{"id":301791,"date":"2009-03-24T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-24T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/%series%\/regaining-your-financial-footing\/"},"modified":"2009-03-24T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-24T15:00:00","slug":"regaining-your-financial-footing","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/regaining-your-financial-footing\/","title":{"rendered":"Regaining Your Financial Footing"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Worried about how the economy will affect you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":294104,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"https:\/\/web.familylifetoday.com\/fl2009-03-24.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:","filesize":"12.55M","filesize_raw":"13158946","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":""},"categories":[2851],"tags":[4525,5052,4853],"podcast_series":[7636],"cwp_profile":[8914],"series":[2101],"class_list":["post-301791","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finances","tag-finances","tag-financial-security","tag-money","podcast_series-weathering-the-financial-storms","cwp_profile-jerry-foster","series-familylife-today"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg?w=508","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2023\/02\/image-scaled.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-download\/301791\/regaining-your-financial-footing","player_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-player\/301791\/regaining-your-financial-footing","audio_player":null,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/familylife-today\/id212174303?mt=2&app=podcast","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0j5UaKdQOHQCuo1bt0ebEm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/feed\/podcast\/familylife-today","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Q4RjsqG8pp\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/regaining-your-financial-footing\/\">Regaining Your Financial Footing<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/regaining-your-financial-footing\/embed\/#?secret=Q4RjsqG8pp\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Regaining Your Financial Footing&#8221; &#8212; FamilyLife\u00ae - A Cru Ministry\" data-secret=\"Q4RjsqG8pp\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var 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Foster is a financial planner, and together with his wife, they have been coaching a young woman on the need to have an emergency fund set aside, even if you can't save very much at all.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> This is a single mom with two young kids, you know, hardly able to make the rent, but she was finding a way to put the money away and watching her spending, and she found a few dollars every month extra that she started putting into emergency savings.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tShe called here \u2013 oh, this is probably just maybe two or three months ago, and she was excited, and she called because she had \u2013 her car had broke down, and she says, \"I'm excited because I have the money to pay for it,\" and, for her, that was a victory.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> This is FamilyLife Today for Tuesday, March 24th.\u00a0 Our host is the president of FamilyLife, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine.\u00a0 Today we will offer some practical strategies for families to have more financial victories like that.\u00a0 Stay tuned.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd welcome to FamilyLife Today, thanks for joining us.\u00a0 You know, everybody is aware, I think, of the current economic climate that we are living in in the United States.\u00a0 But I was thinking the other day \u2013 how many families have had their own personal economic meltdown?\u00a0 You know, I was thinking back to a time when Mary Ann and I, we'd been married for five or six years, and we had moved a couple of times in the same year.\u00a0 We had lived in Tulsa, and then we moved to Phoenix and five months later we moved to Sacramento, and at that point in my life, I owned two homes and was renting a third.\u00a0 I had paid for a couple of moves in the process, and \u2013 well, I was a little overextended, you know?\u00a0 And I remember \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Was that when you lost your job, too?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yeah, yeah, it was that whole environment, and I remember us having to batten down the hatches and take some pretty significant steps, as a family, to weather that crisis.\u00a0 And I thought, you know, we're dealing with this is as a nation in major economic markets, but I would imagine most families have lived through one or more of these kinds of personal economic meltdowns.\u00a0 Did you ever have one, you and Barbara?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Yes.\u00a0 I got a couple of short paychecks one time, and it has a way of getting your attention.\u00a0 In fact, what I want us to do today is I want us to help people who are feeling the effects of this financial crisis and help them know how to think as they look toward the future.\u00a0 So it's a little bit of advising Bob of how he should have thought, and a lot of advising you, as a listener, of how you should be thinking as you look to the future.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd with us to do that is Jerry Foster.\u00a0 Jerry, welcome back.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> Thanks, good to be here.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Jerry is a Certified Financial Planner.\u00a0 He is the CEO of The Foster Group, a financial planning and life coaching company in west Des Moines, Iowa, and also serves as a speaker at Cross Trainers, which is a group of men that meets there in Des Moines on a weekly basis.\u00a0 You and your wife, Nancy, have four children, and you guys have bee speaking at our Weekend to Remember Marriage Conferences for the past decade.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd what I want to do, Jerry, is I want to talk about Bob's situation except let's make it present day.\u00a0 What should a person think, how should they begin to look to the future if they are facing some impact of this financial tsunami that continues to sweep across the nation?