Our Journey With Money Part 2

*If you missed Part 1 of this story, you can read it here.

After three life-changing years in Philadelphia, we were sent off to Michigan for Nick to attend Andrews University Theological Seminary in the summer of 2014. We would be there for two and a half years. There were now four people in our family as Eden and Ezra were born in Philly, and money was still tight. Nick received a small stipend and also worked a part-time job at the school. Just like in Philly, we made enough to cover necessities buying only what we needed, and staying faithful in giving our tithe and being generous however God asked us to. We continued to eat lots of oatmeal and beans and rice, and God kept providing extra help through the generosity of others, not just with necessities, but also with extravagant gifts. After Ezra had been diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy, some friends of ours called and said they wanted to give us their Honda Odyssey minivan. We had actually prayed for a Honda Odyssey many months before this but had forgotten about it.

Later, I attended a financial seminar for seminary students and their spouses by a man who worked for the North American Division of our denomination, and he explained all of the benefits we would have once we were working full-time. He also gave some good advice. “Right now,” he said looking at everyone, “you are living poor. Once you begin working and making real money, you need to continue to live poor and get out of debt.” He then proceeded to explain some strategies for how to tackle debt and how to use our money wisely. I never forgot his advice to continue to live poor until out of debt and it played an important role after we left the seminary.

At the start of 2017, we moved to Southern California and Nick now had a full-time pastoral position. This was the first time either of us had ever had a full-time income in our entire marriage. So on one income as a family of five (Salem was added during a finals week of seminary), we continued to buy only what we needed and continued to give. And remembering what we had learned from Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover that we’d read years before, we began to finally pay off our student loans as aggressively as possible. Together, Nick and I had a combined total of $100,000 in student loan debt. On average, we paid at least $1500 a month on loans. We did not do this on our own. It was made possible through the love of others. Here are a few examples: A kind family at our church offered to pay for Ezra and Salem’s therapy copays each month. Someone else let us live in their house for very cheap rent. Another person covered all of our car maintenance for the past two years. My parents gave some money each month to help pay off my loans. On my 30^th birthday, many people donated money to raise $30,000 to help pay off my loans after Salem was diagnosed with a rare genetic syndrome and I knew I would not be going back to work for a long time. And over the years, different people have given us plates, pots, silverware, dressers, a desk, a dining table, a surfboard, bikes, helmets, strollers, bookshelves, lamps, decorations, clothes, appliances, toys, you name it, we got it from someone.

Now at the start of 2020, we have paid off all of our student loans! We are debt free!! Three years, one income, a family of five, hard work, self-denial, a loving community, and a faithful God have wiped out $100,000 of debt. We are no longer slaves to the lender (Proverbs 22:7)!  We have seen first hand these promises from the Bible come true:

“Those who gives to the poor will lack nothing.” Proverbs 28:27

“One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.” Proverbs 11:24

“‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.’” Malachi 3:10

We made our final loan payment in December 2019. Even though it was the Christmas season, through careful budgeting and living simply as we had been for years, we were able to make a final payment of $3000 and still purchase Christmas gifts and make donations to different charities. After the payment was made Nick and I began to talk about what we might finally get to buy. Nick thought about updating his guitar that he’s had since he was sixteen. I looked at all of our possessions and thought about how nice it would be to have things that match and were actually in the style I like. But as I started to look online at different furniture sets or plate sets or anything I might want to update, I realized that I didn’t really want any of those things. At least not right now. Sure, my plates don’t match and my furniture is not the style I would pick. But when I look around at everything we have, instead of seeing things that I picked out, I see love. I see people that God picked out to provide for us. I eat off of or our plates and I think of my brother. I open our dresser and I think of our friends Ali and John. I work at our desk and I think of my long time family friend, Aunt Sue. I watch the kids ride their bikes and I think of the Millers and the Allens. I push Salem in his stroller and I think of the Carters. I drive our van and I think of the Johnsons. I see love all around me and I am so grateful.

So what’s our plan now that we’re debt free? Obviously we will prayerfully look into building up our savings, retirement, investments, and other such things, but what we’re excited to do is to keep blessing others the way we have been blessed and to use our money in a way that will have eternal impact. Dave Ramsey says in his book More Than Enough that the point of being wealthy is to provide security for your family and to be generous. And Randy Frazee in Think, Act, Be Like Jesus says, “If we believe the only thing that will matter in heaven will be what we have done for Christ here on earth, then the vast majority of the money to go through our hands will not count for much—except what has been given to build Christ’s kingdom.”

I think about the commitment we made with our money from the Ellen White quote, “Money is a trust from God. It is not ours to expend for the gratification of pride or ambition. In the hands of God’s children it is food for the hungry and clothing for the naked. It is a defense to the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, a means of preaching the gospel to the poor.” That commitment made it so that we said no to a lot of things. We said no to great restaurants on a regular basis, updating our clothes whenever we felt like it, living in bigger spaces, and having a more comfortable life in general. But every time we said no, we said yes to love. It was either us saying yes to give our money to help someone or it was us saying yes in accepting help from someone else. We were saying yes to love and we plan to say yes over and over again.