Friday, March 28, 2014

It's the March Round-Up! And it's Madness!!!! (Get it? March Madness?) :)

     We are three months into a year that the Lord has called us to be content with what we have for one whole year.  That means we are not buying anything for ourselves.  No clothes, which is no big deal for me.  The no house projects on the other hand is HUGE for me.  We have been shown so much grace and provision in these three months it is incredible.  We have felt so supported by our friends and family and we are so thankful for that!  Let me share with you all a few things we have learned and also how we're coming along in our effort to kick our debt in its FACE!!!!!
     First off, let me share this story with you because it happened recently and it's my blog and I can.  haha!  I was sitting in church last Sunday fiddling with my wallet that holds all of our cash.  (It has sections in the back that you can label...meant for coupons, but AWESOME in place of envelopes! Bed Bath and Beyond is where I got mine...thanks for the tip Bethany Skinner! :)) I don't know why I was doing that instead of paying attention, but that's what was happening; I get distracted easily, just ask my husband.  Anyway, I looked in an obscure side pocket and found our tithe check from February!  I NEVER put checks in that wallet.  I have another place that they go so I won't forget about them.  Apparently I missed my own memo.  "Oh well," I thought.  "At least I'm at church and I can just give it to them now.  Perfect!"  That's when I heard the Lord say to me, "I am giving that to you."  "Lord," I said, "No...you have it all wrong.  I am giving this to YOU!"  "Use this money to pay off your car," said the Lord.  "No." Said my self-righetous self.  "This money is yours God!"  Then the Lord said to me, "ALL money is mine.  And I am giving this to you."  I didn't know what to think.  We have been continuing to give our tithe this whole time because we felt like the Lord wanted us to.  Now he wanted us to keep it!?  It did NOT feel right.  I went home, called K and told him about it and asked him to pray about it and I would do the same and we would talk about it the next day.  While I was making dinner I was reading Proverbs (sometimes that's the only time I get when my kids aren't pulling at me because they know I'm going to feed them food so they don't interrupt.  HAHA!) and God highlighted a verse for me.  It reads, "To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice," Proverbs 21:3.  My mind was blown (which seems to be a regular occurrence these days).  The Lord is PROUD of us.  He DELIGHTS in us following his will and saying yes when He calls.  He would rather see us pay off our car, doing what is right and good, than see us just give another sacrifice to the church.  Now please.  I am NOT saying that you shouldn't give to your church!  We still feel called to give and we will continue next month as usual, but I have a much different attitude about it now.  Instead of, "here you go Lord...here is OUR money for YOU."  It's, "Here Lord, here is YOUR money, what would YOU have US do with it?"  I feel like this was a HUGE lesson for us and am so humbled that God is cheering us on in huge ways.  Our tithe check was for $400...we owed $414 on my car.  We went down the next day and paid that sucker off.  Here are some pics because we are dorks.

So excited to own my Excursion!

The Banker helping us thought we were funny and probably a little crazy. :)

Little D's excitement doesn't show on his face, but I like to think he was jumping for joy on the inside!  HAHA!


MAN THAT FELT AMAZING!!!  What a gift from the Lord!  Now let's get to the numbers and see where we stand going into April!


  • New debt total going into April- $12, 400.33!!
  • Amount paid off since last month- $3,095.87!!!!
  • Amount paid off since we started- $10,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you would have asked both of us last December when we would have had our debt paid off we would have said maybe some time next year, meaning 2015.  Never in my craziest dreams would we have thought we would have been able to pay off $10,000 in a year...let alone THREE MONTHS!  God is SO GOOD.  That is the point.  If we were trying to do this on our own, there is no way we would have had the conviction to stick with every extra penny we have going to debt.  It's not easy and we have messed up...ok I have messed up (remember my coffee I bought?), :) but it's all a part of this learning journey we're on.  So thankful today for God's grace and forgiveness...it really is limitless.

Have a great weekend friends!!  April starts on Tuesday!  AHHHH!!!!


1 comment:

  1. That is SO cool! $10,000 in 3 months! Way to go guys! We Looooovvvveeee you!

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