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Blessed in the midst of the Mess

Our financial stability continues to be on shaky ground. We continue to make progress but it is slow going and sometimes painful. I am reminded that growth can be a painful process and we are indeed growing. God has opened our eyes in a lot of ways thru this pile of financial woes.
I am glad that we took a hard look at our debt over 2 years ago and started working to eliminate it. I am sad that we didn’t investigate all our avenues more thoroughly and I know we were much too quick to join the debt settlement agency bandwagon (don't do it), believing they would solve all our woes for us and do so easily and without repercussions. Ha!
BUT—I wonder if it had been as easy as that silly agency made it out to be when we signed up if I would have truly learned my lesson about debt. I believe that because this has been so hard and painful that it will be the reminder that sticks with us our hole lives thru that we never want to be indebted like that ever EVER again. It’s like the child who has been told time and time again not to touch the hot stove- the meaning in the message doesn’t really sink in until the child gets burned; then the child knows and is reminded- “I don’t want to touch the stove because it will hurt me.” I’ve been burned and I know that I don’t want to go into debt again “because it will hurt me” and my family.
We continue to have problems with the debt settlement agency. (Go figure!) We are not in a situation where we can terminate the agreement but we do have a bit of leverage for their “current mistake”. 
I am annoyed that when they want information and such from me I must provide it to them immediately- without delay and without thought, but when I contact them about a problem (such as last month’s double billing) I don’t hear back from them until I’ve contacted them at least 3 times.
But yet I am thankful. We will have a debt paid off by the end of August which will leave us with only one debt listed with the debt settlement agency. It is our hope to get that final debt paid off by early next year and be done with this agency f-o-r-e-v-e-r.
More than anything I am aware that God is in charge and He has always, continually and faithfully provided for us. Time and time again. We’ve been at the brink many times and while it is rocky and scary, I keep reminding myself of how God has brought us through so far. He will never fail us.
We live in shaky economic times and there are many, many good people like Mr. Steady and myself, facing the same dilemmas we are facing, feeling the same fear and worry that we have faced. And some have it far worse.
We continue to take things a day at a time and to fill our days with prayers. I daily ask God that I won’t be imprisoned again with the fear and worry I felt early this year and I also ask that I would never be so far removed that I would forget what it felt like and how He raised me up out of that mire and what THAT felt like.
I realize that what God has brought us through these past two years has been in preparation for these tight economic times. I didn’t know, but the Lord did that we would be facing this now and that we would never be making it now if we still had that debt burden on our backs. These past two years have taught us more than just the fact that God calls us to live debt-free; we’ve learned how to pinch a penny and stretch a dollar “Til George and Abe scream”, to stick within our budgets (envelope system), how to barter for some needs and do without others. We’ve learned to be more creative and resourceful- to reduce and reuse before it was the green thing to do. And even more we’ve learned that in doing so we’re richer for it. We haven’t become misers; instead God has strengthened our marriage and little family. He’s brought us closer and made our lives richer with like-minded friends and family. He’s opened our eyes to the joys we have right here in our home that cannot be found or bought anywhere else.
He has incredibly and richly blessed us in such deep ways as I could never have imagined. While I never want to be in this situation ever EVER again, I know this was for my good- part of God’s great plan for my life (Jeremiah 29:11) and I no longer wish that “it had never happened” because I am very much  the better for it having happened. And continuing to happen.
And so I shake my fist at this current small storm we are facing and I tell it
“My God is BIGGER than you!”
So there.

Interesting in knowing more about how we got here or my thoughts on how to get yourself out of the mire of debt? Click on Financial Bliss in my catagories in the right hand column. Plus there is more of our financial journey buried in the Family Life column . . .

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9:50 PM, 2008-Jun-24 .. Posted by gabbie427

What a wonderful post. Thank you for sharing your praises and triumphs as well as the struggles and heartaches with dealing with your family's finances. We have learned what not ot do from you, but we have also learned to stand on the word of God and not loose our faith in him through the mess.

God's Blessings,
Amy Jo

Untitled Comment

10:37 PM, 2008-Jun-25 .. Posted by laura

Amy - thank you for your debt posts! Hubby and I were 98% debt free before we purchased our home last April, and now... sigh. We are in over our heads and having to dig ourselves out, a place I never thought we'd be. I am trying so hard to let go and let God deal with all of it, doing things the way He wants it to be done - and reading your posts helps me so much! It's a difficult time to be getting out of debt, cutting back on expenses, when everything around us is increasing in price. (We got into debt because my husband's pay decreased by almost $1000 a month about 6 weeks after we moved into our fixer-upper house - we felt there was no way to make ends meet. Silly us - we had no idea what was coming!)

Thanks again... you are blessing others with your honesty!