My Burden Is Lighter

“I had always done the finances since we were married and we were always in debt. I always gave in to my husband when he wanted to buy something because he was making the money. Didn’t he deserve to spend it? Well, we kept getting deeper and deeper in debt. I started hiding a lot of the late bills from him. Then God sent me a wake up call. At age 31 I got severe life-threatening pneumonia. I was hospitalized for a week.

“Well, wouldn’t you know that that was the week all the late, late bills showed up at our house? My husband was not livid, he was so concerned about my health, but he was disturbed and worried. Lying in the hospital bed I looked up at him with tears in my eyes and said, “I can’t do this any more. Will you please take this burden from me?”

“Well he has done a stupendous job! In a matter of a year and a half we have one car paid off, bills all caught up. We are down to one credit card, used for emergencies and three months ago we were able to buy our FIRST home!!! Not only that, he suffered a salary cut for the past two years. I am totally convinced of the husband bearing this burden, especially if he is the breadwinner. My job is to be sure I keep within his budget and give him a signal if something unexpected is coming up. My burden is so much lighter now that I am not day in and day out worried about money! Hooray!” From Sandy Schindler’s online FW class.

Confession of a Career Woman

“I could get up on my soap box about this one, especially because I bought into it. Looking back on my parents and grand parents lives and then mine and my sons, there are HUGE differences, not many of them good, either. As a young woman growing up in the late 60s and 70s, I bought into the career/money/yuppie/good life fairy tale. I was going to be a career woman! I was going to be somebody! I bought into the feminist theory big time.

”About the time women did that, men, not being stupid, said, “Well girls, if you want to work and make a career, go ahead. That takes responsibility from us men.“ And men were encouraged to go their own way, do their own thing and the heck with something as old fashioned as family values, ethics and morals. If women were getting out of their traditional roles, men would too.

“Society as a whole changed. Instead of looking out for each other, doing right etc, we now began to put ourselves first, looking out for #1 (ourselves) and whatever it took to get what we wanted, it was ok. We could rationalize it away. What a mess we have made. In less than 50 years, what a disaster. What took America almost 150 years to build we tore down I less than one generation.

“Moral, ethical, responsible, loving people need to take back their society - for many, religion plays a big part in this. We need to return to traditional values, traditional roles, and learn to be content in any and all circumstances. Money does NOT make for happiness! We have made money our God, so to speak. We must change our focus and understand what we must do and where we must go. Women hold a valuable key to all of this. FW women, especially! For we indeed hold the keys to reshaping our families - our husbands, our children and in so doing we will reshape our nation. There is a verse in the Bible that says something to that effect, that the way a branch is trained, that is how the tree will grow. It is true for plants, for people and for nations.” From Sandy Schindler’s online class.

I don’t know your name but thank you for this beautiful discourse. I would like to broadcast it to the entire nation, with the sound of a trumpet. Does anyone have any connections with the media to help us reach this objective? Helen Andelin

Welcome Home

Sandy Schindler gave an assignment to her online class, titled Welcome Home, taken from the FW Workbook. As a result, here is a success story:

“How did my Welcome Home Assignment go? Well, dear ladies, let me tell you! I did my welcome home this morning. I had the front porch light on, as it was pretty black out there. I awoke at 4:00 am, dressed and did my makeup (quite an accomplishment, mind you.) I turned on a little light, warmed up his breakfast, and even sprayed perfume around the house so he could get a nice soft scent. Then we ate breakfast, a nice quiet breakfast for both of us. He talked about his work, his stressors right now, what he wants to accomplish this week, etc. I took mental notes to prepare some things for the week for him, which I wrote down when he went to bed.

The pink balloon was a hit, as well as some of the scriptures I’ve placed around the house. He asked about the eye. (The pink balloon and the eye were part of the teacher’s assigment.) I told him the eye was to see from another perspective. Am I the only wife whose husband thinks this is just how life is? He hasn’t a clue about FW! He just feels very lucky. One for the Love Book. I had the bed made and let him vent awhile and he slept. Fairly soundly too. Sigh . . . These are the days that make me feel I could give him the world in one minute, just for those big blue eyes. While I can’t do that I can surely give him a wonderful home and family that is a blessing to him. My life goals. From Sandra Schindler’s online FW class.