By Katie, Contributing Writer

Debt is a way of life nowadays. Student loans, car loans, mortgages. Everyone has debt right? That’s what I always thought. Until now. A few years ago my husband and I went through Jim Sammon’s Financial Freedom Seminar. While we don’t agree with absolutely everything presented in the seminar, we were convicted that God does not condone debt.

Proverbs 22:7 reads,

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.

Psalm 37:21 says,

The wicked borrows and does not pay back, but the righteous is gracious and gives.

Romans 13:8 reads,

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

Not only does God not condone debt and borrowing, it’s clear in scripture that going into debt is an unwise decision.

When we became convicted that debt was not a good choice, we decided to quit using our credit cards. We paid them off and that was about it. We still had quite a bit of debt from a personal loan and several student loans.

Then about three months ago, I saw an article entitled, “How we paid off $27,000 in six months.” The article mentioned money guru and author of The Total Money Makeover, Dave Ramsey.

I was skeptical. I mean, who can really do that? …and why would they want to?

When I was growing up, it was a normal thing to have bills, debt, run low on funds at the end of the month. I thought that was just part of life. Then, Mr. Ramsey randomly tells me that it’s not. Or at least it doesn’t have to be. Like I said, I was skeptical.

But it was intriguing. So we read his book, The Total Money Makeover. 

Needless to say, my husband I were hooked. We started listening to his show and really looked at our finances for the first time in our marriage.

Dave’s method (which he likes to call common sense), has three clear beginning steps, or Baby Steps. (One little step at a time.)

1) Create a budget

Figure out where your money is going. If you’re spending more than what is coming in every month, make changes. Then, stick to it.

2) Get current on all of your bills and save up $1000 in an emergency fund

Just in case. That way, when problems arise (…the car breaks down, the dishwasher floods the kitchen…etc.), you will be ready to pay for those in cash instead of running to a lender.

3) Pay off your debt, the smallest to the largest

We set up a budget. We began to tell our money where to go. Just changing that kept us from being worried about paying our bills in full and on time. My husband seemed as if the weight on his shoulders was lighter than a feather. He had peace. We both did.

God got ahold of our hearts once again. He convicted us about this debt we have lying around. So right now, we are learning to become debt free. We prayed that God would give us wisdom and show us areas where we had a little bit of extra money to throw at our debt. He was faithful.

We found little areas where we were losing bits of money. We found little jobs we could do or things we could sell in order to make a few more dollars.

I’d love to be able to tell you we have most of this debt paid off, but that would be a lie. We are currently saving up for our $1000 emergency fund. Then it’s on to the debt. I cannot wait to say good-by to that “master”…

Overall, making small changes has changed our way of thinking. We are no longer bogged down by purchases, bills, or fears of the future. The future already looks brighter. I can see God moving and preparing us to blow through this debt by HIS power. God is faithful and He equips us to do His work and follow His plan. We truly believe that this is His plan for us right now.

I want to leave you with this thought from Matthew 6.

24 (MSG) “You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.

This verse talks about loyalty. It talks about devotion. You simply can’t obey two masters.

But in the following verses Jesus continues with beautiful thoughts of peace, calm, reality. I simply want to share verses 30-33 with you but the rest of the chapter shares these thoughts as well. Compare these verses with what the world says about getting, taking, wanting, desiring, self-satisfying…

30-33 (MSG) “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

So don’t feel sorry for us as we’re learning to live debt free. I haven’t had this much joy and peace in a long time. We’re learning to live debt free a little at a time and we’re loving every minute!