Help Is On the Way for the Financially Stressed

In Making Piece with Financial Debt, money coach Deborah Price at Beliefnet.com writes:

It seems that almost everyone today is burdened by debt. Many of us feel our personal debts--and our national debt--weighing heavily upon us.

Some people always seem to have issues with owing money. Others have been propelled into debt due to the economic crisis. Regardless of how you got there, debt often equals despair. Let’s take a look at some key ways to deal with owing money– and our fears and feelings about it – that are both practical and spiritual.

As a seminary graduate who has served as an ordained minister and in other capacities in various churches over the years, I have to tell you I’m inspired by Price’s advice to the millions around the world now struggling with unemployment and debt. Price does a remarkable job of combining practical financial advice with spiritual support that nurtures and uplifts.

For example her first four of seven tips to the person struggling with debt advise:

Know You Are Not Your Debt

Understand that you are not your debt. Your debt represents where you are financially, not who you are.

Forgive Yourself and Release the Past

If you have any feelings of guilt or shame associated with being in debt, work on forgiving yourself and releasing the past. The past is history and you can choose to do it differently.

Use Stress Management Tools

Debt can create a lot of stress in your life, so integrate stress management techniques into your daily life and nurture yourself by exercising, eating well and taking care of yourself. Continue to tend to your well-being--emotionally, physically, spiritually and, to the best of your ability, financially.

Understand Your Spending Patterns

Going forward, make a commitment to understanding your spending patterns so that you can form a new awareness around your shopping habits and impulses. Keep a small notebook to record both your daily purchases and your mood or emotions at the time of purchase. Notice if you tend to shop or buy impulsively for emotional reasons.

And here's more wisdom from money coach Deborah Price

Survival Strategies for the Unemployed

The Path to Financial Forgiveness

The Dark Side of Money

Is it Really a Money Issue?

And get this: Price has her own blog titled Your Daily Spiritual Stimulus with similar wise, uplifting, and creative ideas for her readers.

In conclusion, here’s a beautiful prayer included among the above tips for making peace with financial debt:

Dear God,

Please help me to heal my relationship with money and to be released from the bondage of debt. Help me to know that I am not my debt or my financial circumstances. Help me to know that regardless of my circumstances that my life has meaning and value. Help me to be kind to myself and to use my indebtedness as an opportunity to heal and to be closer to your infinite wisdom.

Give me strength, courage and wisdom and guide me to right action. Please surround my life with your constant love, light and protection so that I may know that I am never alone. Thank you for all you have given me and continue to give me. For this and so much more, my life is blessed and I am eternally grateful. I surrender all to you with faith and trust that all will be resolved in time. And so it is. Amen.