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Three Ways to Make Money When You’re in Between Jobs
If you’ve lost your job recently as a result of a substance abuse addiction, the pandemic, or other factors, then chances are you’re experiencing a lot of stress right now. One factor that can ease stress is finding more financial security. Courtesy of Just Pray NO!, here are a few ways you can create your own small business or side gig and use it to better your financial situation and remove at least one worry during these challenging times
First, Make it Official
Whatever caused you to become unemployed, making ends meet can be difficult. But it’s not impossible. The key is to regroup and start seeking new opportunities. Starting your own small business is a fulfilling and lucrative way of doing so.
Remember, you’ll need to pay taxes on your income, so it makes sense to choose a business structure and register with your state before you go too far. Many solo entrepreneurs like the advantages an LLC brings, namely the personal asset protection. It’s easy to register when you use a formation service. And don’t forget to pay yourself. Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or hiring staff, a program like Quickbooks is a great tool for processing payroll for small business owners. Just add it to your toolkit so that you can set up auto payments, direct deposit and auto tax filing. In just a couple of quick hours, you’ll be official and ready to go to work!
Become a Pet Sitter
Pet sitters are on the rise across the United States. Fifty years ago, pet sitters hardly existed. Today, though, they have become many pet owners’ go-to if they are planning on leaving their pet alone for an extended period of time. One of the best parts of becoming a pet sitter is that the startup cost is extremely inexpensive. As long as you have reliable transportation, you can become a pet sitter. This makes it extremely easy to get started.
Of course, not everyone has the personality needed to be a pet sitter. You must be responsible and organized enough to handle juggling multiple clients at a time, but also flexible enough that you can change your schedule if something comes up. Obviously, you should also love dogs and other animals. If you have experience with exotic animals, you can draw in even more customers with your unique experience and know-how.
Take Up a Craft
Craftsmen are hard to come by these days. With a growing number of people taking office jobs or deciding that college is the best path, fewer and fewer people are creating things with their hands. Yet the demand for skilled craftsmen has never decreased. This has led to an extreme skilled labor shortage. It can be difficult to find someone who is qualified to renovate your house or fix electrical issues, so if you have ever wanted to get involved in a trade, now is the time to start.
Of course, there are other ways to make or fix things with your hands that don’t involve building houses or becoming an electrician. The rise of online shopping has made it particularly easy to make things and sell them to a wide variety of customers around the world. Sales platforms like Etsy make it incredibly easy to set up your own online business and use your skills to make a living.
Teach an Instrument
Now is a great time for those lifelong piano lessons to pay off. If you can play an instrument, it’s very possible that you’ll find a market of local people who are willing to pay you to teach them or their children. You don’t have to be a prodigy to teach children to play instruments; you just need to be better than those you’re teaching. Instruments including the piano and violin are the most popular, but it is likely that any instrument you know how to play will draw the interest of others.
Making ends meet while you’re in between jobs can be difficult at best. However, it is absolutely possible to leverage the skills and passions you currently have to get by while you look for full-time work.
June Lawrence is a recovering alcoholic. She’s proud of her journey and knows the incredible amount of work that goes into sobriety every single day, and she’s on a mission to support others find their way to a happy, healthy life through her site, Recovery Island.
Photo credit: Pexels
Drug Addiction and Long Term Rehab Statistics
We have a variety of resources for you on our website such as:
Biblical Insights into Combating Addiction, Teachings on Prayer and Fasting, links to Christian resources for the addicted: Find Help, Healing Scriptures and information on our Annual Weekend of Prayer event.
DRUG ADDICTION IN AMERICA: Facts and Figures
MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF AMERICANS USE AND ABUSE LIFE-CONTROLLING SUBSTANCES
In the United States of America, the statistics concerning the use and abuse of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, illicit drugs and pharmaceutical drugs (medications) are overwhelming. The following “Infographic” provides facts and figures concerning drug types and classification including the annual costs:
“ This Infographic is Shared by Self Help Online and Designed by Graphs “
We have a variety of resources for you on our website such as:
Biblical Insights into Combating Addiction, Teachings on Prayer and Fasting, links to Christian resources for the addicted: Find Help, Healing Scriptures and information on our Annual Weekend of Prayer event.
