Whiplash

“Marrying you and your money was like whiplash” uttered my new and loving husband one night he and I were out at dinner. I was stuffing bills into his wallet, wanting it to look as if he were paying for the meal. Over the months, I had dizzily watched a new Jim, homeless no more, awakening again to what being in a money society meant. While he pulled out the bills and laid them on the tablecloth, he smiled again: “ Actually, I’d say life with you has been nothing less than three years of whiplash. I’m still scratching my head.

I was scratching my own. What had I done to enjoy the blessings of a close partnership to this man off the street! Yes, we fought, we prayed, and we laughed at ourselves as we reworked the marriage and money contract. Somehow we endured, found friends and a therapist to push us where we wanted to go. And from all that shifting and counting and enduring, Voila! a book, Money As Sacrament, was born. What I wrote on those pages - what thoughts I shared of my confusion, is the journey of a woman who candidly faced her money demons. They are not the same demons for all, and probably evoke disbelief or even comic responses. But these revelations I could only discover in the process of writing and interviewing other women. I liked what I learned.

I encourage you to read these inspiring stories of other women who challenedged their own money demons. You’ll find yourself living in some of their stories. My prayer is that you’ll be led to change beliefs and notions that don’t work for you. And I rejoice that many of the women on my pages became my own mentors. I hope they can become yours as well without the whiplash that Jim experienced.