Why Does My Debt Feel So Overwhelming and Hopeless?

Speaker A00:00:00

Hey, does your debt feel like a dark cloud that just won't go away? Like it's hanging over your head no matter how hard you try to ignore it?Maybe you get that pit in your stomach every time you think about how much you owe and you secretly wonder if you'll ever be free. Yeah, I know that feeling. But here's the truth. You can start breaking free. And it starts with just one brave step first.I'm going to talk about that on today's show and how you can get started to finally break free of that debt.This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence. Hey, friend. Welcome back to your daily Financially Confident Christian. I'm Ralph.I'm here to help you break the financial chains and find God's peace in your money story. And we continue in our series, Breaking Financial Chains. Now, if you missed yesterday's show, we tackled the not enough feeling.We talked about how to replace it with contentment. So I'm going to encourage you.If you missed yesterday's show, you can check it out@financially confidentchristian.com well, today we're going to shift into our debt part of the series and we're starting with a really difficult question that capsulates so many people's situations. And that's why does my debt feel so overwhelming and hopeless?And see, I can remember working with a client who told me, ralph, I don't even open my credit card statements anymore. And of course I was interested in hearing that. And I said to them, why not? She said, because if I don't look, I can pretend it's not that bad. Wow.And I get it. Sometimes the numbers feel so big that even seeing them feels like too much to bear. I've been in that position before. How about you?So we avoid them, hoping somehow they'll just get smaller on their own. But friend, you and I both know avoiding the truth doesn't make it go away. It only keeps you stuck. If that's you.If you've been avoiding the statements, if you've been letting unopened mail pile up or skipping that login screen because you don't want to know, I'll tell you right now, you're not alone in that struggle. But here's what I want you to hear. And I really believe this with all of my heart and all of my soul. You're stronger than you think.And the moment you bring your debt into the light, that's what it's all about today. The moment you bring that debt into the light, you take away some of its power over you.Well, let's get right into the word of God and let's get to figuring out how do we bring that debt into the light. I'm going to start with probably the biggest verse of the Bible that talks about borrowing and talks about debt.It's from the book of Proverbs, chapter 22, verse 7. It says this. And I've used this on the show many times again. Proverbs 22:7. The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender.Here it's the thing you got to understand. Debt can be a form of bondage. It truly is. What does the Bible say? The rich rule over the poor. And what? The borrower is slave to the lender.But God desires for you to walk in freedom. He doesn't want you to be kept in bondage or enslaved by this debt. And let me just tell you something right now.Sometimes the very first step towards getting to that freedom is simply naming what has you bound. So here's the shift I want you to work on today. Instead of letting your debt stay this big, shadowy monster in your mind for so many people. I get it.I've lived in that period of time. I remember a time when I didn't even open up the statements. I didn't want to even look at it. But we need to have a mindset shift.We're really going to gain freedom in this. We need to drag it into the light. And listen, I'm not telling this to you to shame yourself.I'm not wanting you to do this to beat yourself up, but to finally see what you're actually dealing with. And once you see it, you can start making a plan. So here's your one action step for today.Your first step I want you to do is gather all your debt information. Yeah, this is going to be the tough part. I want you to go get every statement.I want you to write down every single login to those online credit card and loan accounts, every bill that you owe, credit cards, student loans, car loans, medical bills. I want you to get everything. Just put it all in a nice pile right there in front of you. Next thing I want you to do is make a list.I want you to call this your freedom list. Just list every single thing, who you owe, the current balance, the interest rate, and the minimum payment. I just want you to do that and this.Add it all up and this is going to be the Stinging part. But seeing that total means you now have a starting line. That's what we're building today. We're building a starting line to your freedom plan.And then I want you to keep that list handy. We're going to be talking about what to do with that list over the next few days, but this is going to be your map for your journey to debt freedom.Because right now, if you haven't faced this, that fear is living in the unknown. You're just living in this unknown sense of. I'm not really sure how big it is, Ralph.I've worked with so many clients and I'll say to them, okay, how much do you owe in debt? Well, you know, I'm not sure, Ralph. The last time I looked at it was X.But once you know the facts, once you're able to put pen to paper, pencil to paper, whatever you're going to do, once you know those facts, you can replace that fear with a plan. And once you have that plan, let me tell you right now, that's going to be the beginning of your hope.That's going to be the beginning of your liberation and your freedom plan. How about we pray together? Father God, we bring you the weight of our debt and we confess that sometimes we've been afraid to even face it.But today we choose courage, Lord. We gather the truth, we write it down, and we trust that you can help us take one step at a time towards freedom.Help us to really see the truth for what it is. Help us to bring it to light, Lord. And we ask this in confidence in Jesus name. Amen. Listen, friend, making that list might feel scary.I remember when I did it, it was the scariest thing I'd done in a long time. Just putting it all on paper. When I got to the end, I was like, I can't believe it's that big.But this truly is an act of faith because it says this and it says it boldly. I believe God can help me handle this. Do you believe that God can help you handle this? If so, I want to encourage you, take that first step today.Because once you face it, once you truly stare at it, when you stare at it, when you look it in its eyes, that's when you can start to change it. And I want to encourage you today I want to also give you a free copy of my book.You can get a copy of my book, how to Become a Financially Confident Christian for Absolutely nothing. Just go to my website, that's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/becoming again. It's absolutely free, no obligations.That's at financiallyconfidentchristian.com/becoming now, tomorrow we're going to continue talking about debt. We're going to talk about tomorrow's topic is the minimum payment trap. A lot of people are stuck in that trap.But tomorrow, I'm going to show you how to finally break out of it. So today I want to encourage you, let's all go out there and be financially confident Christians. I believe in you, believe in yourself. God bless you.And you have a great day today.