Hallelujah

I will tell you; life ain't easy. Lydia and I aren't wealthy in the traditionally understood ways. But God has been good to us and we are blessed in many ways.

Lydia and I got our largest tax refund ever this year. I have been sooo excited since i submitted my taxes. You guys know i love gadgets and tech toys, so I have been checking out the new HDTV's and had the fever for one really bad. I had even gone so far as to shop around and find the one I wanted. I was so ready to plunk down the money just as soon as we got our refund. Were going to try to pay some bills too, but really the new TV was coming first.

If your like us then there is a pile of bills that need to be paid all the time. Hospitals, Credit Cards, Schools Loans, Doctors appointments, magazine subscriptions, etc. Recently we have fallen behind on some of our bills, and we have been dodging the annoying bill collecter phone calls. We borrowed money from some family when we bought our new car a year ago, and have had trouble keeping up the payments.

When I awoke friday morning I felt horrible. Not sick...under conviction. If you have experienced this then you know exactly the feeling I'm talking about. As I lay there in bed the Lord began to speak to me. The Lord reminded me of how he had blessed and provided for us over the years. As He spoke to me, I knew that buying a new TV wouldn't be right, and definitely wouldn't be showing good stewardship. So I made up my mind that I would use whatever we got back from the IRS to pay down our debts, but only after we gave 10% to the church. Suddenly I had a real peace about the whole matter.

I got up out of bed and went into the living room where Lydia was feeding Cohen. I told her what had happend and she agreed. I went into our home office to check my online banking and low and behold our refund had been deposited. Our bank balance never looked like that before.

So after a few days our tithe has been given, all our bills are paid up, We are gonna pay our family loan back in a few days, and the only debt we will have is my Student Loans which we have been paying on monthly. Amazingly when I talked to some of our creditors, they were willing to settle for less in order to settle the accounts.

Lydia and I have never really been this debt free. God has continued to show his faithfulness to us in leading, guiding, and directing our thoughts and actions. Without Him, I'm lost. I don't have an HDTV. But I feel really good. Hallelujah!!