The Path Ahead of Us

By Sharon Ma
Shanghai, PR China September 10, 2009

A few months ago in our apartment complex, workers spent days creating a new pebble pathway by the kids' playground area. Workers spent days carefully inlaying each stone, mixing sizes and shapes and colors. We admired it, but after using it, we avoided it. The path was not even. Walking the path while wearing flip-flops or sandals was too painful. The stones had been set on edge and dug into our feet as we walked. There seemed to be some inherent design to how the rocks had been placed since lighter ones surrounded darker ones and made some sort of signs or Chinese characters. But we didn't know. So we avoided the pain; we walked on the grass alongside the path.

Last week while sitting at the playground watching my son play, I noticed a friend, the mother of one of my son's classmates, hobbling down the path in her BARE FEET. Her suffering was evident in each movement she made. Sorrow was etched into her face. Each step she took was excruciating. But she kept walking. I couldn't understand what she was doing. The next several days I watched this woman do the same: each day- bare feet, step by agonizing step. Then her son joined her. Then another woman. All bare feet. I couldn't contain my curiosity any longer. I finally asked what she was doing.

I learned the pebble pathway is traditional Chinese medicine. Stones are placed deliberately for healing the body's inner ailments. Walking the path pushes on pressure points of the soles of the feet- creating a do-it-yourself acupuncture experience. At first excruciating, the walk is designed to heal internal illness and lessen disorders. Over time, as the body’s weaknesses lessen, the pain fades - eventually disappearing. If successful, one can walk upright and confidently along the path that once caused such distress.

I know it sounds crazy, but under a lot of stress and with my plantar fasciitis incredibly inflamed, I was desperate! My feet already hurt so much; hopefully I’d find relief! I chose the "easiest" part of the path and gingerly stepped out onto the rocks. Each step was agony. But, amazingly, when I finished that night, I felt my chronic heel pain subside a little. It has been 4 days now, and I find the steps easier to take. Not every step hurts. The stones don't dig so deeply now. Oh, they still sting, but not every step is unbearable. I sense the slightest bit of change. I can walk more of the path, and there’s hope for inner healing.

If you've stuck with me through reading this, thanks. Because I find this is an allegory for our lives. We find ourselves on a path that is painful at times.

This past Monday, we learned the results of a test for which we'd been waiting 4 weeks. Our delightful daughter, Naomi, has tested positive for Down syndrome. Ultrasound also reveals a small hole between the upper chambers of her heart. Large stones. Painful stones in our path.

At her birth, the doctors had warned Ma Qing of their suspicions. He chose not to tell me for six weeks, allowing our family time to bond and me to heal from the birth. He carried the burden of knowing for our family. That is perhaps the sweetest gift he has ever given me. Finally, 4 weeks ago, we went for the testing. And we waited. Not knowing at times how to pray.

But now we know. Our emotions are what you would expect. Mostly peace with occasional stabs of pain. We're taking tentative step after step- trying to adjust. Trying to look beyond the present pain. Because we know the Designer of our path has deliberately crafted the journey of our lives. He specifically chose to wrap our miracle baby in very special packaging. So we step out. We keep going. We know that each boulder, rock, or pebble has been placed specifically for our ultimate inner healing and His purpose. And in the end He will be glorified.

During a recent conversation, a colleague wept with me and then remarked, “Well, at least you’ve got God. You believe in that. It must help.” It does. I was able to share with her how. Maybe someday she’ll find relief in Him from her own pain.

And not every step is painful. This summer we swam, played and laughed, picnicked with friends, visited parks, and enjoyed a week-long visit from Ma Qing’s family. We’ve celebrated Isaac’s 6th birthday and his first week in grade one. We’ve completed homework and played with a delightful baby as we’ve counted down the days for Sharon to end her maternity leave and return to school full-time on Monday. Today we celebrate our 1st year anniversary of moving to Shanghai.

Through it all, God has really provided an amazing support community & system for us- online and in person. What a blessing. Naomi's dedication ceremony at church is Sunday, Sept 20th. To me this is so powerful- we will enlist the help of all our friends to stand with us in committing to raise her in the LORD and FOR the LORD.

