God has a powerful way of announcing the change of season from winter to spring. The scent of lilacs fills the air. Warm breezes invite us to throw open our windows. Parks turn pink with blooming azaleas. Tulips and daffodils push their heads out of the unthawed ground.

Spring is the time of year that women traditionally think about giving their houses a thorough cleaning and making everything fresh and new. Some of us look forward to it, while others loathe the prospect and seek help. The types of spring-cleaning we can embark upon in our day are nearly endless: cleaning computer hard drives, emptying e-mail boxes, decluttering everything and anything in summer homes, parents' homes and garages.

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Faith is a powerful currency in the spiritual realm. If we want to receive anything from God, we must have it. Those who possess great faith enjoy incredible spiritual wealth, while those who suffer in fear live in an impoverished state.

Any study of faith must start with the definition God gave us in Hebrews 11:1-3: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen....By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible" (NKJV).

Quite simply, faith is believing in God and what He tells us. How do we get it? "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," Paul wrote (Rom. 10:17).

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The Bible says we are to be witnesses in all the earth. It's very important that we not only tell people about Jesus but also live in a way that testifies of His goodness.

No one witnessed to me about Jesus when I was in the world. My mentality was so far from God that if a person wanted to minister to me, he could not approach me from a religious standpoint.

Most of the people I knew who claimed to be saved painted an undesirable picture of salvation. I will never forget Mrs. Christina, a woman who lived five houses down from me when I was in the military at Fort Stewart, Georgia.

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Many years ago, I read in a financial self-help book that if I had a problem with credit card spending, I should put the card in a bowl of water and freeze it. The idea was that it would be such a hassle to thaw it out, you'd have enough time to thoughtfully consider the purchase and avoid impulse buying.

Nice thought--in theory, that is. But here's a word of advice. If you have to thaw that card, don't put it in the microwave because it will (1) demagnetize the card and (2) melt the card into a misshapen mess.

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So you think you're broke! How would you like to be buried under $4.3 million of debt? "Impossible," you say. "No one could ever get in that much debt, much less get out from under it."

But I did, and I can tell you that getting in it was easy. I have a black belt in shopping, having refined my skills over the years at Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue and the shops of other lucky retailers.

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In a marriage, finances are often seen as a place where you can win or lose. Many women spend a great deal of time trying to wield the upper hand in this area because they don't understand their husband's financial philosophy and don't appreciate the way he manages money.

Whether you see your husband as a cheapskate or a spendthrift, you may think it seems logical to counter his approach in order to balance him out. If you decide to beat the cheapskate by talking him into buying something or to conquer the spendthrift by nagging him into saving, your celebration is likely to be both lonely and brief.

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