Debt Free and Contentment

Being debt free was unthinkable for us just five years ago. I've heard it said that most newly weds spend their first few years trying to live the same lifestyle that it took their parents thirty years to achieve. Byron and I were pretty much following this trend. Then I started a new business (and yes I thought the way to do it was to borrow instead of growing slowly). If we could afford the monthly payments and we wanted it, we got it. All of this stuff never brought any happiness or peace after the immediate joy of getting it! Then, I developed Graves disease and didn't know it immediately. In short, you get weak, can't sleep and you feel as if you are losing your mind. Thanks to my God, husband, family, dear friends and Dave Ramsey's know how, we are debt free, and I am well. We have completed all of the steps listed in Dave's program and it really works. I trudged on at it by myself at first, but when Byron jumped aboard the train took off!

Some have told me that being debt free in our society is impossible. I know that this is not true. Yes, you do have to lower your sense of self worth and pride must go out the window. For example, in the past a friend of mine was having serious money problems and it was putting her marriage in jeaprody. The home they were renting was in a very pricey neighborhood. When I told her maybe they ought to move. She informed me that, "I deserve a nice place to live!" She was barely twenty and had done nothing to benifit her husband, community, church or herself. I was wondering exactly why she "deserved" this home.

Because we breathe doesn't mean we deserve: a nice house, a nice car, money, etc... We deserve nothing except-life and liberty. Maybe you will have to drive a "junker" for a while to avoid a car note. Ironically, now that we have worked hard, very hard, to get rid of our debt we can afford to pay cash for those things that we want. Maybe we "deserve" it now???

One of the best things that Byron and I have ever done is to get out of debt and step out of the consumer mentality. I now only work when I feel like it and around my family's schedule. My husband and children are my responsibility. NOT anyone elses (I mean that.) That is why I chose to marry a good man first and have children after. My children do "deserve" a Mother and a Father if at all possible. They are the innocents. This is the best for children, and I did my best to make this possible by marrying an honest man of my same faith. Our entire budget is based upon Byron's salery and mine is the have fun money!

I Timothy 6:6-8 says, "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content." Throughout our "getting out of debt" period, I posted this scripture on my refridgerator to remind me of what brings contentment. I have tried the other way and was not happy. I have tried this way, and I have more peace and contentment in my life than I dreamed possible.