Amazingly, today after school, I walked the path again. Partly because I’m not a quitter. Partly to prove to Ma Qing I could do it. Partly because my friend was there encouraging (daring) me to walk. As I stepped hesitantly out, gingerly taking today’s first step, she shouted from a few meters ahead of me…Come on! But you don’t have to do it alone. You have us here to do it with you. It was a little easier today. Tomorrow will be even better.

I don’t know what stones lie in your path. What pain you encounter daily. But I know God plans it ALL for good. I know there are friends along the way to walk with you. I know there is joy in the journey. And I know there is purpose in the pain.

Remember us in prayer. We walk this journey together.
Ma Qing, Sharon, Isaac and precious Naomi

Nail it to the Cross

-by Sara Wagner

The other week, I was asked to teach Senior High Sunday school a few days before I was actually to do it. No problem, I can usually pull any number of things out of my overcrowded brain to discuss from the Bible. Had a few ideas, but none of them really seemed quite right. Usually, I trust my gut on these kinds of things, waiting for the uncomfortable feeling to tell me, "nope, that's not it" or the excitment that stems from my heart that is the Holy Spirit's thumbs up signal. Randomly, I was getting neither; so I decided to keep on going with what I had planned out.

Back/side track (sorry for the slight bunny trail, this will make sense, I promise): I grew up in a Christian family. The way I tell it, I was a Christian since the womb practically. So I know a lot about the Bible, Christianity, and Jesus. But for the first 14 years of my life, it was just pure memorization: I couldn't tell you what it all really meant, let alone if it meant anything to me. But somewhere in my teenage years I realized that I was just saying out of duty that God was my friend. I didn't like that, so I asked Him to show me who He really was. Over the years, as our friendship grew, I started realizing that a lot of the things I 'believed', all these wonderful doctrines of the Christian faith, I didn't actually understand. So, I go to my Friend and say, "hey, what the heck is this anyway?!" And again, we go on a journey of learning what I really believe for myself, and making my faith my own.

All this has led up to the last year or so, when my wonderings has led me to the cross. We sing about the cross. We take communion once a month, if not more. We have a cross hanging up at church, on the wall, all over the place. But I started to realize that I didn't actually understand what it meant, what Jesus' death and resurrection meant for me. So, like before, I just asked Him so show me. Now, I was expecting some intense "ah-ha!" moment to just hit me, maybe during a communion time, or a ministry time after a sermon-you know, one of those 'slain-in-the-Spirit' moments where God uploads new data into your heart between the end of the sermon and lunch. But I shoulda known that my Friend hasn't taught me in that way before, so why should I expect it now.

The Friday night before I was to teach Sunday school (see, I told you I'd get back to it), I blessedly had some alone time at the end of a really stressful week. I was sitting on the floor, talking with Jesus about it, and He says, "I'll take some of that stress for you. Why don't we nail it to the cross?" Now, I've always had a hard time asking for forgiveness from Jesus, or asking Him to take away my burdens. I've always pictured myself holding a heavy bundle in my hands and looking up at Jesus on the cross, not wanting to give Him my burdens and sins because it would be put on His shoulders; He's my friend, and I don't want to hurt Him. But that night I was so done with the stress I said, "Sure!" and gave it to Him.

I then imagined Him taking the bundle of stress from my hands, carrying it over to the cross, nailing it there, and then coming back to sit with me. We looked at each other for a moment; I looked at the cross, back at Jesus, back at the cross, back again to Jesus. "You're not there," I said, pointing to the cross. He smiled. "No, I'm not. I rose again, remember?" I looked back at the cross, empty except for my burden, then back at my Jesus again. And then, "Oh, I get it," and smiled. And that was it. No flashing heavenly lights, no choir of angels, no falling on the floor and shaking at the practicaly manifest presence of God. Just me and Jesus sitting and having a conversation; and me finally getting that He died on the cross, taking our sins and burdens with Him, but then got off of the cross, LEAVING THE SINS THERE, and rose again three days later, defeating death and making a way for us to have life with Him. No biggie....only probably the most amazing revelation I've had thus far in my 25 years of life!

