I’m pretty sure every financial advisor and business coach reading this is having a minor stroke right now. How is being in debt ever a good thing? But here’s the thing: this isn’t some financial support blog. This isn’t some article about smart business moves. This is an article about when there are things more important than financial stability. Again, business-minded readers are still probably freaking out a little. Stay with me.

Our Idyllic 5-Year Plan

When I was in college, I started dating a Math and Computer Science double major (spoiler alert: my now husband) who was graduating early and already had accepted a job at not only a Christianity-based software company, but one that was literally an hour away from my family. It seemed like the stars were aligned for us. I would graduate after two more years of school, marry him, and live in an amazing city with his six-figure salary and get to hang out with my family whenever I wanted. We dreamed of what church we would attend, what neighborhoods we would buy a house in, what schools we would send our kids to…

Reader, I married him.

Although we ended up living in Wisconsin - halfway across the country from both our families - for four years, all the other pieces of our plan seemed to be perfectly in place. His financial provision even gave me the courage and freedom to explore freelancing, which is when I first began editing, and later copywriting and social media strategy. I know God used that time to give us peace to make decisions we wouldn’t have had we known what was coming, like getting pregnant in year two of our marriage.

We didn’t see the build-up of stress and burn-out rooted in my husband’s career that was slowly eating away at him and our marriage.

Discovering God’s Plan

I won’t go into all the details, but after 5 job changes and a few seasons of unemployment, I was at a loss. I just couldn’t see what God had for us, and I was scared for my husband’s health and for how we’d provide for our children.

Then my husband accepted a job in ministry at our church, and it all made sense.

I have never seen my husband so at peace. There is a joy in our home that was completely lacking when we were focusing on our culture’s picture of success instead of what God knew was best for us and what He was calling us to.

Our marriage is so, so, so much stronger. Our kids can clearly see a difference.

And guess what else? We’re in the most debt we’ve ever been in.

Sometimes It Takes a Crisis to Get Our Attention

Interesting headline in these times, right? We were so blind to all the things crumbling around us as we pushed and worked and cried and fought for what we thought our life should look like. We definitely made our share of financial mistakes, but a lot of issues simply came out of unexpected hardships and incorrect predictions about our future.

I would not trade the freedom I have in Christ for financial freedom.

I would not trade the joy in my home, the peace in my husband, and the simplicity of our life now for all the riches in the world. I’m happy with our debt, because it is a testament of all that we’ve been through.

A Work in Faith

We’re of course working on paying off our debt. With the significantly smaller income, it is much slower going than it could have been, but we’re still working through it. I don’t have some weird notion that I need to keep this debt around because of what it signifies in my life, trust me! I want it gone!

But I don’t need to look at the debt with fear in this season. I don’t need to stress over finances at all, and that is something God has really been teaching me through giving me less finances to stress over.

We do what we can to pay off our debts in the faith that God will bring about release from them in time. God loves to relieve debts - just look at His laws for protecting indentured servants from being enslaved to their debts (Exodus 21:2-10, Deuteronomy 15:12). Look at how Jesus paid the ultimate debt for us so that we may live (Colossians 2:13-14, 1 John 2:2, Galatians 5:1).

I have seen God bring my family out of the fire time and time again. I have seen Him protect my children and save my marriage. I have seen Him perform countless miracles in my life and the lives of others; yes, even in the midst of a global pandemic.

I have faith that He will bring us through this pandemic and that He has a greater plan in all this we cannot see, and it is that faith that gives me peace. Peace in finances. Peace in pandemics. Peace in all things, because my God is greater than all of it.

So What?

Why is this important for you to hear? Maybe you feel stuck in your current job because your expenses require that income. Maybe you feel God calling you to something specific but are afraid to pursue it because it feels new and scary and you feel blind. It’s not easy to make decisions that could put you in financially compromising positions. It hopefully won’t result in significant debt or financial strife in the same way it did for us, but I want you to remember that there are things more important than money and financial stability. Your mental health is more important. Your marriage is more important. Your kids are more important. Fill in the blank and there are always things that are more important than your finances. Financial freedom isn’t freedom unless it also brings a lifestyle that is free.