Chasing Happiness with Ryan DeMent

Ryan DeMent
  • 5.0 (55)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Chasing Happiness is a podcast about life lessons and issues that impact our lives. Some of the best episodes are where we take an honest look at current events and discuss how they might affect you - all while being completely transparent in tone from host Ryan DeMent who tells his stories with honesty combined with humor for your listening pleasure! In each episode, you'll hear Ryan and his guests discussing life's challenges, finances, career advice, health & wellness tips, and more. The goal is to help you become a better version of yourself by helping you achieve your HAPPINESS!

  1. 4d ago

    What the Parable of the Talents Says About Investing Your Money God's Way Ep 240

    What the parable of the talents says about investing is not what most Christians think. It is Jesus being blunt about money, fear, and stewardship. The parable of the talents is a money parable from the first verse. A master gives three servants different amounts. Two put the money to work and double it. One buries his out of fear and hands it back unchanged. The buried servant is the only one the master condemns, and not for losing money. He never lost a dime. He is condemned for letting fear talk him into doing nothing. I am recording this one from inside my own story. For a long stretch, I was the servant who buried it. I was so afraid of losing what little I had that I did nothing with it and told myself that was the responsible, even godly, choice. It was not. It was fear wearing a responsible costume. What we cover: What the parable actually teaches about investing your money. Stewardship is active, not passive. Burying what you were given is the one thing this parable condemns. Why fear was the real sin. The servant said, "I was afraid, so I hid it." Fear told him a lie that protecting what he had was safer than putting it to work. My testimony. How I moved from burying what I had to tithing consistently, one percent at a time, from five percent up to a full ten. What the lender's seat sees every week. The clients too afraid to ever make a move, versus the ones who steward what they have and build something over time. Scriptures referenced:Matthew 25:23, Matthew 25:25

  2. Aug 22

    You Are Doing God's Job Instead of Yours (I See This Every Week) Ep 239

    Stop forcing the outcome. Obedience is your job; the outcome is God's, and mixing them up is why you are exhausted. After years of doing loans for Christians, I can tell you why so many faithful people are burned out. They are doing two jobs at once, their own and God's. Your job is obedience. Small, daily, specific. Show up, do the work, tithe, steward the little. God's job is the outcome. The growth, the timing, which door opens and which one closes. When you try to do God's job for Him, you do not just exhaust yourself. You get in His way. I am recording this one from inside my own storm. For 18 months I have been trying to force outcomes God never asked me to control while completely missing the daily obedience He was actually asking of me. This week it finally started to shift. What we cover: What your job actually is. Small daily obedience, not big flashy obedience. The next right thing today, never "make the outcome happen." What God's job actually is. Growth, timing, provision, open and closed doors. Backed by 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 and Proverbs 16:9. My testimony. The three-stage evolution my prayers went through over 18 months, from bargaining with God to finally asking Him to change me instead of my circumstances. What the lender's seat sees every week. The borrower who calls three times a day trying to force a closing timeline versus the one who does the paperwork and lets the process work. Same tools, wildly different peace levels. Scriptures referenced:Micah 6:8, 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, Proverbs 16:9 You are not exhausted because your situation is too hard. You are exhausted because you are trying to do two jobs at once. Do the small faithful thing in front of you today and let God do the growth. If this episode hit you, the last episode covers why the problem in front of you was never the punishment. It was the setup for the miracle. Subscribe so you do not miss the next one.

  3. Aug 15

    You Cannot Have a Miracle Without a Problem (I See This Every Week) Ep 238

    Stop praying the problem away. It is the miracle you have been asking for, from a Christian lender who sees this every week. Every major miracle in the Bible has a problem attached to it. The problem is not the obstacle. The problem is the setup. Lazarus had to die before the resurrection. The wine had to run out before it turned into wine. The Red Sea had to be there before it could part. God does not do miracles into abundance. He does miracles into problems. I am recording this one from inside my own storm. For 18 months I have been asking God to remove the problem in my business, and it hit me this week that the problem was never in my business. It was in me. He grabbed my attention through the business because He could not grab it any other way, and the miracle He has been building is the change in my character, not the resolution of my circumstances. This episode is teaching plus testimony. I walk through the biblical pattern that miracles always follow problems, share the internal shift that took me 18 months to see, and tell two stories from the lender's seat about borrowers I watch every week trying to pray the problem away when the problem was the point. What we cover: The pattern in scripture. Every miracle in the Bible was set up by a problem. Lazarus. The wedding at Cana. The Red Sea. The feeding of the 5000. God works into insufficiency, not into abundance. My testimony. Where I am in my own storm right now. The 18 months of chasing the Joneses. The realization that the problem was never external. Why I am starting to help others through what I have already survived, including planning to lead FPU at my church. What the lender's seat sees every week. Two borrower stories. The couple who felt inadequate compared to their friends and kept refinancing to keep up. The single guy who realized the spending was the problem and used the refi to break the pattern instead of extending it. Same tool. Two completely different outcomes based on whether the person let God work IN the problem or tried to pray it away. The guardrail: The miracle may not be that God pulls you out of the problem. The miracle may be that God changes who you are while you are in it. Scriptures referenced:John 11, John 2 The problem in front of you is not the punishment. It is the platform. God is not ignoring you. He is setting up something you could not have asked for because you did not know it was possible. If this episode hit you, the last episode covers the three quiet signs God is already elevating you through the problem. Subscribe so you do not miss the next one.

