Inviting God into every aspect of your life is clearly an excellent idea. Having His help and guidance is like having a cheat code in life. There are many areas, however, that I don't even think to invite Him in. Guidance on a major purchase, request for help while working towards goals, or even just increasing the prayers of thanksgiving and showering Him with gratitude are places where I have room for improvement.

For the past 3 and a half years, things have been pretty tight in our household. With Alison in training and our family happily growing, we've been striving towards this goal of getting Alison trained, certified, and out in practice. While taking this journey, we've had the weight of a huge student loan following us around. In fact, it's precisely the student loan that's caused everything to be so tight. This isn't a complaint. Those loans enabled Alison to go to school, get trained, and soon, have a big toolbox to fix the mess with, even though it will take time. This also isn't a vote in support of student loans. I think it's safe to say that Alison and I will be strongly dissuading our own children from taking on the burden of debt in any form.

I share all of this because I'm extremely optimistic about 2016. This is the year that we go from being on defense to going on offense. Diligent budgeting, incentive programs, my growing web design business, Alison taking on an extra shift once a week, and the potential financial benefits of Alison signing a contract for work this year means that we're going to have a lot coming in.

This is exciting not in that we're suddenly going to have a very full budget, but because we're going to make real, sustained progress. The money coming in has already been spoken for. I'm excited for the psychological effect of seeing our debt decrease. After treading water for years, I'm ready to start swimming.

I hope that you and your family have something to be optimistic about this year. Whether it's welcoming a new member of your family, reaching the last leg of a goal, or even getting everything straightened out in your family budget, this is the year to do it.

In this new year which brings with it so much hope and optimism, I hope that you find peace. More importantly, I hope that both you and I are better about inviting God into all areas of our lives so that He can guide and bless us and make 2016 the year that we start something amazing.

Tags: Money