When you are confronted with a load of debt, of any size, the best advice that I can give you is to pray. Yes, pray. Do this FIRST!
What can I do without prayer? Well, let me tell you...I can flounder around for 10 years, trying to pay off my debt in my own strength. I can get frustrated and stressed and upset. I can be anxious. I can cry. I can work and work and work and still not see the debt needle move down. These are all of the things that I have done over the years. These things have done nothing for my debt. Not one single thing. It was not until recently that I invited God into the conversation. I actually did not realize that I hadn't been praying about it until I started praying about it. Now, I look back and I realize that I was wearing this debt like a comfortable pair of pants. I saw it as immovable, and just a part of me. I figured God already knew about it...so there was no need for me to really say anything to Him about it.
And then, there is the shame that I have about having so much debt. Not only having so much debt, but also having an advanced degree that does not have the income payoff that I originally anticipated. I am very thankful for the education that my student loans afforded me, but I had a level of naïveté when I took on that degree - thinking that the loans were no big deal because I would be able to command a salary that would pay off in dividends very quickly...and then the loans would just be a bad memory. How naive I was! Because of my particular life circumstances, I am not able to command a six figure salary at the moment...and with the elephant I am carrying, there is a certain level of shame. The shame is not even in the amount, but the inability to make it go anywhere. Its is a hard dynamic to explain, but I definitely feel it and I am sure that I am not the only one.
And this is where prayer comes in. I know that God always knew that I would have this debt and these personal finance issues and somehow He wants to use this situation so that He can be glorified. There were times that I thought He would send a fortune my way - maybe some well-to-do philanthropist would find out about my debt and pay it off. Maybe I would happen upon a job with an unreasonably huge salary that would permit me to pay off my debt in full very quickly....So many different scenarios would appear in my daydreams, but none of them amounted to a hill of beans. Sometimes I would even (so shamefully) think about how different my life would be if I wasn't a wife and mother, and could just dedicate myself to working two different jobs and not getting any sleep to may off my debt. That is such a selfish thought that it very difficult to admit. But it is true! And even typing out these thoughts I realize how much wrong thinking and anxiety I could have avoided if I simply prayed through all of this a long time ago.
So, yes, prayer. If you are not a praying person, or not Christian you may be asking, what does this mean? What good is praying about my debt going to do? Will I get up from praying and find that the debt is gone? Well, let me explain as simply as possible with regards to debt. The Bible says that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. It also says that the prayers of a righteous man avails much, that we can cast our cares upon Him because He cares about us and that if I don't depend on my own understanding, but acknowledge Him in all of my ways, that He will direct my paths. I know that the more I seek Him by sincerely reading my Bible and inviting Him into all of my decisions and thoughts, and the more that I communicate my stress to Him and wait on Him to direct my paths, then I begin realize that the burden is no longer my responsibility to carry. It clears my mind so that I can hear and receive the direction that He gives through His Word and His Holy Spirit.
I have noticed that with more prayer about my debt, that I have realized so many other things about myself....praying about debt leads to praying about income leads to praying about being a better employee leads to praying about being a better wife, mother and so on. All of this goes hand in hand. That is one of the reasons why I love listening to Dave Ramsey, because he reinforces all of these Biblical truths and helps me to apply them practically. And I can keep my sanity while eating the elephant one bite at a time :)
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