“Self-Reliance Courses: Connecting Finances to Gospel Truths,” Liahona, Jan. 2024.
Self-Reliance Courses: Connecting Finances to Gospel Truths
Self-reliance courses help participants bring spiritual insights to their financial needs.
Some of the Lord’s earliest instructions to His children were about work and self-reliance. In the Old Testament, He instructed Adam and Eve, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” (Genesis 3:19). And to the Israelites, He said, “Six days shalt thou labour” (Exodus 20:9).
Today, Church-sponsored self-reliance groups all over the world are helping God’s children improve their education, become more emotionally resilient, find better jobs, start businesses, and—as the following experiences show—better manage their finances.
Paying Tithing on a Tight Income
During her marriage, Deborah, from Michigan, USA, never had a problem managing her finances. But after she and her husband separated, bills became harder to pay. Although Deborah had enjoyed attending the temple regularly, she started struggling to pay her tithing and discontinued going to the temple.
She sought help from her bishop, who told her about the Church’s self-reliance class on managing personal finances, which was being held in her stake. Deborah agreed to go, but at first she didn’t see the reason to attend: “To tell the truth, I said to myself, ‘I don’t know why I’m here. I know how to budget my money. I’ve had a budget all my life.’”
Deborah met with the group and a facilitator. For two hours each week, they learned about both the temporal aspects of financial stability (like organizing a budget) and the spiritual aspects of financial stability (like being a faithful steward over income). “I never connected the two together the way this class connected them,” Deborah confides.
Deborah felt that her covenant connection with Heavenly Father helped her learn how to include Him in her financial decisions. “My Heavenly Father has always been there for me. … I have to include Him in everything.”
When Deborah acted on promptings and direction she received from her self-reliance group, she was able to put aside money for tithing, pay her bills, and even save money, all without increasing her income.
President Heber J. Grant (1856–1945) testified that more can be done with the remaining portion of income after paying tithing than can be done with the whole amount before paying tithing: “I bear witness … that the men and the women who have been absolutely honest with God, who have paid their tithing … testify … that God has given them wisdom whereby they have been able to utilize the remaining nine-tenths, and it has been of greater value to them, and they have accomplished more with it than they would if they had not been honest with the Lord.”1
Deborah received blessings “both temporal and spiritual” (Mosiah 2:41) as she kept the law of tithing and applied gospel principles to her budget. Direction from her self-reliance group and inspiration from the Holy Ghost provided a way for her to get a temple recommend and return to the temple. “Everything that I said that I could not do, He showed me that I could do that and so much more,” she testifies. “What you do today determines your future, and I want my future to be that I can walk into that Detroit Temple and start doing the work for my ancestors again.”
Photograph courtesy of Berry and Light Chu
Getting Out of Debt
Berry Chu of the Taipei Taiwan Central Stake needed wisdom beyond her understanding after she made an investment that didn’t turn out well, leaving her with a large debt. The situation briefly paralyzed Berry from moving forward. But Berry humbled herself and sought Heavenly Father in prayer. From that prayer, she gained the courage to tell her husband what had happened. With tenderness and humility, Berry’s husband, Light Tsai, reassured her that they would figure it out and overcome the debt. Together, Light and Berry prayed to seek the Lord’s guidance.
Berry and Light felt they could benefit from the Church’s self-reliance course for personal finances. Despite the overwhelming debt, they developed a repayment plan. With help from the course, they learned to “prioritize tithing and … to manage finances in a godly way,” Berry says. “We also learned to budget and prioritize our expenses for necessities only.”
Not only did Berry and Light learn to budget their income responsibly, but their personal finance group also inspired Berry to switch jobs. The transition led to a higher salary, which she could put toward paying off her debt.
Unified in their goal, Berry and Light used all their bonuses, investments, and extra income from their full- and part-time jobs to pay off Berry’s debt. With the Lord’s help, they covered all their expenses and, most importantly, still paid tithing and gave other offerings.
The Lord has declared: “It is my purpose to provide for my saints. … But it must needs be done in mine own way” (Doctrine and Covenants 104:15–16). Individuals and families around the world are discovering how He provides for them as they put into practice principles of spiritual and financial self-reliance.
Teaching the “How,” Not Just the “What”
Curtis and Pshaunda Scott, from Texas, USA, both wanted to be wise in their finances, but they couldn’t agree on how. Pshaunda knew they needed medical insurance, but Curtis knew they couldn’t afford it. Although they loved each other, their differing financial perspectives put a strain on their marriage. “When it came to finances,” Pshaunda recalls, “I don’t even think we were in the same book, let alone the same page.”
Curtis agrees. “Money was always a frustrating subject, and there were important conversations that we didn’t have.”
Their bishop recommended that Pshaunda and Curtis start attending the personal finances self-reliance course offered in their stake.
Curtis was surprised at how well the open-discussion format of their class worked for him. He was able to explain his thinking and gain insight from others who understood his family’s circumstances. The group discussions helped Curtis discover not just gospel principles but also practical ways to apply them. In the six years since his baptism, Curtis had often been taught that he should increase his faith, improve his prayers, and draw closer to the Savior, but he felt that the self-reliance course taught him how to make those improvements.
As Curtis learned how to apply gospel principles in his finances at home and in his business, he more deeply discovered the Lord’s love for him. “It actually strengthened my belief and my understanding of the care and concern that Heavenly Father has for us,” he says.
Pshaunda felt that the spiritual aspect of the self-reliance course helped her understand how even financial matters could fit into God’s plan. “It strengthened my testimony … step by step, line upon line.”
Including the Lord’s teachings in their financial decisions finally brought Curtis and Pshaunda together on the same page. “We were becoming a team,” Pshaunda says. “I wouldn’t say that we’re rich or that we have even more money, but we’re definitely headed in the right direction.”