but let me tell you what I'm binging, books. Let me tell you what I'm binging, podcasts. Let me tell you what I'm binging, the Dave Ramsey show. Let me tell you what I'm binging, Financial Peace University. That's what I'm binging because I want to come out of this thing wiser and more influential. And I want to come out of this thing to where I'm starting different things because during this season, I was building this more than building and entertaining these, our eyes. You know, I'm so blessed and privileged to work for an amazing organization here at Ramsey Solutions. Because our board and Dave Ramsey was like, how can we help people? Because people are hurting.

How can we be the light in a time of darkness? And one thing I love about our company is we went to work. We set aside money. We set aside things that we really wanted to do. And we said, how can we be the light and be a blessing? And so we came up with something called hope. If you go to DaveRamsey.com forward slash hope, you will see so much there. One of the things that I really love

is the thing that changed my whole life, which is called Financial Peace University. You guys know my story. There was a really dark moment in my life to where I was homeless and trying to figure out where was I going to sleep and eat and live? How was I going to do that? And what got me out of that season was Financial Peace University. I had to pay for it. Some of you are watching right now. I had to pay for it. But today you can go throughout this entire class for 14 days instead of for binging Netflix,

the new Ozark series and a new different series out there. Binge this. Ozark entertains our eyes, but Financial Peace University, not only will it entertain your eyes because you are watching Dave Ramsey, Chris Hogan, Rachel Cruz and myself. We are a good group of people, but we're also going to teach you something that's not just going to encourage you for today, but it's going to change your tomorrow. It's going to change your legacy. It's going to get rid of generational curses. You're going to come out of this thing so encouraged, so inspired that when this season is over, you're hungry for more information and you're ready to attack what you didn't attack in the past.

And not only will you have access to Financial Peace University, you have access to one of the greatest books written today, Totem Money Makeover, the audio version for $1.99. And let's just say right now you're struggling with your career. Let's say you did lose your job. Let's say you are concerned with what's going on. Don't trip. We got hope for you too. And it's called a proximity principle by one of my dear friends and number one national bestselling author, Ken Coleman. You see, we're trying to figure out how can we be the light to some of you all. And you can be the light for yourself right now. You know, one of my good friends tweeted something yesterday and she said, the lockdown is not going to last forever,

but what are you creating that will last forever? As you're building your business right now, which is your mind, what are you creating in your mind? What goals are you creating? What formations are you creating in your mind? What goals are you creating? What formations are you creating? I know you're probably saying, what is formations, Anthony?

And it comes from the scripture, God formed us in our mother's womb. And I believe every single day we should be forming into a better individual, a better man, a better woman, a better father, a better mother, a better business owner, a better employer, a better father, a better mother, a better business owner, a better employer, a better employee, a better friend. Right now, I want you to take the time to write down your goals.

Write down where do you want to see yourself after this season? What is the plan for this season that you're in? If you're working from home, you should have a schedule every single day of what does that look like. If you were coming to my house right now, you see a formation plan that every single day I'm reading a book. I am getting online and communicating with my team. I'm learning something new. I'm listening to a podcast. I'm listening to Dave Ramsey. I'm even taking advantage of the 14-day free trial of Financial Peace University when I even teach it because I want to make sure that I'm always building this. Your mind is your number one asset. What are you building during this season that can change

your next season, that can impact your next season. So if we're going to be the light, number one, we got to operate with faith, not fear. Number two, we got to speak what we seek, not what we see. We got to speak what we seek, not what we see. Because what we see is not the end. Number three, you got to mind your business.

You have to be building this thing a lot right now. Because right now our mind is seeing a lot of different things. But we need to train our mind the truth. And the truth is that what we see today is not what's going to happen tomorrow. And when I say tomorrow, I'm talking about the future. Bottom line, just be the light. Remember right now, people are scared. People are nervous. I got on the phone the other day with about 30 high school students who never experienced something like this.

And they are scared. Not only are they scared of becoming sick, but they're also disappointed. Some of our high school students are not going to have senior graduations and they're not going to have proms. They're not going to be able to do the things that they really were looking forward to do since they were little kids. And I got on this call, not only just being the light, but being still and just listening and letting them just voice their opinions and their concerns. Can people come to you and see the light and share what they're really going through. Do you have someone you can go to and know that they're not going to bring darkness, but they're going to bring light to your world? Will you walk into the restaurant to pick up your food?

Will you smile? Will you give them a good tip? Will you go into the grocery store and you're walking by someone? Are you going to roll your eyes at them because you've seen them cough? Or are you going to smile at them and say, hey, we're going to be okay? When you're going out there and you're walking in the park because you're just trying to get some exercise in, are you going to run three to six feet away to be safe? And if you do do that, will you still smile at them and say, I'm praying for you. Everything's going to be all right. Will you even stop and just ask them, how are you doing?

The light is the key thing when it comes to darkness. When people see the light, they get excited because they feel safe. Together, you and I can be the light, they get excited because they feel safe. Together, you and I can be the light during a dark time. That's what the world needs right now. And that's what I'm going to be. Will you join me? God bless you. And I'm praying for you. Hey, everyone. We all need more good news in our lives right now. So we will be continually updating a message of hope with relevant topics that matter for me and other Ramsey Network hosts. Stay connected with the latest episodes by subscribing on Apple Podcasts, following the show on Spotify, or listening in your favorite podcast app.