Debt Free

Last summer we were in a massive amount of debt...something like $70,000. And we could not see a way out of it and it was crushing us.  We weren't making enough money to pay it off over time.  We were drowning. It was overwhelming, embarrassing, and extremely stressful.  

We began to pray. We began to plead with God to help us find a way out.  My mom had given us Dave Ramsey's course and we bought his book "The Total Money Make-Over" to start to educate ourselves about this stuff.  We really knew nothing about money nor how to manage it.  We did our best but obviously that wasn't good enough.  We started to look around and see that our monthly living expenses where way too high.  Our lives looked REALLY good. We lived in a really nice house. We drove a pretty much new nice car.  We looked really good. Beyond the facade was a completely different picture.  And admittedly I did not want to take a step back and deal with it because I liked how our life looked...even if it wasn't real.  My husband patiently waited for me to come around. He didn't bug me. He didn't say a word. He simply prayed. And after a year of that God changed my heart...that was around last summer. 

Then we started implementing what we were learning. We did tons of little stuff...but we did massive stuff as well. We sold stuff, got rid of my pretty car...so now I was car-less( not fun for a girl who loves her freedom that a car provides), and we moved from the lovely little safe town and pretty house.  We moved to a more blue collar neighborhood. It's not as cool to say our address now. People's eyebrows don't go up approvingly when I mention our new address as they did when I mentioned our old one.   I will not lie and say "Wow that was fun!" but I will say "Wow! It's worth it!" 

BUT...even all of that wasn't enough.  We still weren't making it, believe it or not.  More circumstances came up beyond our control that completely snowed us in yet again.  We kept praying, and stressing, and praying.  But mostly we were stressing. My mom was right there with us praying and stressing and helping us by taking care of the girls...getting them out of the stress as often as she could. 

In the midst of all of this I received a phone call from my side of the family saying that they were going to send us money to help tide us over and get us through. That completely COMPLETELY floored us.  I don't think I have the words to describe what a gift that was to us...not just financially but mentally.  Someone believed in us enough to help see us through! I sobbed...I rarely cry.  I sobbed. We talked it through and decided the best thing would be to put that money towards debt.  So we did. With that we had one debt remaining and it was a personal debt to another family member.  Being released from most of our debt was a major load off of our backs...but the personal debt weighed VERY heavily on us.  

On this past Monday we received a card and were told not to open it until we were together.  OK.  So that evening we opened the card together and we were completely blown away again...our personal debt to that family member was completely forgiven.  WOW!  Another massive gift.  A boost in moral in the midst of the storm.  

AND with that...we are completely debt free! 

Most of it was not by any of our strength.  We made some tough un-fun decisions for sure.  But God heard our cries. He moved on the hearts of people. Those people responded and blessed us.  And here we stand the beneficiaries...debt free!!!!!!!!!! I am in awe. I am still taking it all in and have to pinch myself often.  Debt free!  Not many are given that gift they work years and years to be able to say that.  Wise stewardship is in order and required. Nothing less will do.