What’s Blocking Your Path to Financial Freedom? Surrender Your Financial Stress to God.
“O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!” (Servant of God Don Delindo, the Surrender Novena).
What Do You Want?
“Success” is an interesting word, and there is a lot of content on various social media platforms regarding limiting beliefs and how they are getting in our way of success. Generally, success means accomplishing a goal or task. Achieving “financial freedom” is often viewed as being successful—but what really is “financial freedom,” from the Catholic perspective? After all, St. Paul tells us, “Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction” (1 Timothy 6:9). Can we desire financial freedom without desiring to be rich?
In this Forbes article, wealth adviser John Jennings explores different studies completed over about the past 20 years on whether money can buy happiness. He says these studies indicate that for the general population, having more money is correlated with living a more satisfying life. Much of this correlation has to do with the security we feel when we have enough money to afford our basic needs and the things we want.
However, this way of thinking often divorces God from our finances. As this article is in a secular publication and discusses secular studies, I’m not surprised. It does make me wonder, though: Does our happiness lie in having security in something?
The Answer: Surrender
Since the leadership of the U.S. changed hands in January this year, the stock market has been very turbulent. As I write this article, the S&P 500 index is up a percent one day and down the next. The constant ups and downs concern many of my clients, particularly the ones who are in early retirement. After all, they need this money to live on for the next 20 to 40 years.
They (and we) need money to survive. We are reliant on it to pay for our basic needs. So, how do we balance our trust that God will provide with prudence regarding the resources He has already provided?
I think the answer lies in surrender. In the Surrender Novena, we pray over and over, “O Jesus, I surrender myself to You, take care of everything!” How hard is it to transition these words from our mouth to our head to our heart! But as we release our stresses to God, He gives us peace and freedom. The same is true with our finances. When we are able to release our financial anxiety to God, we are able to experience true financial freedom. This freedom does not mean having a certain balance in our bank account; instead, it means trusting that God is providing and we are being responsible—that we will have what we need, because He is a good Father and we are responsible stewards.
Does this mean we will never fall on hard times or difficult circumstances? Of course not. We might still have times when it seems like we do not have enough money to meet our needs. How do we reconcile this reality with God’s providence? Every situation is different, but at the end of the day, He is with us and will guide us through every moment.
It may be unclear how. It may be unclear why. Like the question of why evil exists, we may not truly understand the answer until Heaven. Free will exists so that we can truly love, but it also means we can turn away from love, and so can others. The actions of others could result in our suffering. We need to surrender this suffering, too. As we surrender it, we will find peace. In all things, God will provide.
Surrendering will be a lifelong journey. I am not sure we will ever feel like we are doing it completely right. As we get better at it, though, we will feel more peace, and it will get easier. In the same way that we need to be prudent about how we invest our money and then surrender and trust the process, we need to release our financial stress and desire for security to God and trust that He will take care of us. There are moments we will need to pivot, but we should be prudent about how and when. When in doubt, take it to prayer, ask a trusted friend or adviser, and surrender all to God. He will provide, and He will never leave your side when you call on Him.
Erica Mathews is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional with Financial Counseling Associates, a family-owned financial planning and investment management firm. She helps relieve financial stress with organization, automation and a plan, helping others manage their finances so they can live as God is calling them to. She lives in Colorado with her husband and four kids; they love CrossFit, rock climbing, gardening, and exploring nature. Erica’s email is erica@fca-inc.com.