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> Well, you know what's interesting is that when you look at basic financial principles, the principles are true whether we're in a financial tsunami, like you suggest, or we're in a time of prosperity.\u00a0 They are the same.\u00a0 They don't change.\u00a0 We just may approach them a little differently, and it boils down to four basic principles, and if everybody would adhere to these four principles, I don't think any of us would be facing off some of the difficulties that we're facing today.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIn essence, those four principles \u2013 one would be just to think long term \u2013 set goals for the future, invest for the long term, don't worry so much about the things that we're hearing on the TV in terms of the short-term volatility that's bouncing around, and it's infecting us with all this kind of fear and that.\u00a0 Just think long term and, of course, that means that you have to have a plan.\u00a0 You have to sit down, and you have to start to think in terms of what is it that I want to accomplish and begin to work towards?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThe second is probably the key to this, and that is simply spend less than you earn.\u00a0 That sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?\u00a0 But the reality is most people don't live there.\u00a0 It requires us really understanding what we are spending and what we are earning and then developing a spending plan, and that's the hard part.\u00a0 People don't like the word \"budget,\" so a lot of times what I try to do is I rename it.\u00a0 We'll call it the \"cash flow management system.\"\u00a0 It sounds a little better, doesn't it?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Uh-huh, or the \"envelope system.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> The envelope system, which I've been there before, yes.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Yeah, yeah, that works.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> But, anyway, monitor it and implement it and follow it closely.\u00a0 The third, then, is develop an emergency fund.\u00a0 This is setting aside \u2013 I generally tell people to have up to six months' worth of your expenses in an account that's there in the event of an emergency.\u00a0 I can't tell you the number of people that we talk with that haven't even though about that.\u00a0 They don't have it there.\u00a0 They have their \u2013 they may even have plenty of money, but it's tied up in things that if they needed it, they might have to liquidate it, pay something to get the money out, and it just makes sense to have an emergency fund put aside.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThe fourth, then, is the whole issue of minimizing the use of debt, and that's what gets many of us in trouble is that whole issue of buying more than we really can afford, running up those credit card bills, car loans, et cetera, but minimizing debt.\u00a0 And those are four very simple, very strategic principles.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> All right, I've got to stop you here, because there are some folks listening going, \"You lost me at 'think long term.'\u00a0 I mean, here is my situation, right?\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Back to Bob's situation, I mean, he's lost his job \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> I'm trying to get out from under the pile.\u00a0 I've got creditors who are calling and saying, \"You owe us this money, when are you going to pay?\"\u00a0 I can't think long term now.\u00a0 I'm thinking about how am I going to pay next week's light bill to try to keep the electricity on in the house.\u00a0 So \u2013 really?\u00a0 Think long term if I'm in that situation?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> Well, the principle is you don't throw the baby out with the bath water just because you don't happen to be there right now.\u00a0 It still is an issue if you implement these strategies, and what I found is success breeds success.\u00a0 If you start exercising these principles, and maybe it just starts with sitting down, creating a plan, knowing what you're going to shoot for.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI was talking with just a young couple, a couple 24 years old, married a little over a year, hardly making enough to even scrape by, but they wanted to implement these strategies.\u00a0 And so they are putting aside $10 a month into an account for \u2013 first of all, to establish their emergency fund, because they don't have an emergency fund, but they're starting with something.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWhat was really interesting is when we got done, and we got that set up for them, and they're looking at that $10 \u2013 now, that's not much.\u00a0 Most people could find $10 somewhere in their expenses, you know, one less Starbuck's coffee or whatever it is and pretty soon they can come up with $10.\u00a0 But they were excited about the fact that they were now putting money aside.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tNancy and I have had foster children over the years, and we have one of our foster children that's now 38 years old, and she was a mess financially when \u2013 over the years, as we've worked with her.\u00a0 She had so much debt, and she had no budget, and she couldn't even pay rent, and she was just a mess.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWe worked with her over the years, put her on the envelope system, put her on a budget, the whole bit, and she's been putting money aside, and the other day she called me excited.\u00a0 She had had a first-time experience that she had never had before, and she called me up, and she says, \"I got my mail today, I opened up my bank statement, and I saw something I've never seen before.\u00a0 I saw a line item there that said, \"interest earned,\" and she had $1.64 of interest earned, and she was so excited because she'd never seen it before.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Right.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> And so that's why \u2013 it's those small steps, it's the little things.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Jerry, it's interesting that we wouldn't think about building a house without having a plan.