It is not once that I have counselled with young parents whose children have been thrown out of school due to huge fees arrears. Likewise, I have had to pray with various individuals over huge debts hanging over their necks. Many of these are often the result of unfortunate and unexpected job losses, collapsed business, or a departed income earner in the family.
These are realities of life that we are neither immune to nor can be blamed for. However, in some cases, the financial pain is self-inflicted, especially when a person insists on maintaining a costly lifestyle – for example, retaining children in costly schools in spite of changed financial circumstances. Many end up taking a loan to repay another loan and the cycle continues until there is nowhere to borrow from. Yet, such situations are avoidable if one downgraded their lifestyle.