  4. Aug 8

    3 Signs God Is About to Elevate You Financially (I See This Every Week) Ep 237

    Stop looking for the deposit. 3 signs God is elevating you financially, from a Christian lender who sees this every week. Most Christians assume the first sign of elevation is a deposit in the account. It is not. The first signs are quiet shifts in your character that you have probably not connected to God yet. You have been begging God for a financial breakthrough for months, maybe years, and you have not noticed that He has been answering the whole time. Just not the way you expected. I am recording this one from inside my own storm. I am watching all three of these signs show up in my own life right now, and I am not standing over anyone. I am standing next to you. After years of doing loans for Christians, I can tell you there are three quiet signs God gives you right before the elevation shows up in your account. And most people miss all three because they are watching for the wrong thing. God prepares the vessel before He pours the blessing, and every one of these signs is how you know the preparation is in motion. What we cover: Sign One: Your old lifestyle habits stop being satisfying. You walk through Target and put things back on the shelf. The car you always wanted stops looking as good on the lot. Doom scrolling stops giving you the dopamine hit. This is not you being disciplined. This is God changing your appetite. Sign Two: You get drawn to help people in situations you used to be in. You find yourself sending long text messages to friends going through what you already survived. You take calls that do not pay you because they need to be taken. This is not you being generous. This is God building the platform before He puts you on it. Sign Three: You start seeing money problems as spiritual problems. The old prayer sounds like "God, please fix my finances." The new prayer sounds like "God, please change me so You can trust me with the finances I am asking for." That shift is the moment elevation is closer than you think. Scriptures referenced:Ecclesiastes 5:10, 2 Corinthians 1:4, Romans 12:2 The three signs God is elevating you financially are not the ones you are looking for. You are looking for the deposit. God is watching the character. If your appetite for the wrong things is fading, if you are being drawn to help people you used to walk past, and if you are starting to see your money problems as spiritual problems, God is not delaying your breakthrough. He is finishing your preparation. If this episode hit you, the last episode covers the three mistakes that will block the breakthrough if you keep doing them. Subscribe so you do not miss the next one.

  5. Aug 1

    The Real Reason God Won't Bless Your Finances (I See This Every Week) — Ep. 236

    Stop tithing harder and start asking a different question. Most Christians spend their whole life begging God for the breakthrough and never realize the reason it has not shown up is not that they have not asked enough. It is because they are still doing three things every single week that make it impossible for Him to bless what is already in their hands. I am recording this one from inside my own storm. I am watching myself do at least one of these three things right now, and I am not standing over anyone. I am standing next to you. After years of doing loans for Christians, I can tell you these three mistakes show up over and over again in every borrower who prays for the financial breakthrough and never actually gets it. God is not being cruel. He is being wise. Every one of these mistakes is a character issue disguised as a money problem, and the blessing does not go where the character cannot hold it. What we cover: Mistake One: Chasing the Joneses. God cannot bless a life built to impress other people. The blessing arrives, and it gets consumed instantly because the lifestyle is already too big for the income. I share what this cost me in my past life, close to $100,000 in debt trying to keep up with people who were themselves on the verge of bankruptcy. Mistake Two: Financing your impatience. The tools that let you have things now are the same tools that guarantee you never actually own them. Credit cards, buy here pay here, buy now pay later, financing everything. Impatience is the sin behind the financing, and when you finance everything, you are telling God His timing is too slow for you. I share what I am doing right now in my own life to break this pattern. Mistake Three: Not being faithful with the little. If God trusted you with $500 and you blew it, why would He trust you with $50,000? He is not being cruel. He is being consistent. Faithful in little is the doorway to being trusted with much. Scriptures referenced:Luke 12:15, Proverbs 21:5, Luke 16:10 The real reason God is not blessing your finances is not that He has forgotten you. It is because He loves you too much to hand you a blessing that would destroy you. Every one of these mistakes is something you can start correcting today. If this episode hit you, the last episode covers the one question you have to answer before the breakthrough shows up. Subscribe so you do not miss the next one.