\u00a0 You have to have blueprints if you're going to have a builder come in and take materials and ultimately construct a house.\u00a0 You've got to know what it looks like in the end.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBut when it comes to our lifetime together as a couple, dealing with our money, you are saying that most couples don't have a plan, they don't have blueprints, to know where they're going.\u00a0 And what you're calling us to do at this point is just pull back, pull out of the mainstream, pull off to the side, look at the big picture, and decide \u2013 what do you want it to look like in 10 years?\u00a0 And by doing so that can begin to alter our decisions today, is that what you're saying happens?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> Absolutely, because once you have a plan, and you know what you're shooting for, what it does is you know where you're going.\u00a0 I mean, right now, if you don't know where you're going, you're just basically \u2013 you're letting life basically do to you rather than you doing what you need to do to get to your goals.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> And all of the advertisements at that point just dictate to you your purchases and how you live rather than you being in control of your checkbook?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> Exactly.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> So you think long term, and then this issue of spending less than you earn and then maintaining emergency savings, and you've talked about how important that is.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Yeah, and don't you think this is tougher for this young generation who are getting started in their own marriage and family where credit is easy, you can borrow, you can always charge it, and it's counter-intuitive to think about an emergency savings account for six months?\u00a0 That's a lot of money.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> Well, it is a lot of money, but if you don't have it, then what you end up having to do is go and borrow money and, before long, you get behind the eight ball and that, and it's really difficult to dig out.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tLet me give you another example of that \u2013 the same foster daughter I was talking about \u2013 she started putting in the envelope system, putting money away and watching her spending, and she found a few dollars every month extra that she started putting into emergency savings.\u00a0 She called her \u2013 oh, this is probably just maybe two or three months ago, and she was excited, and she called because she \u2013 her car had broke down.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tNow, I'm trying to figure out \u2013 why are you excited?\u00a0 Your car just broke down.\u00a0 I'm trying to understand then reconcile that.\u00a0 And she says, \"I'm excited because I put the money away in my emergency account.\u00a0 I have the money to pay for it.\"\u00a0 And for her that was a victory, it was a major victory.\u00a0 Now, this is a single mom, you know, with two young kids, you know, working, hardly able to make the rent, but she was finding a way to put the money away for that emergency account, and what that did is that gave her a sense of confidence.\u00a0 That's what we're talking about here.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWhen you succeed in each of these areas, what you're doing is you're building momentum for you to accomplish a lot of your other objectives.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Isn't it generally true, Jerry, that the closer a couple or an individual lives to the edge, it's just a matter of time until the unpredictable nature of things falling apart, breaking down, needing repair, emergencies occur and puts us over the edge?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> Oh, absolutely.\u00a0 I mean, when Nancy and I first got married, we were living right on the edge, and we had two premature babies, seven weeks early, and it really threw our entire life off, because we hadn't planned for that, and that created for us an incredible amount of stress as we tried to figure out how we're going to deal with that.\u00a0 We just didn't plan for that.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> And so what I want our listeners to hear is, as you get this emergency pool beginning to build up, it moves you away from the edge back to the center and gives you the ability to withstand a few blows and some storms in life without it tipping you, as a couple, into a very stressful situation where it could be damaging to your marriage.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> Well, you are able to think objectively.\u00a0 I mean, when you're living on the edge, you can't think objectively.\u00a0 You are living and making decisions that are being driven by that stress.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> All right, let me just ask you \u2013 on this issue of debt, you know what you're talking about here, don't you?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> I've been there, yes.\u00a0 I mentioned here just a few minutes ago that some unexpected things took Nancy and I to the edge, and actually we got to the edge not just because of the unexpected, we got to the edge because of my irresponsibility.\u00a0 I had not done a plan. I did not have the discipline, and I \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> So when you talk about the edge, what edge are you talking about?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> I'm talking about the edge of basically being completely in over my head.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Bankruptcy?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> Pretty close to bankruptcy.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> And what was the impact of that \u2013 recall for us what your marriage felt like at that time?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> Well, at that point, when I took us to the point where we had maxed out our credit card limits, borrowed against insurance policies, you know, had obligations we couldn't meet, there was a pretty significant amount of stress in our marriage, and it was due to my wife who no longer could trust me.