PRAY NO to Drugs, Pornography, Gambling, Obesity and Smoking
The weekend of April 6 – April 7, 2013 has been designated as the 23rd Annual “Just Pray NO!” to drugs Worldwide Weekend of Prayer and Fasting. We are not only praying for the release of those bound by substance abuse but also for people to be delivered from pornography, gambling, obesity and smoking.
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. James 5:16
Since April 7th, 1991 “Just Pray NO!” has united millions of Christians from 150 nations and territories around the world in intercessory prayer on behalf of the addicted and their families. Not only is substance abuse America’s number one health problem, the devastation of alcoholism and other drug addiction has impacted families and communities worldwide.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12
Make a formal commitment to join with believers in Christ from around the globe this coming April. Put on the full armor of God and fervently pray in spirit and in truth. We are seeking to enlist millions of prayer warriors from around the world to join us in battle!
Is it your heart’s desire to see people delivered, healed and set free to serve the Lord Jesus Christ?
Prescription Drug Abuse & Prescription Addiction Deliverance
Learn the facts about prescription drug abuse and prescription drug side effects. Help provided for those suffering from prescription drug addiction.
A number of national studies and published reports indicate that the intentional abuse of prescription drugs, such as pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants and sedatives, to get high is a growing concern-particularly among teens-in the United States. In fact, among young people ages 12-17, prescription drugs have become the second most abused illegal drug, behind marijuana. There are troubling signs that teens view abusing prescription drugs as safer than illegal drugs and parents are unaware of the problem. More and more children today are turning to their parent’s medicine cabinet as a cheap and easy way to get high.
- More than half of U.S. adults take prescription medicines in any given week
- Many of them – 10 percent – take more than 5 different medicines
- 700,000 Americans end up in emergency rooms each year because of bad drug reactions
The drugs that are killing the most people right now didn’t originate on the street, but with a prescription. Prescription painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs now kill about 500 people a year in Florida’s Tampa Bay area alone, triple the number killed by illegal drugs such as cocaine and heroin.
Most died from overdoses of opioid painkillers, natural or synthetic versions of the opium poppy. The painkillers methadone and oxycodone topped the list. Methadone generally entails the entire spectrum of opioid side effects, including the development of tolerance and physical and psychological dependence. Respiratory depressions are dangerous. The released histamines can cause hypotension (dangerous low blood pressure), or bronchospasms. Other symptoms are: constipation, nausea or vomiting, sedation, vertigo, edema.
Oxycodone side effects may be common, adverse, or precursors to possible fatality. The more common Oxycodone side effects include:
- Constipation
- Dimness in vision
- Dizziness
- Drowsiness
- Dry mouth
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Itching reflex
- Lightheadedness
- Nausea
- Sleeplessness
- Sweating from shock
- Vomiting
- Weakness
Why would anyone in their right mind risk suffering even one of these potentially horrible side effects to get temporary relief from pain?
A large number of people in the Tampa Bay area also died from overdoses of anti-anxiety drugs such as Xanax and Valium.
Unfortunately, overdosing from prescription drugs is not just a recent phenomenon. Nor is it restricted to those who are poor and struggling.
Marilyn Monroe, a famous actress and a 1950s & 1960s sex symbol died from an overdose of sleeping pills at the age of 36.
Dorothy Dandridge who was the first black star ever nominated for Best Actress Oscar in “Carmen Jones” overdosed on a prescription drug at the age of 41.
Brian Epstein, the manager of the Beatles died on August 27, 1967 from an overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol at the age of 32.
Judy Garland who was a triple threat – actress, singer and dancer, and is remembered for her role as “Dorothy” In “The Wizard of Oz” died from an overdose of sleeping pills while on tour in London, England at the age of 47.
