Gazelling

We are currently working out way through Financial Peace.  NOW - we have been working on becoming debt free for about a year.  And we've made huge strides.  I felt it was important to take the class because I felt it would help us learn more about how to accomplish our goals.  And it has.  We've learned a lot.

The lesson before last, Dave Ramsey talked about Proverbs 6:5.

Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

And he talked about how he didn't understand that until he was watching Discovery channel one night.  A cheetah was chasing a gazelle...and in order for the gazelle to escape it had to RUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNN with all its might.  He also showed a clip of a cheetah chasing (and missing) a gazelle.

This was powerful.  To ME this means you do whatever it takes to get there.  It means making large, huge sacrifices.  It means that when you think you can't give up anything else...and you've given your all...you look for something else.

Because it is life or death.

Extreme?  If you want to get out of the pit you have to be.  So we are currently looking to see what else we can cut.  What else can we sell.  What else can we DO?  William has started taking his lunches.  (I already do mostly.)  We are looking at selling some items that we have.  Some of them I'm not thrilled with, but understand the importance.  (Example:  Our deep freeze.  I want to keep it.  But we've gotten along without it for a year, and thus can get along without it for longer.  It was never plugged back up after we moved.)  We are looking at selling baby stuff we don't use.  Furniture...basically, looking around our house going "what can we get along without?".  SELL BABY SELL!

And on THAT note I have a blessing to share.  Our transmission went out on the Durango.  William drove to the store - it was fine.  On his way home - not so much.  He couldn't shift out of first/second gear and could no go faster than 20 mph.  I'm certain he annoyed many drivers.

Monday I was sicker than a dog, so the car had to wait until Tuesday.  We took it to a transmission shop in town.  When they called back Wed. they quoted William $2400.  William said he choked on the phone and the guy said "But I can do it for $2300..."  I guess he felt sorry for William.  William gave me the news as I was leaving for work, so I had some time to ponder it.  (He stayed home with a sick kid that day.)

I prayed my entire way to work.  My first question was - do we fix it or buy new?  God very clearly said YES.  Fix it.  He even broke down the financials for me so it made sense.  (Wasn't that nice of Him to explain why?)  Then I took a deep breath.  I told God that we certainly didn't have the money.  That our emergency fund would not cover this.  I told Him since He owns the cattle on the hills (Psalms 50:10) and all things belong to Him, could He pretty please helps us out?  I reminded Him of our goals and what we were trying to accomplish.  I basically told Him we could NOT do this without Him.

I was going a mile a minute.  And God listened patiently.

You know how parents do...when a child is pleading for something that the parent has already decided to give the child?  They let them explain their case, listening and nodding and mmmm hmmming.

I pulled into the parking lot at work and my phone rang.  It was William.

"You will NEVER believe this!"

Turns out...as William was chatting with the transmission shop God was already nudging him.  The idea formed in William head to call the dealership where we bought the car...4 years ago.  We had purchased a warranty.  We were sure it had expired.  Sure I tell you!  That is why we didn't take it there in the first place.

But obediently to the gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit, William called anyway.

Hey guess what?  The warranty was good until July of this year or 131K miles.  We happened to have 125K miles on the vehicle and it happened to only be Feb.

So our $2300 problem was reduced to $100.  By God.  YES by God!  We drive so much that we always drive out the warrant well before the time limit expires.  That is just the way it is for us.  Living out the country and working on the opposite side of town accounted for a lot of it.  The driving has slowed down since we moved...but that has only been a year.

The Lord took care of us.  And I'm going to share something else.  We have a lot of debt.  A LOT.  I haven't really shared numbers...but the number is large (embarrassingly so!).  God shared a number with me as far as what He was going to give us to pay off this year.  It is also large.  In fact, it will take care of pretty much the rest of the unsecured debt we have (besides a student loan) and it is double the amount we paid off last year.  We will have cars, our house and student loan when all is said and done.  And THOSE will be paid off the following year.  Ummm...except the house.

I'm excited to see how God will do it.  I'm excited to receive His blessing for us.  I'm excited to see how He will do it.