Our nation has been going through some very difficult economic times in recent years, and I suspect many readers can identify with your husband. We need to pray for our nation’s political and business leaders, that they may find ways to restore our prosperity.

But your husband shouldn’t look on himself as a failure. Elsewhere in your letter, you say that almost all the jobs he’s been able to get the last few years were temporary; in some instances, the company even went out of business. In other words, what’s happened to him has been largely outside his control. Why, then, should he blame himself for what’s happened, or be discouraged about the future? The Bible says, “Think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you” (Romans 12:3).

What can he do? My prayer is that he will approach the future with faith — faith that God cares about him; faith that God will provide for him; faith that God can be trusted for the future. His best years could be ahead of him, as he puts his life into the hands of Christ.

May you also be everything your husband needs right now. This is a stressful time for him; don’t make it worse by complaining or badgering him about the future. The Bible says, “But encourage one another daily… so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Hebrews 3:13).