Mike Triem talks with Bethany Frymire about her book Women of Worth: A Faith-Based Guide to Financial Wisdom and the importance of closing the financial confidence gap, especially for Christian women. Bethany shares how God unexpectedly led her into financial advising and explains that real confidence with money begins with knowing your worth in Christ, not in your financial status.
Their conversation also explores how couples should approach finances together, why money should be viewed as a tool for stewardship rather than a measure of self-worth, and how parents can begin teaching children biblical financial principles. Bethany encourages listeners to
00:00:01 Introduction to Financial Confidence for Women
00:13:04 Connecting with Bethany and Further Steps
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, hey, it’s Mike Trim with the Crawford Media Group. We’re joined by Bethany Frymire. And today we’re talking about closing the financial confidence gap for Christian women. Bethany, thank you for taking time with us.
SPEAKER 02 :
Absolutely, Mike. Thank you so much for having me on today. I’m excited about our conversation.
SPEAKER 01 :
Bethany, we are too, because this is a topic that we just don’t hear. A lot of our programmers are ministry-oriented, so they’re not really talking about finances very often. And when they do, it’s just in a different context. We’re not really talking about specifics for women and how, as a woman, you can be more comfortable with finances and feel more confident about that. Tell us a little bit about your background, and let’s get right into the book then.
SPEAKER 02 :
Sure. Well, I never, ever would have set out to teach women about finances. And so, I mean, for a long time, I kind of assumed finances weren’t really my space. And that was because I wasn’t very confident. in all God had created me to be. And so through just a bizarre series of events like walking through Hurricane Katrina and my husband being in ministry and then me ending up in finance, the Lord just really paved my way to be a financial advisor. And so I now serve my own clients, have been here at the firm I’m at for 20 years this year, and have my Certified Financial Planner certification and my Certified Kingdom Advisor certification. And so I feel like my journey has been one of the Lord just teaching me of my worth and identity in him and to step out into new territory through doors he opens. And finances are a part of that, of feeling confident and being willing to go into new territory to learn, to really just steward the resources God has given us.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now, Bethany, I want to point out to our listeners, too, that Certified Kingdom Advisor, to me, that’s especially important because we know where that comes from, the roots of Ron Blue and others that very intentionally created this. Tell us, when it comes to confidence for women, you had to learn through hard knocks, but also just working with the numbers. Is that the case for most women?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, I believe it is. You know, I think as women and many men as well, but especially as women, we are really hard on ourselves. And I think as we walk through hard things in life, sometimes even though we know the Lord is with us, sometimes we don’t really dig into figuring out our own worth, who God has created us to be. And when we do not walk in confidence in that, that sort of overshadows everything else in our lives. And so finance is one of those things to me that we really cannot walk in all God has for us. until we have the confidence in ourselves to believe, hey, you know, this seems like a complicated area, but I can take it step by step. I can even a baby step counts. And I know that I can make progress in this area and build a firm foundation no matter where I’m starting from.
