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Today's post is from Reflections from a Christian Mommy Writer, who shares how God has financially provided for her family.
“The Pathway to Financial Peace”
By Tonya Nash
When I was in college, I had high aspirations of climbing the corporate ladder and achieving great success in my career field. I planned on making lots of money and finally becoming free from the bondage of student loans and credit card debt. I knew that I wanted to have a family, but I never had any intentions of being a stay-at-home mom. Then I fell in love with a man in the military. I didn’t know it at the time, but God was getting ready to make some major revisions to my plans!
My husband and I have been married for 8 years. I worked full time in the field of public health for the first five years of our marriage and thoroughly enjoyed it. While we had a good household income, we also had a good bit of debt. It wasn’t a major concern at the time because we could make the monthly payments for all of our bills.
When my husband received orders to move, we assumed that I would just get another good paying job at our new duty station. However, we were presented with a situation that would change our family forever.
Our son started having problems meeting some of his developmental milestones. His social and communication skills were significantly delayed. As a result, we made the decision for me to stay at home with our son to ensure that he receives all of the therapy and interventions he needs to be successful. The needs of our child took precedence over my career aspirations.
Transitioning to a one-income household took some adjusting. We cut back big time on entertainment and eating out. I started couponing and looking for discounts on everything we purchased.
My husband soon received orders to deploy to the Middle East. While deployed, he heard about a program being offered on base to help people get out of debt. It was called Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. My husband signed up for the classes and eagerly told me about things he learned that could help us get out of debt once and for all. He was so excited that he asked me to order the home study program so that we could do it together once he returned home from the deployment.
We signed up for the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University program in January 2010. Before starting the program, we prayed to God, telling him about our desires to become debt free. We then committed to a strict budget and used the snowball method to pay off our debt. We took no vacations. Any extra income was applied to our debt. By November 2010, we were totally debt free!
I would love to take the credit for our success with this program, but I can’t. God started opening up the windows of heaven and providing income in ways that we didn’t even expect. As a matter of fact, God blessed us to get out of debt six months earlier than projected.
It’s ironic that we tried for many years as a dual income household to get out of debt, but was unsuccessful. We never thought we could become debt free on one income. But God showed us in this instance that nothing is too hard for Him and that our financial standing is not dependent on Uncle Sam or my employment status. It’s dependent upon Him. God always provides for his children.
Please know that being in good financial standing is not based upon how much money you make, but on the choices you make with the money you have. If you are having problems in your finances, ask God to help you find a path to debt free living that will bless your family. He will answer your prayer!
I have heard so many great things about Dave Ramsey's program. Maybe it's time my husband and I give it a go!
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