Does God Care About Healing Your Finances?

Three Testimonies of Financial Healing

I know that you have likely heard of physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. But have you ever heard of financial healing? Do you wonder if God wants to heal your finances?

The Bible talks about healing. The healing of bodies and bones (Proverbs 3:8), grief (Jeremiah 8:18), the land (Isaiah 19:22), wounds (Jeremiah 8:22), faithlessness (Hosea 14:4), and healing of the mind by removing demons (Luke 8:26-39; Acts 10:38). Psalm 24:1 verifies that “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” Proverbs 10:22 says, “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, without painful toil for it.” So, if everything belongs to the Lord, who blesses you because he chooses to, doesn’t that mean he can control money in such a way to bless you with financial healing? I believe it does.

Ginny’s Story

I attended a private university because it was the only institution to offer the degree in missions I was looking for. Also, like most students nowadays, I had to take out loans after applying for all the scholarships I could find. One such scholarship, known as the MSSP promissory note, was valued at $12,000. However, if I did not go into the mission field as a commissioned missionary upon graduating, within 6 months, it would turn into a loan with a specific interest rate I would have to pay back. I felt confident I would be in the mission field before the scholarship turned into a loan.

When I graduated, I felt called to teach English in South Korea. I contacted the man who was my director at the university, who helped me with any questions I had about the scholarship program. I told him that I was headed to Korea because that’s where I felt called. Unfortunately, I was unable to leave for Korea before the 6-month grace period on the scholarship expired. I explained that I couldn’t go into the mission field with such a significant amount of education debt and that I couldn’t repay my loan. I had graduated with $55,000 in debt, but that amount did not include the $12,000 promissory note. My college director and I had to discuss the matter with the finance person, and it took some convincing on my director’s part, but they both agreed to defer my loan and scholarship payment for a year.

Once I got to Korea, I became heavily involved in volunteering at an orphanage at least once a week. I would send updates throughout the year to both the woman in the financial department and my director. Each year, I would email them and ask if they were willing to let me defer for one more year, as I was involved in volunteer work and connected with the Nazarene Church. Each year, they reluctantly said, “ok, for one more year, but this is probably the last year we will defer.”

I constantly felt stressed over my education loans. I wondered if I would ever be able to pay it back because of the accumulated interest charges. I had been regularly paying on the $55,000 debt little by little each year, sending over 1/2 of my paycheck towards my loans each month. But still, I had the $12,000 scholarship-turned-loan hanging over my head.

In December 2016, during my fifth year in Korea, I again messaged my contact in the financial department, as well as the head director, to request a one-year deferral. I had assumed I would not be able to do so. I felt that I had been pushing my limits all along.

When the email response arrived from the university, I was overwhelmed. It read: “Based on this information, I determined that you have been performing in a mission-type capacity, which is in line with the MSSP promissory note, allowing 25% cancellation for each year of service.

So, with this in mind, I processed a complete cancellation of the MSSP loan this month (you have been working in this capacity for 5 years). Thank you for your service in South Korea, as you touch lives for Christ!”

The person who had been so against deferring my loan forgave it COMPLETELY. I sat, crying on my couch for a while, rereading the email at least 10 times before I truly believed it. I received the miracle of financial healing that day.

Noah’s Story

From the beginning of my financial adolescence, spending money was a way for me to temporarily relieve the pain that I felt inside, to fill an empty place left by my parents’ divorce and the resulting chaos.

It didn’t take long for the spending problem to get worse. Beginning in late high school, I began to spend more and more on marijuana and alcohol. I even went so far as to frivolously spend thousands and thousands of dollars set aside from a student loan during one impulsive and spiritually black summer. Those understated, poor spending habits forced me to drop out of college, which only added the pain of regret to my unnecessary burden. The next few years were equally impulsive, with similar spending patterns.

Then, fantastically, God plucked me from the toxic circumstances that were contributing to the downward trend of my life. My parents offered to help me get out of the downward spiral and begin attending a Christian recovery program, all while introducing me to a wonderful church community. It took some time, but I was struck fully by the love of Christ, and I began the process of dedicating my entire life to Him. The healing that I received emotionally, this radical-then-gradual renewing of my mind, was indescribable. It’s the manifestation of God’s love for my entire being. His love is the reason I live. But as I said, I deeply desired to give him my whole life. To submit my entire life, I chose to surrender control of my finances completely to the One who already “owns” the universe.

So, one day, I decided to check my credit score. I had not done so in a few years because, frankly, it was deficient, and I was trying to do what was right at that moment, hoping for the best in the rest. It still pained me to think of the tens of thousands of dollars remaining on the education debts. However, to my astonishment and that of my family, the credit report showed that about 95% of the accounts had a balance of zero!

Relief washed over me. I couldn’t find the words to express my gratitude for the way God seemingly erased my debts. Healing and transformation—however they look—is an expression of God’s love for us. I wouldn’t expect this kind of thing to happen to everyone, but as we follow God’s will and seek Him before and above all else, even the most difficult parts of our lives can change for the glory of God.

Mary’s Story

In 1991, I went through a challenging financial situation; I got divorced. Through the divorce and all the other legal battles I incurred, my parents played a huge role in supporting me by paying for the lawyers and other professionals to help me move forward with my life. They also helped with monthly rent payments, electricity bills, and all the other expenses that come with living. But as a single mom, simple expenses become overwhelming.

I remember one specific day during the divorce when my mother came in from the back room carrying a red bill folder, the kind that looked like an accordion. I remember her specifically saying, “This is a folder full of all the things your dad and I have ever paid for you over your lifetime.” I was shocked to see it and even more shocked at the bulging receipts sticking out. My first thought was, “Why did you keep all that stuff?” Then, “How am I ever going to be able to pay that back?” At that moment, the red folder began hanging over my head.

Spring forward twenty years. The red folder is still in the picture, and I know it. During those twenty years, I learned the total I owed my parents was well over $50,000. I also learned that I wouldn’t be in the will until my parents received full payment. I was no longer a single mom, but still had a family that I was supporting with my new husband. He and I often talked about winning the lottery so we could get out from under the red folder. But “you have to play to win,” I would say. We didn’t play, so I felt there was no hope.

During a visit to my parents, they began discussing how they were revising their will. Honestly, I stopped listening because I knew the red folder stopped me from sharing in their legacy. I didn’t realize they were having a change of heart. I didn’t know God had been doing something behind the scenes, of which I was completely unaware.

About a week later, I received a random phone call from my dad. He was asking about the ministry I was involved in at church. Then he started telling me how proud he was of the changes he could see God had been making in my life. I had given my testimony in church a few weeks before that and came clean with my family about my past use of drugs and alcohol. My dad said that the testimony had touched him and my mother. Then he told the most miraculous thing. He said, “I want you to know that you’re free of any debt with us, and you’re back in the will.”

To say I was speechless is an understatement. I never thought I would be free from that debt. I could never have accomplished it by my own hand, but only through the power of God’s grace, which he so freely poured out on me that day. Through the power of God’s work in my life and my obedience to be transparent and vulnerable before God and others, I received healing from a debt I could never repay.

Conclusion

God desires to heal you from all things in your life. Financial healing is only one of those areas that he deeply cares about. Sometimes, like in Jinny’s case, it has no apparent reason. In Noah’s case, he submitted his finances first. In Mary’s case, she gradually made improvements that reflected in her life in Christ.

God rewards you for reasons unexplained. However, the biggest reason is that he loves you and wants to give you the best gifts ever. He does care about your finances. He does want to heal them.