SPEAKER 01 :
So Bethany, what do you say to the couple that says, well, he handles the finances and I do this, or she handles the finances and he does this, maybe some other piece of it. It sounds like both need to be involved and both need to be confident.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, I truly believe that that is just God’s intention in every way in marriage is for us to be in unity. And I completely get that we’re all wired different ways. And most of the time in a marriage, one of us is the financial spouse and we love spreadsheets. And one of us is the non-financial spouse and spreadsheets will be like a punishment to us. And so I would say that conversations about money do not always have to be tied down in the weeds to spreadsheets. They can be broad conversations, conversations about goals, conversations about where God is leading us. And so both spouses, if we’re a married couple together, really to be most effective for the kingdom, we both have got to be willing to engage in those conversations.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now we’re speaking with Bethany Freimeyer. Bethany’s book is called Women of Worth, The Faith-Based Guide to Financial Wisdom. And we’re talking about women having confidence, but we’re also talking about men too, because I guarantee you a lot of the guys are struggling with some of these things too, Bethany, especially if maybe the wife handles all the finances and the guy’s going, okay, honey, whatever. I’m good.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, you’re absolutely right. I mean, I, you know, as a woman, of course, I can speak to other women knowing kind of how do we usually feel stereotypically, but absolutely. I think doubting ourselves and who God has created us to be is universally between men and women and attack from the enemy. And so I believe just in our human brokenness, we don’t sometimes walk into all God has for us because we’re listening to the enemy’s lies, whether we’re a man or a woman.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s really good. And then you have some insights that kind of feed into that, that are things that both the man and the woman, the husband and wife, should know and be comfortable with, even if they’re not the one handling it. What are some of those areas?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, I think it all really starts with the premise that God owns it all, just the truth that God owns it all. And I think that’s really easy for us to say. You know, many of us who have been Jesus followers for years would say, well, of course, I believe that God owns it all. Absolutely. But many times we have in just our own little structured systems that we’ve set up, we have a giving transactional or we’ve carved out money that we’re going to charitably give and said, OK, Lord, that’s yours and I’ll figure out what to do with the rest. And I think If we foundationally begin with stewardship is the truth that God owns it all. Every single thing we have has been entrusted to us for a purpose that we build on that. We build on that to other just biblical financial principles that stand out. You know, we can get practical. We can be philosophical. God has so much to say about finances in the Bible.
SPEAKER 01 :
And Bethany, by the way, book is available on Amazon. If somebody has to dive off the interview before we’re done, just simply go to Amazon and what’s the search terms that they should look for?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yep, just look for Women of Worth. And you can put my name with it, Bethany, B-E-T-H-A-N-Y Freimeyer, F-R-Y-M-I-R-E, and it’ll pop right up. It’s a purple book, a lavender book on the front.
SPEAKER 01 :
You and I discussed this. Amazon makes it easy. I know I was wild about what the bottom line is. You can push a button, get it.
SPEAKER 02 :
I know. It is easy. Too easy sometimes.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now tell me, yes, I’ve experienced that. Tell me that’s a budgeting issue right there. Tell me about heart issues when it comes to financial wisdom, having that confidence for women. And of course, this applies to the guys too.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, I think many times, you know, if we’ve walked through something hard financially, we can begin to feel that our net worth is our self-worth. And having money or not having money doesn’t mean that we’re more spiritually mature or we’re less spiritually mature. Money is just a tool. And so it’s not good or bad. And so as we seek to follow the Lord and walk in what He has for us, I think really understanding that money is a tool. Money can be a tool, it can be a test, it can be a testimony, but it is not a measure of our self-worth. And I think that that’s a very common lie that we tell ourselves. But really, when we believe God owns it all, we know We don’t have to panic. We know that our net worth doesn’t equal our self-worth. We just want to be faithful with whatever God has entrusted to us.
SPEAKER 01 :
Is it fair to say to Bethany that that doesn’t mean you’re God’s favorite or not if you do or don’t have money?
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, absolutely. Yes. Yes. I mean, you know, we all know the Bible definitely doesn’t say anything about you should or you shouldn’t have money or you should or you shouldn’t be rich. But it talks about it was tough for a rich person to go to heaven that was wealthy. And so, yes, absolutely. There’s so much that we can learn. But I think we assign sometimes by accident, you know, just in our subconscious, we assign these meanings to ourselves. whether or not someone has money or they don’t, or if we do or we don’t. And that’s just not true. It’s a lie.
