My lovely wife and I realized when we got married that what works for everyone else isn't going to work for us. I was working three jobs, she was working two. We didn't know how to make life work. We had thousands of dollars in debt and nothing to show for it except 2 car loans and past memories. How were we going to move forward with our new life together and build a family. It seemed insurmountable. For several evenings we held hands and prayed. We declared the favor of the Lord to be on us. To have grace and mercy in all that we do. We prayed that we would have favor with friends, family, employers, and anyone that we come in contact with. The short story is this, I went from 3 jobs to 1 making the same amount in a few months. The following year we got pregnant with our first child and my wife quit working. She sold her vehicle when our son was 10 months old and 2 months later we bought our first cash car; a $1,000 Volkswagen Jetta with a half functioning transmission among other issues. She then decided to go back to work a year after having our son to help pay off our debt more aggressively. It was during this time she became pregnant with our second child and continuing to work wasn't in the cards anymore. We knew God was leading her to stay home and take care of our children full-time. However, this was a scary transition as we had just put a bid in on a house and needed her income. Within a couple weeks of making this decision and trusting God for the income, I got another job opportunity that made up for her income and just in time to move into our new house and have our baby. We then sold my car and bought another car for $1,800. We haven't had a car loan since. We now have 3 children and are in our final stretch of non-mortgage debt payoff. We have roughly $7000 left of school debt to make this longtime dream a reality and finish Baby Step #2. We've made a goal to pay off this debt and fund a good part of our 3-6 month emergency fund by October of this year. The next few months will probably be the most intense of the entire journey thus far, but we know it's worth it! God has truly blessed us and given us favor time and time again. Though this process hasn't been without it's sacrifices and tough decisions. We've done without when we see other people doing so much. Thankfully our children have been young enough to not know some of the things they may have missed out on. We hope that the choices and things we forego now to will enable us to reach our goals that will positively affect the generations to come. |
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