YIELD: Pause. Assess. Proceed. Produce.

Myth: You need a good credit score to thrive financially. Myth: You can’t rent a car or reserve a hotel room without a credit card. Myth: You can’t go to college without student loans. Myth: You need your credit cards to earn rewards. Myth: You need a credit card for unexpected emergencies. Myth: You must use debt for business start up and ongoing expenses. Myth: There’s no way to get a new car without going into debt.

When you intentionally show the love of Christ and it gets thrown back in your face, it hurts, but how should you react?  The bible has encouragement which we can choose to obey when we become discouraged while trying to minister to others.  1) Remember that ultimately God is our "boss" and it is him whom we work for.  Our reward is in him.  When people don't accept your labor of love God still does. (Colossians 3:23-24) 2) Keep loving!  Don't let rejection harden your heart and cause you to freeze up.  Continuing to love is challenging and it's natural to mistakenly put your guard up in order to protect your own heart.  Resist.  God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. (Hebrews 6:10 NIV) 3) Don't forget that the love you give in his name has eternal value.  Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we ...

I can be a good steward, but my faith is not in stewardship. We should tithe, but our faith is not in the act of tithing. Our faith rests in God.  I can put forth tremendous effort, but my faith is not in my effort.  My faith is in the God who established these practices for our benefit.  Our trust must remain in him solely, for His blessings toward us greatly exceed our investments of stewardship, tithing, and effort.  How can we then elevate works as the reason we may prosper?  We cannot.  God is the one who both propels and anchors us.  What do some of our forefathers say about how God sustains?  I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread (Psalm 37:25).  But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phillipians 4:19).

On April 15th, 2013 our family made our final  debt payment which happened to be my  undergraduate student loan. On that day we  began a beautiful journey living debt free.   Listen to me share my excitement in My Video Blog 12 Hours Before We Became Debt Free .   Click here to see Our Family Debt Free Scream video created a few months after we paid all of  our debt. We’ve enjoyed moving forward financially and building wealth for our family rather than paying financial tribute to the past.  For us it started in college. We stumbled upon Dave Ramsey’s radio program on our local Christian radio station and heard call after call from people who were trapped and restrained by their debt and their financial decisions.  As two single college kids who happened to be friends we were individually sold on following Dave’s principles before we ever earned a dime. We realized that starting off our marriage with a conservative risk averse finan...