Guitar legend, Jimi Hendrix choked on own vomit after taking too many barbiturates at the age of 27.
Superstar and showbiz legend, Elvis Presley, died of cardiac arrhythmia caused by large prescription drug intake at the age of 42.
While completing his role as the darkly disturbed Joker in the Batman movie, “The Dark Knight,” Heath Ledger complained about his inability to sleep, so he was given several prescriptions. The much beloved, 28-year-old actor and father was found naked and dead on the floor of his apartment. The official cause of death in his accidental overdose was “acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine.” He had a prescription for all of these six drugs he was supposed to be taking. For whatever reason, he simply took too much of them all at once.
Police are reporting a surge in prescription drug-related crimes, including doctor shopping, prescription fraud and pharmacy robbery. Drug rehabilitation centers have treated a wave of prescription drug addicts in recent years. Methadone clinics now treat more people addicted to painkillers than heroin.
Why has abuse to prescription drugs and the accompanying increase in crime, devastating side-effects, and deaths by overdose gotten to be a nationwide epidemic?
We have been sold on the idea of instant relief. Whether we are dealing with a simple headache, depression, insomnia or anxiety, we seek a magic bullet – a pill that will do the trick, regardless of the consequences or debilitating side effects. Pharmaceutical production is a multibillion dollar industry. In fact, the pharmaceutical industry profits increased by over $8 billion after the Medicare Drug Plan went into effect. Selling the public “legal drugs” is a very profitable business.
Why are we a nation of anxious, depressed insomniacs? One reason for our headaches, backaches and heartaches, is our lifestyle. We eat wrong and fail to exercise. We spend too much time with electronic devices and not enough time with our own families.
A second, and even more important reason, is that we have taken prayer, the Bible and the 10 Commandments out of our public institutions. We are without God and without hope.
We are reluctant to take the time and work through our pain and problems with the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The following Scriptures are God’s promises and cures for depression, insomnia and anxiety:
DEPRESSION:
Psalm 42:5
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
INSOMNIA:
Psalm 4:8
I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 127:2
In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat- for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Proverbs 3:21-24
My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble; when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
ANXIETY:
Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
If you want to lead a victorious life and be set free from addiction and do not have a relationship with the LORD God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, then pray the following prayer or a similar prayer in your own words –
“Lord Jesus Christ,
I know that I am a sinner and there is nothing that I can do to earn my way to heaven. Although I deserve God’s wrath, by God’s mercy, I accept your free gift of eternal life by faith. I believe that You were born of a virgin and died on the cross to pay the price of my sins. I believe you were buried, rose again on the third day, have ascended into heaven, and will soon come again.
Lord, please forgive me of my sins, come into my heart and take control of my life.” AMEN
If you sincerely prayed this prayer, then you have just made a decision by faith, to accept the free gift (God’s grace) of the substitutionary sacrifice of the Messiah (the Christ), whose suffering and death paid the price of your sins. You have been born again. As a new born, you need to be nourished.
Acts 2:38
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
In order to grow and mature spiritually you need to:
- Be baptized into Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ)
- Speak to God each day through prayer. (Pray each day in the name of Yeshua/Jesus).
- Read your Bible every day. When you read the Bible, God speaks to you through His Word. (If you don’t own a Bible, then we will help you get one.)
- Find a Bible believing church and attend regularly – both worship services and a Bible study.
- Share with someone what God has done for you.
BREAKING THE BONDAGE!
Exodus 6:6-7
“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
I am the LORD and I will…
`I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.’
I am the LORD and I will… Who is the LORD that He can boldly proclaim what will happen in the future?
The LORD is the way we represent in English the Hebrew term, YHWY. It is the covenant name of God and means the One who causes to be.
- I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself
- I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
- I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.
- I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior
I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. Isaiah I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. Isaiah 46:9-11.
