The Power of Prayer™ to Change Your Marriage by Stormie Omartian

Author:Stormie Omartian
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736925150
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.

Learn to Simplify

Financial stress always takes a great toll on a marriage, but you can either let it tear you apart or make you stronger. One thing financial stress can do for you is force you to draw closer to God, to depend on Him to get you through and turn things around. It also encourages you to work more closely with your spouse so you will be on the same team financially.

Another thing a financial crunch will do is help you learn how to simplify. Learning to live more simply takes stress off your marriage and financial pressure off both of you. God will show you how to live without certain things and be wise about every purchase. I was raised extremely poor. And even after I was out on my own, I have been poor to the point that every penny, nickel, dime, and quarter counted. Sometimes it meant having food for dinner, being able to do a load of wash at the Laundromat, or paying the phone bill. This is not a good way to live, so ask God to keep you out of that kind of gut-wrenching poverty. He says He does not want His children begging bread, but He also doesn’t want us to kill ourselves working for material possessions (Proverbs 23:4). We have to find that godly balance. And the way to find it, God says, is to understand that we don’t have because we don’t ask. He wants us to pray about the things we need.

Ask God to give you the wisdom to not purchase anything you don’t need. Ask Him to help you establish an emergency savings account. Ask Him to guide you before you spend money on anything so you won’t make a mistake you will regret. Remember that whatever you want to buy that your spouse strongly opposes will not be worth the toll it will take on your marriage. “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15).

You have to be able to enjoy your life, and unless you have lost all contact with reality, it is impossible to enjoy life if you are heavily burdened with debt or are struggling to just survive. You need to have money to live and also to do some things that are enjoyable, such as take a day off and go out to dinner together. Say no to things you don’t absolutely have to have so that you can get out of debt and never be a slave to it again.

My husband and I try constantly to simplify our lives. We are not successful at it all the time, but when we can eliminate something we don’t need—especially as we get older—our lives are richer for it. “Aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands” (1 Thessalonians 4:11). Ask God to show you ways you can work at what you love and simplify your lives together.

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