Part I The Lie We Believed

Part II A Bounced Check

Part III The Day We Won The Lottery

Part IV The Weight Has Been Lifted

Well here we are.  What a roller coaster this was sharing this chapter in our lives.  Definitely a dark time but yet still  hope.  I am so grateful that it doesn’t end where we last left off.  Which you can always read here.

After our humiliating moment of our bankruptcy check bouncing, we were dumbfounded.

We felt so low and our false hope we had with the bankruptcy came crashing down.

We asked ourselves….What are we going to do?

During this time a friend of ours mentioned to Luke about a guy named Dave Ramsey.  Luke was desperate and began listening to all his radio show and recordings every day.  He immersed himself into the advice that Dave gave and he finally came to the conclusion that we were not bankrupt.  Yes our debt was significant.  But we were not bankrupt.  Our issue was not the fact of the amount of debt, but the fact that we had very very little income.

I remember the day that Luke came home and put Dave’s audio book on the speakers.  I remember sitting on the couch listening.  Dave was sharing his story and the dark time in his life.  I remember coming to tears as  I could relate to the hopeless feeling that he conveyed.

After we sat there and finished listening we began to formulate a plan.  We somehow came up with the $150.00 to buy Dave’s Financial University Class.  He doesn’t take credit, so we had to have it in the bank!  lol.

Anyways we slowly began to get things in order.  We made our first budget together.  It was awful.  It was depressing.  And yet it was the first step.  We made a list of all our debts.  The amount was suffocating.  When we compared our budget to our debt, we didn’t see how we were going to do this.

However, we became motivated.  Motivation is the key.  We needed a change and we needed it fast.  Baby #3 was only a couple of months away and it was either the military or a miracle.  So we prayed for a miracle.

Luke and I are Christians.  We believe that God is always with us even in our hard times.  And believe me those were hard times.  We also believe that sometimes situations take more than just prayers.  So we decided to do a 10 day fast.  This was unlike any fast we did.  It was a fast out of desperation.  We bought a book called The Daniels Fast by Elmer T.  Towns.  You can purchase it here.  Amazing book!  This book brought us together and had us draw up a plan and contract between one another and with God.  We wrote down exactly what we were fasting for, what verses and promises we were leaning on, and what exactly we would fast from and the duration.  We signed our names and committed together to go through with the fast.  I wish I had a copy of that contract that we wrote.  If I did, I think I would frame it as a reminder of how faithful God is.

I do remember that on that piece of paper we wrote that we were fasting for Luke’s income to double.  At that time he was making 12.00 an hour.

If his income would double then we would be able to pay our normal bills and begin to tackle debt.

(I must note that beforehand we were sending out resume’s daily.

I even got called back to an awesome job, but because I was very pregnant and would be working with radiation, I got turned down).

So we had already been hearing lots of no’s or the pay was not worth taking the job.

5 days into the fast.  Luke gets a call from a friend that we rarely see anymore.  She asked if he was looking for a job.  It was a job at the shipyard doing exactly what he was doing for 12.00.  And yet the pay would be doubled.  We felt like we won the lottery!

Seriously!  A huge weight was lifted off our shoulders and we felt so alive!

We couldn’t believe it!  Within a months time Luke had a job that was now providing for his family and now we were able to begin tackling this massive amount of debt!  We are so grateful for God’s faithfulness.

We also began our Photography business as a means of extra income.  However, with now believing in being debt free our mission was to build this business with no debt.  And so we have.  It has definitely taken us longer than some, but it has been well worth it.

And just to give you an idea of where we are at now.  We started with 86,000.00 in debt.  ( Business and Personal).  We now owe 25,000.00!  That is basically a car right there!  I am putting this out there that we plan to be completely debt free next year!  2015 will be a good year!

I shared this with you all because financial burdens are a real struggle in marriage today. It is the number one cause for divorce!

 And in order to overcome this it is important to work together, follow-through with a plan, and become accountable to someone.

Thank-You so much for reading and  I cannot wait to share sometime next year our debt free post!  Yay!

Also, if you would like to know more,

we are now teaching Financial Peace University and if you are interested in signing up you can always visit the link here.

http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu/locations/org/14713/class/264335

The Day We Won The Lottery!