The LORD is the Most High God. He is the only true God. He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. He is the Eternal. The LORD is omnipotent – all powerful. He is omniscient – all knowing. He is holy, just and righteous. He can, and will, fulfill all that He has promised.
And what did He promise to the Hebrews who had been in bondage for four hundred years in Egypt?
`I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.’
The LORD sanctified and set Israel apart from their Egyptian slave masters. The LORD smote the Egyptians and their gods with ten plagues. Although the Hebrews and their live stock lived and worked among the Egyptians, they did not suffer the diseases and death that came upon Egypt.
I will free you from being slaves to them,
The LORD freed the Hebrews from their bondage. They were no longer slaves, but free men and women. They were freed from their harsh taskmasters. They were free after 400 years of backbreaking servitude.
and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
The LORD redeemed a people unto himself by mighty acts of judgment. The greatest of those judgments was the plague that killed the firstborn of Egypt.
Exodus 12:12-13
“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn – both men and animals – and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”
The firstborn of Israel were spared; they passed from death to life, because of the blood of the lamb that was applied to the tops and sides of the doorframes of their houses.
‘I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.’
The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out; and their cry for help, because of their slavery, went up to God. The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. I will be their God and they will be my people.”
When the people who were enslaved no longer could bear their bondage they cried out for help and their cry for help went up to God. God was and is concerned about suffering. Egypt is a symbol of the world. We live in a fallen world which has been corrupted by the stain of sin. Pharaoh typifies Satan who desires to inflict us with much suffering and enslave us in cruel bondage. The bondage of slavery is a picture of man’s bondage to sin.
Why were the Hebrews enslaved for so long? Because for many years, even though they suffered and died in their bondage, they loved the things of this world more than they loved the God of their fathers. Even after God answered their cries with a great deliverance, their hearts were fixed on the pleasures of Egypt. After the Israelites were set free, God fed them miraculously with manna. But what was their response to God’s provision?
They wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost – also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”
At no cost? They paid with their very lives! Cruel servitude and death was the price for the fleeting pleasures of Egypt.
The Hebrews suffered and died in Egypt until they came to a point of utter desperation – a place where they could no longer bear their bondage. Until they cried out for help to the LORD God, they remained enslaved. And even after God came down and rescued them, an entire generation perished in the wilderness because of ingratitude and loving the things of this world more than loving God the Creator and Sustainer of life. Yet God was faithful to fulfill His promises and bring their children into a land flowing with milk and honey.
Moses the Deliverer is a type of the Messiah – Christ the Savior. The blood of the Passover lamb foreshadowed the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
God sees your misery, hears your crying and is concerned about your suffering. His desire is to free you from bondage. Whatever has enslaved you: drug addiction, cigarettes, pornography, food, or soap operas, the Son of God came down from heaven to free you from the bondage of sin. His desire is to set you apart and make you Holy. Jesus is able to redeem you because he has paid the price for your life with His own blood.
This same God who rescued a mixed multitude of 2 ½ to 3 million men, women, and children from the clutches of the most powerful nation on earth… This same God who smote the gods of Egypt with mighty plagues… This same God who parted the Red Sea so that the children of Israel walked on dry ground… is the LORD. Is He not able to free you from the sin and corruption of addiction?
Exodus 20:2-3
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”
Who or what do you seek for comfort in times of stress, or to relieve emotional or psychological pain, or to escape reality? If you are turning to anything or anybody but the LORD; in your times of stress or pain, then that thing has become your god – your personal idol. The reason that you are unable to break your habit is that your addiction is not just a physical dependency – it is spiritual bondage.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. Only in His name, the mighty name of Jesus our Messiah, and by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, can you be set free. But you cannot serve two masters. Jesus must not only become your Savior by placing your trust in His finished work on the cross, but you must make Him the Lord of your life, forsaking all other gods. First accept God’s free gift of salvation and then allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse you of all unrighteousness.
Romans 10:9-10
That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
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