I realized that I could give my burdens and sins to Jesus, and while He would have to carry them for a while, it was only the length of time it took for Him to nail it to the cross and then leave it there. Now-especially with the sins that keep trying to come back and take control over me-I can point to the cross and say, "Nope, you don't have hold over me anymore. Jesus left it nailed to the cross, and that's where it's gonna stay!" And it's such a freedom to be able to give Him my burdens, almost like a literal weight is taken off my back sometimes. The idea is that I no longer try to carry the burden on my own terms, under my own power, trying to be independent and do it myself. God wants me to trust Him with my burdens, and to come to Him for forgiveness for my sins. At the cross is grace and mercy and freedom! so much freedom!

So, it's the night before I have to teach, and my roommate and I are talking before we fall asleep, and I tell her about the conversation Jesus and I had. In my half-asleep state, I say before thinking: "Maybe I'm supposed to talk about that in Sunday school tomorrow." And then realized what I just said, and the Holy Spirit said, "Bingo!" I was like, "Huh? But, I haven't preped anything about that, and I won't have time to do it tomorrow morning before church." Holy Spirit.....said nothing, cause He'd said what He needed to. Fell asleep. Next morning, got to church, still prepped for what I had planned to do earlier (might still do it in the future, who knows), but during worship, finally admitted..."Ok, I'll talk about what happened Friday night." Frantically looked up worship songs on my iPod to have as background music, got into class, and taught without any notes and using only one verse that I had (thankfully) remembered sorta fit the topic only mintues before I actually spoke. Afterwards, I had the kids all write down something they wanted to leave at the hastily sketched cross on the pushpin board, put on the music, and sat there, hoping I did alright. I needn't have worried, cause it was the Holy Spirit's talk, not mine. The kids pounced on it! I had several come up to me afterwards saying that it was really good, one of them saying he'd never thought of it that way before-that he'd had the same problem of picturing Jesus on the cross and actually nailing his sins and burdens onto Jesus, but now had that same revelation as I had that Jesus wasn't there anymore!

Isn't it amazing how something you've always known can suddenly be so profound as to change your whole life?

Lancing the Boil

By Arla Speer

“My favorite thing about God...No matter what wounds you have, no matter what pain you've endured, God will heal you!!” A young child wrote this and drew the picture of a badly torn heart with a puddle of blood beneath it.

I was well aware of my brokenness but not so much of how it had grieved Him over the years. Ephesians 2:6 tells us that we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. From there, we get a much different perspective.

God brought something to my attention from many years before. He decided it was time to deal with it for real. Over the course of several months, I wrestled with God, saw things from His perspective, struggled with what He was asking of me, and discovered that I really did not trust Him.

I began to see His love and His pain because of His love for me. It was comforting, yet agonizing at the same time.
The only thing I knew from the beginning, was that this particular journey would be the hardest thing I had ever walked out. I was serious and left no back way out. I did not want to deal with this again. I also knew I would not be able to walk this out alone and strategically picked two friends to walk beside me. They were committed and were quick to hear and very slow to speak.

It was not the path I would have taken by choice. I had no idea how it would turn out, what it would cost me, nor when it would be finished or even what He had planned for me after it was done. What would I become? What was He preparing me for? What would that look like?

It would have been nice to know, just as a carrot to dangle in front of me for motivation. But, that was not His way - not this time.

This time He was focusing on trust. I soon discovered His definition of trust was radically different from mine. I had backed my definition off to seeing just one step beyond where I was at - that felt only a little comfortable. His definition did not include that extra step of sight. His definition was not seeing anything yet taking His hand and walking.

My comfort had no bearing on where He was taking me. He was out to kill more of the Adam inside of me. I had been praying that the effects of Christ in me would become more evident every day. It wasn't easy. It wasn't fun. And it certainly wasn't comfortable! It was death.