SPEAKER 01 :
We’re speaking with Bethany Frymeyer, and the book is called Women of Worth, A Faith-Based Guide to Financial Wisdom. And this book also has a section that applies for kids, so it could be kids, children, or grandchildren. Talk to us about that and the importance of it, please.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. So I have two boys, James is 15 and Silas is 11. And I thought it was really, really important to include a section on teaching finances to children. And so there are checklists in there that are age appropriate of, hey, at this age, maybe you could think about doing this thing, these things to start ingraining in your children, just a financial foundation from the Lord. But I know what kind of triggered me to really start thinking in that area was that I felt like in this culture now, giving is so transactional. Like we tithe and I click a button on the computer to tithe every week to our church. And I felt like that was stealing the joy our family could have for our children to get to experience where we’re giving and what’s it going to and what’s that look like. And so in the chapter about raising money, money smart children, I share about some stories from my own children, some ideas for just teaching your kids how to start to begin to even understand the concept of stewardship and what that means and that it’s not ours, it’s the Lord’s.
SPEAKER 01 :
So Bethany, tell us why you love Whataburger because there is something behind that. Why is Whataburger kind of a cool story for you?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, oh my goodness, it’s one of my favorite stories. Well, my family, my husband and I felt called to go into ministry and we got ready to move to New Orleans, Louisiana. And it was, the Lord had put all these puzzle pieces together and we were looking at houses and we were moving from the panhandle of Florida and everything was coming together. But we knew that we needed a certain amount of money before we could move on over. And a gentleman in our church ended up meeting us at Whataburger one evening after church and just sitting across the orange plastic booths, he said, I feel like God is telling me to give you $40,000. And he had no idea that in my purse was a piece of paper that had a house on it that I felt like we had felt like God was leading us to buy. And at the very top, it said $40,000 because that was what we needed. That was the difference. Like we were going to need to get a mortgage for that amount. And so that was the very first time I saw God move. in such an incredibly specific way. And it was when I really started to have the realization and understanding, oh, he doesn’t just love us and he doesn’t just care about us. He truly knows every hair on our head and he truly can say specifically, oh, I will take care of that need if that’s my will.
SPEAKER 01 :
That is so cool. So good. And it helps our listeners see it’s it’s not it gets God’s money. It’s not our money. You know, so we have to get that that down payment for that house or figure out how we’re going to get our kids through college. And it’s not our money.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. You’re exactly right. And, you know, I mean, that’s a big thing. That’s a big story. But once a big story like that happened in my life. I began to see much smaller ways that God was so specifically faithful. We all know that we walk through hard things in this fallen and broken world. But I think realizing and understanding that the Holy Spirit lives inside of us if we follow Jesus. And he is never leaving us. He’s never forsaking us. And he’s guiding us in all things. Just like Isaiah says, we want to hear a voice behind us saying, this is the way, walk in it. And so the Whataburger story was a big example of God really coming through in a specific way. But he has come through so many other times in small ways. But it’s a constant faithfulness from the Lord if we’re attuned to it.
SPEAKER 01 :
So Bethany, how can our listeners get connected with you, get the book, and also just continue to take that first step or steps towards financial confidence?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. Well, I would love to be connected with anyone who is interested in just talking more about any of this. And an easy way to get connected would be to go to Blue Trust, B-L-U-E-T-R-U-S-T dot com. So Blue Trust is a financial planning and investment management firm that I have been with for 20 years now. And we do everything from a biblical perspective. So that is our, we just want to help Christians free up their resources to help fulfill the Great Commission. And so that would be a great way to connect. If you went to the website, you can just type my name in. It’ll come up easily. You can go to Amazon to get the book. And that would be a great way. And I would say just as an encouragement, just like we talked about, our net worth is not our self-worth. God has so much for us. And even a small, a tiny step in the right direction counts. No matter where you are right now, there is always a next step that we can take that is full of hope and in the right direction. And God will be with us every step of the way.
SPEAKER 01 :
Bethany, such a joy to have this time with you. I hope our listener who feels really hopeless will take the time to contact you through BlueTrust.com. BlueTrust.com. And it’s Bethany Frymire. That’s F-R-Y, right? M-I-R-E. I want to make sure I get that right. Bethany Frymire. And if you need any of that, just call us here at the station. We’ll make it happen. Thanks, Bethany.
