Over the past few days we’ve talked a bit about finding freedom in our relationships, whether with God, friends, or family. Today, I want to talk about one of the most important relationships in your life. The one that keeps you up all night worrying, the one that threatens your marriage, the one that, too often, determines your self worth.
I’m talking about your relationship with money.
It’s complicated, I know. My financial situation doesn’t look like yours, and yours doesn’t look like your best friend’s, and so on. I’m not going to tell you how to make or spend your money. I’ll leave that to Dave Ramsey, however I want to encourage you to look at what role money plays in your life.
I’ll be very candid here, my husband and I lived in bondage to our finances for many years. We married while I was still in college, and quickly accumulated a tremendous amount of debt. There was the wedding to pay for, the school loans, the setting up house money, the cars and a whole lot of youth and foolishness.
We made bad choices, and we felt entitled, and we were slaves. Slaves to our bank balance and our creditors. Years ago, we decided to get serious about our debt. And although I have an intense love/hate relationship with the aforementioned Dave Ramsey, I think he speaks real truth to people like me who desperately need to hear it. He is serious about seeing people set free.
We have been debt free for some time now, and although we haven’t mastered the beast of budgeting, we are reversing the burden of being the borrower. Saving and spending wisely has brought me more freedom and peace than almost any other choice we’ve made. My mind is free from financial fear, and when my husband and I discuss our finances, it’s with confidence not cringing.
Most importantly, money doesn’t own me. I own it. Now that is freedom.
Do you struggle in your relationship with money and debt? Budget remains a dirty word in our house. How have you made it a safe one?