Did I ever want to rescind my noble prayer? No. My one hope, my one reward was the resurrection on the other side of this death where Christ truly became more evident in me.

This time I needed to give up my rights to all I had held so dear to me for so long. My right to hold on to the hurt. My right to hide it in a deep, dark corner of my heart. And my right to judge the offender. This was more than a scratched knee. This was much deeper. There was so much pain and resentment. I thought I had hidden it so well over the years but when it started to come out, others would say, "That explains a lot". When the journey seemed too hard, both friends reminded me "wounds have to be exposed in order to really be healed" and that "lancing a boil is painful, but an untreated boil can kill you."

Time had not healed this wound. Time had caused it to fester terribly.

I took many walks with Jesus where we had open conversations about the journey He was taking me on. It usually went something like, "I don't understand . . .” or "But why/how . . ." to which He would simply reply, "Trust Me". When language seemed inadequate, I asked for eyes to see. He was not afraid to show me both the Adam in me and Christ in me.

In the middle of all this, or maybe much more true, because of all of this, I decided to take a trip to the place where all the pain began decades before. Two months out, I knew I was supposed to go. I didn't know why and struggled with that for weeks. I thought that maybe it was to clear the air with the offender. I had two questions in mind - why? And who all knew? It just didn't seem right, though.

One morning, God seemed to suddenly want to deal with my heart. I pleaded, "God, don't show me my heart. I don't want to go there. I don't want to see it for what it really is. I know it's ugly. There would be too much pain there. I'm afraid." All the time, I kept hearing, "Child, you're forgiven. Child, you are loved." I knew that not seeing my heart was not an option and when He asks me a question, it's not for Him to discover something. He already knows the answer. It's for me to see my own heart. He shows me my heart when I answer honestly.

I wanted to say, "God, help me to go there. Help me to see my heart." But I really didn't want to. I felt like I almost couldn't even say the words. Yet somehow, I knew I needed to. So, I set it aside knowing God is faithful and He would bring it up again. It was later that very same day that I felt an urgency to see my heart for what it was and allowed my Jesus to begin to heal it.

I needed to feel something more than I had been feeling. I needed to love from a 'pure heart, a clear conscience, and an unpretended faith' (I Tim 1:5). I needed to love the one who offended me.

Four days before I left, He showed me why I was going. That discovery followed a very intensive week of healing for me. That week, He showed me that I cannot produce trust. Trusting Him is a result of knowing that He loves me. I don't need to perform for Him in order for Him to love me. He just loves me without expectation of anything more than what I am.

He also showed me that dead men have no rights.

God wanted me to offer forgiveness to the offender, without asking either of the questions I had in mind. It was to be unconditional. It took a full day to wrap my arms around that one! It was hard enough to form the words between God and me. But the offender? Therein was the defining moment. After all I had walked through to this point, I was not going back. I finally had an understanding of what it was I was supposed to do.

On the day I was to return home, there was a 30-second window. That was all I needed. Forgiveness was sincerely offered. What a feeling of freedom! From the response, I knew God had been working on that end also. On the trip home, God showed me just a little from His perspective - the offender is hurt, wounded, and a child of His.

Seeing God's perspective made for a change of heart in me towards my offender.

I did what I was supposed to do. Now, the ball is on the other side of the court. I am thinking this is not over and the ball will once again return to my side of the court, although I do not know when. That's ok. I don't have to. God knows. And I also discovered, I do trust Him. I really do.

We all have boils. Some are on the surface. Some are in deep, dark hidden places. Where does your trust lie? In the comfort and familiarity of the pain or in Jesus, who loves abundantly?

[If you want to contact Arla, her email address is: alreadyclaimed@yahoo.com]

The Lord Responded-Shirley McNeall

On June 7th Pastor Jim Bailey shared about the Quest trip with the youth. He said, “The presence of God was so strong at times.” He told the youth, “We need to ask the Lord what He wants to do and wait for Him to respond.” Pastor Jim told us that any time the Lord’s presence is felt we need to acknowledge the presence of the Lord and we need to find out what the Lord wants to do. I had never had anyone tell me that before.

