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.
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