This is looong but I need the help!
I am married to a wonderful man who is completely irresponsible with money. He hasn’t held a steady job since we married five years ago. We share an account and I let him handle the money because… well, I didn’t want him to feel emasculated by earning the cash and then deciding how we use it. The bills are always paid on time, house is always well stocked with food, he shops for the kids’ clothes, he really is very, very good. BUT once the main things are taken care of, he blows through the rest of the cash on nonsensical items. We have no savings despite me having earned very good money for several years now.
He has put us in quite some serious debt two times but MIRACULOUSLY we always got huge amounts of money to clear those debts. (Through my jobs, but always unexpected/unplanned i.e nothing to do with my effort.)
My dilemma: I am a Christian. I believe, based on the Bible, that God is the one who provides for us. And this is what is causing my problem.
Because God is our provider, should I stop stressing about this man’s lack of planning where money is concerned? Or should I step in FORCEFULLY and take the financial reigns and stop ‘hiding behind God’?
I say forcefully because we have talked about his spending and have tried various plans to control it but though he agrees with me in principle, he doesn’t actually go through with any of the decisions we make.
I am beginning to get disheartened because in my opinion his decisions will put us in the poorhouse one day.
How should I handle this keeping in mind that
1. God is the provider and I should trust Him to work things out
2. The husband is the head of the home?
Please keep it spiritual/bible based because under ordinary circumstances it would be ‘take control of the cash and forget about the man’ but that is not a solution that will work for me right now. I need to reconcile the cash and the spirit :)
Help.