I'm Debt Free!!

I realized I never blogged about being debt free! I gave my testimony of what God did on my journey to becoming debt free at church, so I'm just going to copy and paste it here. Maybe it will encourage someone on their journey. (Feel free to reach out if you want to talk while you work to becoming debt free.)

Sorry there are no pictures or anything to break up the long text. :)

Money is one of those topics no one wants to discuss. It’s personal. It makes us uncomfortable. When Pastor Nathan asked me to share about what Christ did for me on my journey to becoming debt free, I immediately thought--no one wants to hear about budgets and Dave Ramsey and debt snowballs. But in reality, my journey had less to do with money and more to do with surrendering myself to Christ.

When I started the Dave Ramsey program eight years ago, I had never written down a budget, much less calculated how much debt I had, so I was in complete shock when I realized I owed 59,496.03. Other than a car and a few thousand dollars of student loans, I honestly cannot tell you what I bought. I serve as a school librarian, so I’m guessing it was a lot of cardigans.  

I began working the plan, full of optimism and determination to make a budget, stick to it, and get out of debt. But regret over bad decisions only gets you so far. Some months I would do well, but many months, I would drain my savings or use my credit card.  

I continued in that cycle until a year and a half ago. On a Wednesday night, Pastor Nathan talked about reaching unreached people groups. He said there were people who had not heard the gospel because they are in such remote places that we’d have to build roads just to reach them. He spoke about the money it would take to build those roads and the training for the missionaries to share the gospel and the cost of translating Bibles into that language.

I can’t tell you what he preached on that night because I couldn’t quit thinking what 59,496.03 plus interest throughout the years could have done to advance the gospel. I know God doesn’t need my money, but I had missed a chance to join him in the work he’s doing to make the name of Jesus known around the world.

The regret I had over bad financial choices turned to godly sorrow that I had put stuff I can’t even remember buying above the advancement of the gospel. I went home, got on my face in my prayer closet, and repented for not trusting His plan for the money He had given me. I realized God’s goal wasn’t just for me to be debt free--it was for me to completely surrender control of my finances to him.

I had only told two people ever how much debt I had. Now, I was sharing my monthly totals on social media with strangers. With a changed heart, I began to make different decisions, not just with the mindset of getting out of debt but with pleasing the Lord with my money.

I wish I could tell you that I surrendered to his lordship, and it was easy. It was still a year and a half of hard choices, of lonely weekends, of dying to my selfish desires. But, it was one of the most beautiful times, as Jesus poured out His grace to me through His word and encouragement from friends and even strangers.  

On February 15th, I made my last payment to Discover, and with the next paycheck, I paid to go on my first mission trip with NEHBC. While being debt free feels amazing, the true blessing was Christ using the long journey to fill my greatest need--more of him.

Throughout my journey, I kept coming back to Philippians 4:11, where Paul wrote “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” Even though I hated dying to my selfish desires, the more I surrendered to Christ, the more content I became despite my circumstances. He is enough.

We all have areas of our lives that we don’t want to surrender completely to Christ’s authority. Maybe yours is finances like mine was. Maybe it’s something else. I want to encourage you to trust Christ and His authority over every aspect of your life. When we surrender things to Him, He never leaves us empty-handed. He will always give us more of Himself. And when we have Him, we can be content wherever He has us

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Debt

I've started this post about fifteen times, sure that I want to talk honestly about debt but unsure of how to start. So I started thinking--why do I want to share about my long, arduous journey to get debt free.

And here it is. 

When you start getting serious about clawing your way out of the slime pit of debt, you hear all these stories of people who did "this" or "that" and paid off 100, 000 dollars in eight months. You tune into Dave Ramsey, the debt-free guru, and you get so excited to hear people's success stories and hope that's your testimony too. (I HIGHLY recommend Dave Ramsey. I attended his 13-week class, which was one of the best decisions of my life.) 

And then reality sinks in. You already work three jobs (teacher, coach, babysitter) just to make ends meet, so where are you going to find hundreds of extra dollars each check to tackle this debt mountain? It takes you months just to get the 1,000 emergency fund in savings. You cut everything you can, but you still have exactly 75 dollars a month to add to your debt snowball. 

And so years pass, and you're slowly plugging away, but some months you fail. You use a credit card for a vacation you're desperate to take. You blow your emergency fund on "extras" instead of emergencies. And you think you're never going to be debt free, so you might as well enjoy life.

So that's why I'm sharing. Because surely I'm not alone in that struggle. 

I have so much to say, and I plan to post regularly about different aspects of getting out of debt. But I wanted to start by encouraging people who feel there is no end, the ones who hear those amazing stories of people who got out of debt quickly and then get discouraged. Your story is different. Mine is different. But, there's beauty in the journey. And I want to find it and share it. 

I have this notebook where I've kept track each month of how much debt I have and how much I've paid off. This is my first entry from April 2010 when I started this journey.

I can't believe I'm sharing this. I've only shared this number with a couple people--like literally two people. Feel special. 

I have no clue why I thought I needed a new outfit from Gap every week. I can't tell you what the heck I bought using that Bank of America card. And Target? Who knows. 

Proverbs 22:7 "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender." 

But, it's good to see those numbers because they make me mad. Mad enough to want to change. Because I definitely don't want to be Discover's slave. 

What's your debt story? If you've never had the nerve to add up your debt, I encourage you to do it. It will be hard and probably discouraging, but it's the first step. 

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Debt!

In March of 2010, I took the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class through my church. It was life-changing. If you don't know his plan, it is basically to pay cash for everything.

Step One: Get 1,000 in the bank for emergencies.

Step Two: Pay off debt, starting with smallest to largest. Put all extra money towards the smallest bill, and when it's paid off, you apply all that money as the extra towards the next one.

There are more steps, but I'm still on step two. The problem for me was that after paying my bills, I only had about 75 extra a month to put on my smallest debt even working extra jobs.

In December, I moved in with my mom to help me get out of debt and into a house sooner and to give her company after my dad's death. Even with paying her rent, I now have 550 EXTRA a month to pile on to my debt. I am finally seeing some real momentum with my debt snowball, and it's so encouraging.

As of today, I've paid off 16,971.20. I still have a LONG way to go.

I still need to make some changes to my lifestyle. I eat out too much. I have gotten out of the habit of using my cash envelopes to limit my spending. I still emotionally shop some days. But, I've paid off almost 17,000 dollars, and the debt baggage that keeps me from doing things I want to do (like short mission trips, traveling, giving more to charities, adopting, buying a house, etc) is getting smaller. Freedom is coming!

Proverbs 22:7 is one of the verses Dave uses in the class. "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender." It struck me profoundly. I don't want to be a slave or servant to anyone or anything but Jesus. After all, we can't serve two masters.

I want to encourage you if you are struggling with debt. It is so hard to change our habits. I hear stories of people who paid off 50,000 in a year, and I wish that could be me. But, I'm doing this slowly but steadily....a hard lesson in patience.