\u00a0 I had basically made decisions that didn't allow her to be able to trust me in a lot of things in our marriage.\u00a0 And so we had to figure out how to piece that back together, and we went to a conference that was put on by Larry Burkett, and it was a conference on budgeting and getting rid of debt, and we sat in that, and I remember looking at it and thinking, \"We need to change our entire life.\u00a0 We need to change the way we do things,\" and one of the things he did is he had us inventory our debt and to look at everything that we had and inventory it and then put a plan together for eliminating the debt.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd what we did is we systematically began to walk through that; took the highest interest rate, lowest balance, and we got rid of that first, and then took the same dollars and applied it to the next one, and over what really took about eight years, we worked ourselves out of that hole that we had dug for ourselves. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWhat's interesting, and I share this story in the Weekend to Remember conferences \u2013 what happened is that, as I began to implement these strategies, these disciplines, and began to take leadership for them in our home, Nancy was sitting back, and she was watching, and as she watched, she began to trust a little bit more, and I would take another step.\u00a0 And what it did is we were able to, as a result of having a plan, as a result of having discipline, as a result of the help of a FamilyLife Marriage Conference that we went to \u2013 we went and listened to the speakers and learned about conflict resolution and learned about communication.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWhat we did is we began to piece back our marriage, but it started with this issue of debt, and I think that \u2013 we've heard the statistics that a large percentage of marriages end as a result of this issue \u2013 financial stress.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Were you guys near divorce?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> I think the only thing that kept us together at that point is that we had committed before we got married that divorce would never be an option, and that's one of the things I talk about in the conferences, is that you need to look at each other and say, \"I will never, ever, ever leave you.\u00a0 That's not an option.\"\u00a0 That's the only thing that kept us in there, but we were so close that we were just hanging on by a thread.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Jerry, eight years to get out?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> It took us eight years to dig out.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> That's a long time.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> When you're in the middle of it, it seems like an eternity.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> And the temptation to just say, \"Aw, chuck this, I'm going to live like everybody else.\"\u00a0 Did you feel that?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> Oh, absolutely.\u00a0 There probably wasn't a day that went by that we didn't wonder if this was ever going to work.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> So what kept you hanging in?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> It was the plan.\u00a0 It was sticking to a plan and then, ultimately, it was our faith and belief that God was going to see us through it.\u00a0 I mean, these principles are based upon biblical truths, and when we understand that, when we understood that these weren't just principles or a game plan that somebody put together for us, these are truths that God had said, \"You follow these, and I'll be there for you.\"\u00a0 And He was.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> I'm glad you emphasized that, because that really was what I wanted to emphasize.\u00a0 All these principles we're talking about are all anchored in Scripture \u2013 the Proverbs, the Old Testament, New Testament speaks of being faithful in terms of what God has given us and being good stewards, and I am reminded of Jesus's last words in the Sermon on the Mount \u2013 Matthew, chapter 7, verse 24 through 27.\u00a0 This is what you did right here \u2013 \"Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock,\" and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and there was a financial crisis, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock.\u00a0 \"And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them,\" Jesus said, \"will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.\"\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tNow how stupid would that be?\u00a0 To be near a flood plain and have the rain and the wind and the floods beat against your house.\u00a0 Guess what's going to happen?\u00a0 It's going to fall, and that's what Jesus said happened here \u2013 it fell, and He described it, and He said, \"And great was its fall.\"\u00a0 And the interesting thing about you and Nancy, Jerry, is not only did your house stand after eight years of being disciplined to do what Christ commanded you to do, but today what do you do for a living?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> I'm a financial planner \u2013 go figure.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> God took a blatant weakness, foolishness, and turned you into a model of grace to give help and hope to other people who are making mistakes.\u00a0 I just want to give people encouragement, because there are those right now hearing this story, and they're going, \"Man, there's no hope for us.\u00a0 We could never get out of that.\"\u00a0 Well, let me tell you something \u2013 Jerry and Nancy Foster are great illustrations of how God takes people who aren't doing what's right and not doing it together but start being faithful and together you're making a difference in thousands of marriages and families all over the United States by speaking at our Weekend to Remember Marriage Conferences and you're helping people put together those plans.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jerry:<\/strong> You know, one of the verses that really we held to, and I think it's a verse for couples who are in the midst of this right now, and it comes from 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.