When The Shepherd’s Way Ministry women’s team went to Municipal Correctional Institution to minister to the women inmates, we worshipped and sang some songs with them. Then I started sharing with them about the many promises and blessings God has for us if we will obey His Word. Some of the scriptures we read and talked about were the following: Deut. 28:2-14, Blessings for obedience; Deut. 31:6, 8, tells us to be strong and of good courage, not to fear, that God will go with us. He will not leave us nor forsake us. This is also promised in Hebrews 13:5. Gal. 3:11-14, 26, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith... For we are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Matt. 6:33 “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” What things? What we eat, drink, and wear. God will provide us a job or ways to meet these needs when we obey His word. Matt. 8:16-17, Tells about Jesus casting out demons and healing all who were sick. Matt.10:1, “And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.” Mark 16:15-20, in these verses Jesus tells His disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel and these signs will follow those who believe. They will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. Verse 20, “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen”

The presence of God was so strong in that place. I asked the inmates if they could feel God’s presence. They said they could. The Holy Spirit brought to my memory what Pastor Jim had said on Sunday morning about asking the Lord what He wanted to do so we could partner with Him. So I told the ladies what he had said. I said, “Let’s ask the Lord what He wants to do.” So I did. Then I said, “Let’s wait for the Lord to respond.” After a few minutes one of the ladies started weeping uncontrollably. I just waited a few minutes until she calmed down some and asked her if the Lord had spoken to her. She said, “Yes, He said I could do these same things that you had said that Jesus and the disciples did if I would get my life right with God.” I asked her, “How do you get your life right with God?” She said, “I am not sure.” (She had already prayed to be saved.) I told her she needed to repent for not obeying God’s Word. When you repent, you can be in right standing with God. I told her what I John 1:9 said. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Then we can be in right standing with God if we obey His Word. So she prayed and so did some of the other ladies, asking God to forgive them for not obeying His Word. With tears and then smiles on their faces they thanked us for coming and sharing the word with them. They wanted to know when we would be coming again.

By waiting in God’s presence and partnering with what He wanted to do, the Holy Spirit moved on their lives that day and hearts were changed. And some of them heard directly from the Lord themselves.

Cardboard Testimonies Video

Here is a link to the Cardboard Testimonies from this last Sunday morning during the service.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2IVToNiIzM

