A client from the Inspired Money program told us a story recently that stayed with us.
She is a very successful entrepreneur. Hundreds of employees. Solid business and many millions of dollars. A beautiful life by most measures.
But she grew up with a very strong belief.
As a child, she was taught that fear of God is a virtue. The Bible affirms this idea repeatedly. Psalm 111 says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
Like Stefan, she came from a deeply religious family. Her father was a priest. Her grandfather was a priest.
And somewhere along the way, a quiet equation formed in her mind:
If I don’t go to church…
If I don’t say my prayers regularly…
If I don’t donate 10% of what I earn…
Then I will be punished.
God will take back what He gave me.
My house.
My car.
My children.
My husband.
Everything.
So she did what many conscientious people do.
She went to church.
She said her prayers.
She donated.
But not from peace. From fear and guilt.
And she felt it most intensely on Sunday mornings.
She has two small children she adores. Loves being with them. Those slow, soft mornings together meant everything to her.
Yet every week, she faced the same choice:
Stay with my children… or go to church so nothing bad happens.
Breakfast became rushed.
Time became tight.
Her mind ran ahead of her:
“What if I’m late?
What if I miss the important part?
What if the nanny doesn’t arrive on time?”
Sometimes she took the kids with her. But small children do not sit quietly for hours.
Other times the children were sick. She stayed home.
And those were the worst moments.
Because the guilt would flood in.
So she tried to compensate.
She would listen to the service on the radio.
Go to church multiple times during the week.
Donate more money.
Anything to avoid punishment.
Then she enrolled in the Inspired Money Foundation program.
This is the first program in the world (no exaggeration!) where people work on the root causes of what prevents their income from growing.
One of these root causes are the hidden triggers of low self-worth.
Eventually, she reached a chapter that struck deeply: “Guilt towards God.”
She followed the process and asked the right questions. The kind of questions that change everything when answered honestly.
During these questions she realised that God is a parent, like her. And she loves her children deeply.
So she asked herself:
“As a parent, what do I want most for my children?”
Her answer came instantly.
“I want them to be happy. Nothing else.”
Then her insight came like a lightning bolt.
“I am just a human being, full of flaws and imperfections. And even so, I would never take away my children’s blessings or what they’ve accumulated.
If God is infinitely more than I am… how could I have believed that He wants 10% of my money back, when it all comes from Him anyway?
How could I have believed that if I don’t give it, I won’t be okay?
That I’ll be punished for not going to church or not praising Him?
Does God need my praise?
Would He really take away my blessings because of that?”
You may think this is a simple, common-sense insight. But it’s not.
Years of deeply ingrained programming don’t change through rational explanation.
That’s why people need a complete process to truly get unstuck and make the change last, without slipping back into old patterns of thinking.
When someone does the process correctly, they don’t just gain insights at the level of the mind. They experience a deep transformation throughout their entire being, as if their whole story is being rewritten.
Her new story was rewritten clearly:
“If every human parent wants their child to be prosperous and fulfilled, then God, in His infinite wisdom, cannot be less than that.”
From that moment on, everything changed.
Church became a choice.
Prayer became a choice.
Donations became a choice.
Not an obligation. Not a fear.
If she felt like going to church, she went.
If she wanted a slow Sunday morning with her children, she stayed.
They would talk. Laugh. Watch cartoons. Do nothing important.
If she felt like going to the park, she went to the park.
No guilt.
No pressure.
No sense that she was doing something wrong.
When she felt inspired to donate, she gave with joy. When she didn’t, she didn’t.
In the end she told us this:
“You know, at first I thought it might just be a temporary feeling, and that the old guilt would creep back in. But it’s been a year now… It’s extraordinary to gain this kind of freedom in my relationship with God in just a few weeks.”
“If I had known it was possible… I would have done this process much sooner.”
Love and Wisdom,
Monica and Stefan
More from Monica, Stefan and the Inspired Life Circle team.
Join us at the next live, free, online workshops here.
August 26th - Dissolve Impostor Syndrome in 5 Steps
For coaches, therapists, healers, and psychologists who know they are good at what they do—but still question themselves.