\u00a0 It says, \"Therefore, do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.\u00a0 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.\u00a0 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen by what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, for what is unseen is eternal.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd that's what we held onto.\u00a0 You know, we believed that it would happen.\u00a0 We couldn't see it, I mean, you know, when you're in the middle of that, you don't see that there is any way out of that, but we trusted in God's truth and His faithfulness, and we didn't lose heart.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> And, you know, I know it can sound like denial to some folks, but I've found myself facing whatever the challenge, whatever the hardship or trial is \u2013 I've just found myself going, \"This is a light and momentary affliction,\" whatever it is \u2013 a health issue, a light and momentary affliction; financial challenge, light and momentary affliction.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Compared to \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Compared to the eternal weight of glory, and I\u2019m not trying to say that there aren't real trials you face in life, but I'm trying to say that you have to think biblically about the real trials you face in life and go, you know what?\u00a0 This is a light and momentary affliction.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> And that's what Jerry is really challenging us to do is to think rightly and biblically about our money and our possessions and how we are good stewards of that.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Well, and at the same time, we're going to need tools to help us not just think rightly but to help us plan wisely as we manage our family finances.\u00a0 In our FamilyLife Resource Center at FamilyLifeToday.com we have resources designed to help you get your financial house in order.\u00a0 We've got Howard Dayton's very helpful book called \"Your Money Map,\" where he helps couples map out a strategy for being on a firm financial foundation.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIn addition to that book, we've got \"The Family Financial Workbook,\" that is designed by Crown Financial Ministries to help you lay out a spending plan or to fine-tune your spending plan.\u00a0 There are worksheets that help you structure and maintain the family budget, and it's a tool you can use year in and year out.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIf you'd like more information about either of these resources, go to our website, FamilyLifeToday.com, the information you need is available there.\u00a0 You can order from us online, if you'd like as well.\u00a0 That's FamilyLifeToday.com or call 1-800-358-6329, 1-800-F-as-in-family, L-as-in-life, and then the word TODAY, and when you contact us, someone on our team will let you know how you can have any of the resources you need send to you.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tYou know, this month we have had some of our listeners who have gotten in touch with us and along with helping to provide financial support for this ministry by making a donation to FamilyLife Today, they have just been offering some words of encouragement.\u00a0 They have been saying, \"Keep going, we're with you, we believe in you, this is important, what you're doing is vital,\" and you just need to know that those encouraging words mean a lot to us.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd so does your financial support of this ministry.\u00a0 We are listener-supported, and without that financial support, we would have to pull back on our current level of ministry activity, and we're trying not to do that in these very difficult financial times.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSo thanks to those of you who have made a donation this month.\u00a0 If you are able to help with a donation here in March, we would like to send you a thank you gift upon your request.\u00a0 It's a copy of \"The Jesus Film\" on DVD.\u00a0 It's an accurate biblical account of the life of Jesus through His death, His burial, and His Resurrection taken from the Gospel of Luke.\u00a0 It's the most-seen motion picture of all time.\u00a0 One of the nice things about the DVD is it comes with a number of different foreign language tracks available \u2013 Spanish, German, Arabic, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tYou can request a copy of the DVD when you make a donation of any amount to support the ministry of FamilyLife Today this month.\u00a0 If you make your donation online, just type \"JesusDVD\" in the keycode box on the donation form, and we'll know to send the DVD to you.\u00a0 Or call 1-800-FLTODAY, make your donation over the phone and simply request a copy of the DVD when you do make the donation.\u00a0 And, again, let me just say thank you for standing with us and for your encouragement.\u00a0 It does mean a lot to us.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tNow, tomorrow, we're going to be back to talk more about practical ways that families can deal with their family's financial picture.\u00a0 Jerry Foster will be back with us tomorrow.\u00a0 I hope you'll be back as well.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, and our entire broadcast production team.\u00a0 On behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I'm Bob Lepine.\u00a0 We'll see you back next time for another edition of FamilyLife Today. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tFamilyLife Today is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas \u2013 help for today; hope for tomorrow.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWe are so happy to provide these transcripts to you.\u00a0 However, there is a cost to transcribe, create, and produce them for our website.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider <a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/site\/c.dnJHKLNnFoG\/b.3782043\/k.384D\/Support_Us.htm\">donating today<\/a> to help defray the costs?\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tCopyright \u00a9 FamilyLife.\u00a0 All rights reserved.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/\">www.FamilyLife.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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