A Financial Miracle for the Schneider Family

I (Fred) would like to tell you about a financial miracle that greatly impacted our family. Mike Bickle, the founder of Kansas City’s International House of Prayer, has said that God is just looking for ways to “wow” everyone who gets involved in a financial miracle - from the giver, to the receiver, to the ones who hear the resulting testimony.
When my contract job in California ended on December 31, 2004, we had already decided to move to Kansas City to attend the Intro to IHOP course. However, we were facing some tremendous financial pressures, and definitely in need of a miracle.
So, prompted by Mike Bickle’s teaching as noted above, my wife, Gretta, and I took a step of faith by “sowing“ my last and final paycheck from that contract job right back into the Kingdom of God. We gave it to various ministries that God had used over the years to touch our lives.
We knew that if we had used that money as we typically would by depositing it in the bank and writing checks against it, the funds would have only covered a few of our already overdue bills. Then, we would still be facing tremendous needs because we were planning to make a big cross-country move.
Not only had my job in California come to an end, but Gretta had just finished up her five year job as accountant with a Christian radio station syndicate.
To make matters worse, we needed to somehow come up with tuition for our IHOP course, and we were planning to move halfway across the country to an area where neither of us had any contacts or knowledge of the job market. What a pickle we were in!
So, contrary to all sound, logical, and fiscally responsible thinking, we sowed the money into God's work - taking the Bible literally when it says that “with God, ALL THINGS are possible.”
We had a family meeting and told our children that we were going to give this money toward ministry, and then we prayed together and asked the Lord to “show-off” and move on our behalf.
We boldly asked God to give us a TEN-FOLD RETURN on the amount we were about to sow, because when we added up our projected needs for the next three months, the needed amount came to approximately ten times the amount of my paycheck. We didn’t need $630 (my final paycheck) … we needed $6,300!
We did not tell anyone outside of our little family circle about our sowing in expectation of a ten-fold miracle return. However, we were counseled by our pastor to simply let it be known to our family and friends that we were planning to move to an International missions base in Kansas City, and if anyone would like to give towards that move, we would gladly receive any assistance offered.
This was a humbling experience for us, but definitely part of God’s plan.
Well, now we come the exciting part: Over several months, Gretta, the accountant in the family, kept accurate records as friends and family from all over gave financial gifts toward our adventurous move as we headed off to Kansas City … including a $1,000 donation from an old family friend living in Qatar over in the Middle East!
Approximately three months after we began this process, Gretta sat down in our apartment in South KC to look at the family finances. She was shocked and amazed to discover that we had received exactly $100 less than the amount we were asking for – a literal ten-fold return on the amount that was originally “sown” in faith.
Thrilled, but a bit perplexed, she forgot about it until later that same afternoon when she opened a card that came in the mail that day. It had been sent to us by her brother, and it contained a check made out for exactly $100.
The check was accompanied by a thoughtful card that said the following: “I woke up a couple of days ago and had the distinct impression from God to send this. I hope this arrives in time for whatever reason.”
Wow! Equally amazing is the fact that ever since the day we received that final $100 check, we have not received another penny in “donations”. What an amazing, wonder-working God we serve!We hope and trust you are as “wowed” about this financial miracle as we were and still are. This was certainly a miracle from God’s hand, and it has made a lasting impression on our family which we will never forget.

Financial Testimony-Scott O'Brien

As with all long journey’s it began simple enough. I was living by myself in a one bedroom apartment making about 30k a year. At the time, I thought the concept of having a credit card was a bad idea, but after receiving the envelope that promised “0%”, I decided to follow the crowd’s idea to have a card to build credit and for any emergencies. I was confirmed for a 5K credit limit with 0% interest for the first 12 months, and placed the card in my wallet to supposedly collect dust.

Psychologically, having access to 5k in funds when you only have $300 per month in discretionary income is dangerous. Soon things happened that began the downward spiral into debt. My wife, who had been my girlfriend for a year at the time, needed a new car, more so out of convenience than necessity. Up to this point, and the year to follow, I had no relationship with Christ. We started shopping around and found the perfect used minivan. After doing research, we landed on a selling price of about 14k for the one year old van. We patted ourselves on the back for such a good purchase, and then came my brilliant idea. Since I had a credit card just collecting dust in my wallet, how about putting a $1,000 down payment on the van with my card? After all, financing 1k at 0% interest is better than having it financed at 6%.

I told my future wife that I would make the down payment on the credit card on the stipulation that we would move in together, in sin, a concept that was still foreign to me. After all, if we could eliminate the living expenses of one of us, then we could pay the $1,000 off and make extra payments on the van, so I pushed the idea. She grudgingly agreed. As a result of this one transaction we ended up with a 14k car loan, 1k in new credit card debt, and a choice to live in a way that would bring us no blessings. All of these factors caused unbelievable hardships in both our lives and finances. My future wife came to her senses later and decided that we would not be moving in together. I didn’t understand her reasons at the time and we broke up, albeit for a month. Later, I learned greatly to respect the hard line she took. As I became a Christian, I was thankful that we never moved in together. Regardless, we still had the debt.

The next year began some transitions. I lost my job twice that year. Since I had no savings, I used my credit card to pay bills and get by. My future wife also had some financial issues and we used my credit card to cover several of her bills as well. Add to this the use of the card for impulse buys, and the debt started to mount. The balance was growing faster than my salary.