  6. Jul 26

    Will You Still Honor God After He Gives You the Breakthrough? Ep 235

    Most Christians spend the entire waiting season asking God for the breakthrough. Almost nobody stops to ask the harder question: what God is really waiting to hear an answer to. After years of doing loans, I have watched a pattern repeat itself. The client who prays for the refi to consolidate credit card debt closes the loan and maxes the cards again in six months. The cash-out that was supposed to save the business gets spent on a truck. The inheritance is gone in two years. None of these people were bad. Nobody asked them the honor question before the money hit. I am recording this one from inside my own storm. Personally and in my business, I am asking myself this exact question every morning. This is not a lecture. It is a conversation from the seat I am actually in right now. What we cover: Why God delays the breakthrough for people He loves. The delay is not punishment. It is protection. He is not going to hand you a breakthrough that becomes the next crisis. The pattern I have watched from the broker seat for years. The refi, the cash-out, the inheritance. Same story every time. The behavior that caused the problem does not disappear when the money shows up. The three questions God is asking you in the wait: Will I still tithe when it is a real number? Will I still work as it depends on Him? Will I still remember who I was when I had nothing? The three moves you can make today, in the storm, that prove out your answer to the honor question before the breakthrough ever arrives. Scriptures referenced:Luke 16:10, Deuteronomy 8:17, Deuteronomy 8:18 The wait is not God ignoring you. It is God asking you a question. If you can answer it in the storm, the storm becomes the training ground for everything He is about to release. If this episode hit you, the last episode covers what God is actually doing behind the scenes while your situation feels stuck. Subscribe so you do not miss the next one.

  7. Jul 18

    God Is Working Behind the Scenes Even When You Cannot See It Ep 234

    When a borrower stops hearing from their lender, they almost always assume the worst. They think the deal is dead. The file got lost. Someone forgot about them. Almost every time, the file is just in process. I have been in the mortgage business long enough to know that a quiet file is not a forgotten file. And I believe the same is true about what God is doing in your life right now. In this episode, I use the mortgage underwriting process as a framework for understanding what God is doing in your financial waiting season. It is the most practical illustration I have found of what the Bible says about seasons of silence, and it has changed the way I personally handle waiting. What we cover: What your file actually is. God knows every detail of your situation, your history, your capacity, your calling, your debts, your assets, and where He is taking you next. He does not process files halfway. What happens when a file goes quiet? In underwriting, silence means one of two things: conditions are being worked behind the scenes, or the lender is waiting on something from the borrower. God is the same way. The question to ask is not "has He forgotten me?" It is "what condition is being worked, and is there anything He is waiting on from me?" The biblical proof. Joseph is the anchor. Seventeen years old when God gave him the dream. Thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh. Thirteen years of conditions being cleared. The pit, Potiphar's house, the prison, the cupbearer who forgot him, none of it was random. All of it was underwriting. What to do while your file is being processed. Three moves: do not make desperate moves that blow up the file, respond to every condition God gives you promptly, and trust the processor. Scriptures referenced:Psalm 139:16, Lamentations 3:25, James 1:4 Your file is not lost. It has never been lost. Stay in the process. If this episode hit you, the next one covers the one sin that makes every waiting season harder than it has to be, and most people never identify it as a sin. Subscribe so you do not miss it.

  8. Jul 11

    The One Sin That Makes Every Waiting Season Harder Than It Has to Be Ep 233

    Rick Warren says the number one sin Christians fight every single day is not addiction, and it is not pride. It is anxiety. And once I understood what that actually meant, it changed everything about how I handle a season of waiting. This episode is not about how to feel less anxious. It is about understanding why anxiety is a sin, specifically, how it hijacks the waiting season God designed for your growth, and three concrete moves that bring you back to the present moment where God is actually working. I share the Bayard Park story in this one. We lost six figures on a development project, and for a long season, I kept asking God why. What I did not see at the time was that anxiety was the thing making that season heavier than God ever intended it to be. What we cover: What anxiety actually is. Most people treat it like a personality trait. The Bible calls it disobedience. That reframe changes everything about how you handle a hard season. How anxiety hijacks a season of financial waiting. It gives you specific targets: checking the same balance at midnight, running numbers that have not changed, replaying decisions you cannot undo, and planning for a worst-case scenario that has not happened. All of this is a location problem, not an information problem. How to come back to the present. Three moves: name the time zone you are in, find one specific thing God is doing right now, and replace the question. Anxiety asks what if. The present asks what now. That one shift changes everything. Scriptures referenced:Philippians 4:6, Proverbs 12:25, Matthew 6:34 If this episode landed for you, the next one covers five specific signs that God is calling you out of your financial situation right now. Not someday. Right now. Subscribe so you do not miss it.

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Chasing Happiness is a podcast about life lessons and issues that impact our lives. Some of the best episodes are where we take an honest look at current events and discuss how they might affect you - all while being completely transparent in tone from host Ryan DeMent who tells his stories with honesty combined with humor for your listening pleasure! In each episode, you'll hear Ryan and his guests discussing life's challenges, finances, career advice, health & wellness tips, and more. The goal is to help you become a better version of yourself by helping you achieve your HAPPINESS!

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