Debt FREE.... Sorta

Today is a day I NEVER want to forget.  Some stories are so good, you just HAVE to share them with whoever will listen.

Today Sammy and I made our FINAL credit card payment.  This might not sound like that big of a deal, but trust me - IT IS HUGE!!  In just over 3 years, we paid off $25,000 in credit card debt.  TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.

How did we get that much credit card debt, you may ask.  Short answer: By spending more money than we had.

We never spent extravagantly.  We just spent more than we made.  

By the summer of 2008, it had gotten bad - we often didn't know how we were going to buy groceries or pay our bills.

We had to come clean.

At first, because of our pride, we told very few people - my mom and the elders and deacons of our church.  NO one else.

I do not have the words to articulate the love, support and guidance we received from these godly men.  They not only helped us in the short term, but were willing to come alongside us and teach us what God's Word said about money.  They loved us, prayed for us, sacrificed for us....  They showed us God's grace.

We still have a long way to go...  We need to be more disciplined and organized with spending. Sanctification is a lifelong journey.

But, today is a big deal.

And I am THANKFUL.  I'm thankful that God never let us go hungry, or without anything we really needed.  I'm thankful that He surrounded us with such loving and generous believers.  I'm thankful that God taught us this lesson in our youth, instead of in our 50s.

And, I'm thankful that God so abundantly blesses the most feeble attempts at obedience.

 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;  he rises to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!  --Isaiah 30:18