If He can Create a Plan for the Entire Universe...

...Imagine what He can Do for Your Finances.

This little saying has been on my fridge for years. Encouraging me. Driving me to my knees. Causing me to question the timing and compassion of God in our lives.

Yes, you read that right. I'm just keeping it real here.

So how are we planning on accomplishing this large financial goal of paying off our mortgage (briefly eluded to in an earlier post), you ask???!! A lot of faith in a Creator who has unlimited resources and being wise stewards of what He's already entrusted to us.

Because honestly, I look at our finances and I think, "There's no way." But thankfully, I serve a Bigger God...who happens to own The Way.

Allow me to give you some background:

After the Lord ASKED me to stop working, our income was nearly cut in half. It was a shock to our system. We'd never had money issues. We never had debt. In fact, when we got married, we had three cars, a college degree, and a good amount of other things (enough to fill a house)between us...all debt free. And then, God spoke... He asked us to go to one income. So we did. Ouch.

At that point, I was getting ready to enter a Masters Degree Program. But then *surprise* Baby on the way.

And then God spoke again. He asked us to move to Texas. Just up and move. NOW. Trusting Him for everything. And so we did. OUUUUCCCCCHHHHH. We've never been so stressed or stretched thin in EVERY area of our lives. Finances included. In fact, it'd be a gross understatement to say our money was "tight". Because there were times we were hardly able to pay bills. ...of course the fact that the IRS accidentally took a hefty sum of money from our savings without our knowledge didn't help. *groan*

Why am I sharing this? Especially since the retelling of it still borders on making me sick to my stomach. Because in order to tell a miracle story...though I feel as if I'm still in the midst of it's unfolding... you have to have a NEED first. Period. So, I share from our Season of Need.

Do I realize that my sharing this may bring judgement on us? Yep. People are always willing to throw their oh-so-insightful judgement around concerning other's lives. But I cannot live life under that shadow. For it cripples.

But I can say that in the midst of it all, I've never known more intimately that we were RIGHT where God wanted us to be. Once He clearly spoke to me and said: "I can wipe out debt in a matter of minutes. But you cannot get what I am teaching you here through any other means."

Now don't get me wrong. It was hard. Harder than hard. And I'm someone who even likes a "challenge". But to give you an insiders point of view of my lowest point dering this "Need"....I called up my mom once, sobbing, and said, "Does He have no compassion!? We left everything to follow Him and we're dying out here! We're dying!"

This was no easy road. But it was a road chosen by God for us. For His purposes, which are STILL unfolding to this day. (There's SO much more to this story, but it'll have to wait for now)

Fast forward a few years. We moved back to our home state with over $60,000 of debt. Debt incurred, not through shopping sprees, but through fixing up a house that we bought (that happened to have rotting foundations. *surprise*) and living expenses. Like food and heat.

All of it (with exception of some we owe my parents) has been payed off. God demolished it. In record time. With money that we did not have. Because he's faithful to His Word. He told me that he could wipe out the debt that he was allowing during that time...and He did.

And so...on that note, last year, the Lord challenged me to believe Him for the paying off of our mortgage (and parents) in the next X-number of years. And as of THIS year, I have an excitement and a desire to see that happen. Not because we are wealthy. We are not. But because we have a challenge from the Lord to believe Him for it.

SO! These are some ways that we'll walk towards elimination of house debt...since some of you asked:

-We don't normally buy new. I love the GoodWill and have actually found new things there. If I am ever tempted, all I have to do is revisit my attic in my mind. Thinking of all the stuff I "had to have" that now sits unused makes me ill. Especially when I think that I'd only get pennies on the dollar for it at my yardsales.

-We don't use credit cards. I don't like to pretend we have money we don't. So we buy with cash.
-We rent books and movies from our library. I love having books for my girls. But oddly enough, I've found that they actually like books better if they aren't the ones we own. So all those books on their shelves aren't as treasured as the "new" ones we check out from the local library.

-As of this year, the girls are only going to get special things at Christmas and their b'days...instead of immediately giving them the bargains that I find at yardsales. No more. In fact, I can't imagine that they actually need anything else.

-Jet's older sister blesses us with hand-me-downs from her daughter. Who happens to be 9 months younger than Charis, but larger. Thank you, Justina! :)

-Grocery-wise, we don't buy sugary foods or sodas. But one of the things I want to do is start cooking for a month and freezing it. That way we're not buying unnecessary foods...or doing impulse buying at the last minute, which I think is our downfall.

-We don't take expensive trips. I'd LOVE to travel, but at this point it our lives it doesn't make sense. So we are putting off that desire to pay down/off remaining debt. But there are ALL sorts of free places to visit!

-If I haven't used it in the last year, it leaves my house. Thus, the yearly yardsales. I find the more we have, the less we enjoy it. So...we chuck the unused. Last year, I bought a much-needed new door with my yardsale money (we own a fixer upper). I went through the house picking up random items saying "Which do I want more? This or a new door?" And from that "test" I got my yardsale stuff. :)

-I PLAN on (we'll see if we can make it happen this year) having a veggie garden in my backyard. I love vegetables, but they are SO expensive. So...grow them myself. Freeze the left overs. And voila! Save money.

-We don't have TV. I mean, we have one and a DVD/VCR. But it doesn't get channels and we refuse to pay for cable. It's trash anyway.

-We're getting a hefty tax refund this year. It's all going towards our second mortgage.

I know there's more. But that's some of it. We've looked through our spending before but couldn't find "fluff." Unless you consider a cell phone with the least amount of minutes on a family plan to be fluff. As a mom of three, I do not. If something were to happen while I was driving my girls around, I'd want to not be at the mercy of a stranger to stop. But that's just me.

BUT somehow I know we can do more. I'm determined to find ways to save more than we are now; I just have to get really creative. So if YOU do something as a family, we'd love to hear it.