What a difference a year makes. My family arrived in our new home state last Spring jobless and homeless. The only thing we held onto was a prayer. We prayed for jobs and a home. The odds were against us. Our bank account was depleted. There was no turning back. God whispered. We heard His voice. It sounded like a tiny stream. My wife found a job at a retail mall. Her first paycheck allowed us to put food on the table. A large company moved in to the area and offered me full-time employment. The stream became a river, gushing new opportunities. My wife landed a dream job with the county and decided to retain her retail job as well. Our daughter came home from college and landed two retail jobs. Our oldest son relocated to be close to us and added two more jobs to the household in addition to attending college full time. We are now white-water rafting through stage IV rapids while grasping seven jobs in our household. God's whispers now roar like thunder. Here is what we're doing with the answered prayers:
- We dammed up our credit card usage. This excessive use of debt to finance our appetites is what got us into hot water in the first place. We now pay cash for everything.
- We made a decision not to buy any cars unless we have the cash first. The biggest challenge was convincing our children that paying cash is the best option. They are saving for their dream cars while driving automobiles free of car loans.
- We are working at becoming debt free. It will take 7.5 years to pay off the house we purchased as long as we stick to our plan. We have some catching up to do on our retirement and we plan to ramp up our contributions once our remaining debts are paid off.
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