In October of 2002, one year after purchasing the car, I had lost my job. I was at the bottom. Then one day, while driving in my debt laden car, I came to Christ. The next 10 months I worked 60 hrs a week as a temp, using the overtime pay just to keep afloat. My future wife and I still managed to increase the debt load with little things, like eating out and planning for a very modest wedding. Working as a temp is a challenge because you never know when it could be your last day. This was a great time for me to trust in the Lord. As I increased my faith, more doors were made open to me. I was eventually hired as a permanent employee and have continued to work for this firm, doubling my starting pay in 6 years.

During this time, we decided to have my wife quit her job one month before the wedding. We thought that with our combined income and decreased bills, this would be good timing for her to find a job that would be less demanding and allow her to spend more time with her daughter, my future adopted daughter. Two months after we were married, my wife was pregnant and never went back to work.

One income put a stress on our finances, but the rewards of my wife staying at home were great. In reality, we had a negative cash flow for the first year. With a negative cash flow, we found ourselves using our credit card even more. We ended up getting a second card as well. While our blessings were multiplying, our debt was too. At this point in 2003, we had two cards and two cars worth of debt. In 2004, our daughter was born and we bought a house, financing 7k of debt into the house. But even with this transfer, we still had some debt left on the cards. We were too ignorant at the time to cut them up so the debt became as high as 17k with no savings and nothing to show for it.

The year 2006 was an amazing rollercoaster. At this point the van started to fall apart. We had our first son in May, and after a miraculous delivery, my wife and I were on cloud nine. “Debt, what debt? I’m just clag my wife and child are well.” That’s what I thought until a hospital administrator came in and said “I’m your case worker, and I was wondering why you delivered at this hospital since you don’t have insurance here.” The smile immediately left my face. Somehow that hospital fell out of our network in 2006. We would have to come up with all the money to pay for the birth. The bottom fell out financially. God again saw us through that situation. Because the delivery ended up being an emergency and we had no other options, the insurance ended up covering the birth. Glory to God!

Other things started falling into place; the van, the start of all debt, was going to be paid for, and I was going to get a raise, which would increase our cash flow by almost $350. Unfortunately, that was a full month away, and we needed to pay some bills now. I talked to my wife about how dire our situation was. We agreed that we would ask my wife’s parents for a bridge loan, an amount of money that would get us through the next month until our cash flow turned positive. Her parents had some reluctance, but they extended the loan. It wasn’t a large sum, just what we needed for the bridge, but it marked the beginning of the end. I am very thankful for their generosity. From August 2006 until present, we have not taken on any new debt.

Once our van was paid for, my Saturn died forever. We were now a one car family, but had no intentions of getting a car loan. Again, my wife and I prayed for God’s provision. During this time of waiting, our life group leaders decided to do the Dave Ramsey financial study. Although I was against this concept, I relented and put money down on faith. Following this decision, we received a phone call from a wonderful family in our church, who decided to give us their spare truck! I never would have thought such a thing was possible. God had a plan, and we faithfully followed it. It is amazing what can happen when you just wait.

We continued with the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University with our life group, and have held to the principles we learned since January 2007. One by one, we have watch credit card debt fall away. During 2008, we also became parents of twins. Talk about your double portion of blessing. It is one of the most awesome things God has blessed us with. It is truly a unique and wonderful experience.
When you are close to a goal, the enemy will try all kinds of things to derail you. In October, I crashed the truck beyond repair. We were a one car family once again. Because my wife needed a car to transport the kids to home school coop, this was a very bad circumstance. But God gave us friends that work from home who allowed us to borrow their car so that my wife could take the kids to school on Mondays. We had to put our debt snowball on hold. In its place, we began a car savings snowball. After 3 months of saving, we were able to buy a 15 passenger van with cash. It was the van we always wanted and it came without debt. This happened just 3 short weeks ago.
Since that time, we have received our tax refund and paid the bulk of our remaining debt. On February 6, 2009, we made our final payment toward debt. God has a plan for us after this adventure. It might be just sharing our story. In this difficult time in our nation, we need stories of redemption. I have a desire to lead Financial Peace University classes in my church. This is the time for us to all take up the yoke of Christ. Where your money is, your heart is also.