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Gary Nickelson, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, told The Wall Street Journal, "We're in a perfect storm as far as the divorce business is concerned. It's not a surprise to me. That's been my experience over the last 35 years. When you have an economic downturn people are not so quick to change their situation."

While many couples become mere roommates to save money at such times, it's also likely that many take a second look at their marriages and try to figure out how to make them work.

So the economy that is driving some families apart is keeping other families together.

This dynamic reminds us that the shape and success of our families are often due to forces beyond our control. We are not in charge of our destiny as much as we might think. But neither are we subject to mere irrational forces.

Rather than wax eloquent about the "invisible hand of the free market," we are wiser to pay attention to the strange ways of Providence:

I am the Lord, and there is no other.
I create the light and make the darkness.
I send good times and bad times.
I, the Lord, am the one who does these things (Isa. 45:6b-7, NLT)

This economy is forcing hard choices on lots of people, and on lots of families. But hard choices force us to pay attention, to what we value and who we value. And what we believe, really believe.

And one thing I believe is that the forces of the world economy are complex and dark with mystery, but only as dark and complex as the ways of God. And just when you think something is an unmitigated disaster, you see grace at work.

Mark Galli is senior managing editor of Christianity Today. He regularly comments on the relationship of money and the spiritual life on his blog.

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January (Web-only) 2009, Vol. 53