Live Like No One Else: Debt Free Journey

In 2014 I declared Armageddon on debt. I felt like screaming from the top of my lungs how much I HATED it. While reflecting on every dream that I had, dreams of travelling, building organizations, and just being an overall giver and explorer, I became so upset thinking of all the debt I was responsible for. I became upset mostly because I was tired of being asked the theoretical question, "If money was not an issue, what would you be doing right now?" And have it remain just that a theory. I don't believe that money should be a limited, I believe that it should eventually work for me. For the things I want to do in Christ and for Him I believe that through sacrifice, discipline, planning, self-control and money management on my part he can and will bless me. Becoming a good stewardess became a goal for me. I'm not going to make this a huge faith/theology thing but it never made sense to me that Christians proclaiming to know God in all his glory didn't see the issue in struggling, living beyond their means/paycheck by paycheck when they had daily access to sensible advice from the Bible. So I said no more!!

As of  10/15/14 I am proud and bless to say that I am credit card debt free and have saved $1,000+ in my saving. I am on journey to be debt free by the age of 25 or the year of 2016. I am currently 23. This blog is possibly the first of many sharing details about my debt free journey. I hope that this encourages, challenges someone and if there is any questions that I could possibly answer please post below. 

Getting Started

1. I guess the first part in getting started is deciding to START. It sounds so cliche but it didn't start becoming real to me until I made up my mind to get serious about it. For me that met I had to write it down. Make it a goal or series of goal and make it visible to me from the moment I wake up to the moment I close my eyes.

2. I had to figure out where I stand. How much money did I make a month? What was I spending money on? What did I spend my most on? How much debt did I have? Who did I owe? When did I have to start paying? What was credit? What was my score? My Trends? My Habits?

So for me this step help me figure out how serious I was about the process because I had to put actions to my words. In this step you have to gather all of your financial information (Bank accounts, loan accounts, car payment, investments, house payments, credit card account) everything. I literally stalk everything, I called my banks for my passwords, the dreaded loan people for loan information. When I gathered majority of this information the site and resource that help me figure things out was Mint.com

Mint is a free personal finance tool. It literally gathers all of your financial information into one safe place. Within it you can set up goals, create a budget, create a reminders, and so much more. My favorite part of this site is what occurs after you take the time and link all your accounts. In the transaction tab you can place every transaction into a category, everything eventually falls into a category and from that point on it auto-categorize every thing you spend. The absolutely cool think about this (...yes I think it's cool and it make my geeky finance heart beat fast) is that when everything is in a category you can see your trends. It will show you in a bar graph/pie chart where you spend your money over time, in different categories. So cool!!! This and Credit Karma are my favorite and most used tools. Both are very self-explanatory and efficient. Both come as an app and both were recommended to me by a financial advisor.

3. The third step after gathering all of my financial account into one place (mint/credit Karma) I went to one of my banks and created an inconvenient savings account that was linked one way to my most active checking account. I sat down and signed an automated transaction where weekly $50 dollars is transferred from that checking into that saving (The amount depends on your financial situation but in order to create the habit of saving the amount should NOT be high enough that you are constantly aware of it, gradually you can increase it as you develop better money behavior/income).

Hint: For this to work this saving account should not be easily accessible. It should seriously be a bother for you to take money out (I.e you driving a distance, parking the car, standing in a line, showing ID in order to get access to that money). Do whatever to create in your mind that this money is unavailable to you unless it's a dire emergency.

4. Get Educated from Financially Successful People. One of the best $14 I have ever spent was on Dave Ramsey book "My Total Money Make Over". It's crazy to me how as a generation and people we ask help from people in the same sinking position as us. As my pastor says "you don't taking swimming lessons from a drowning man". I want to be debt free so I had to seek out and learn from people who ARE debt free or close to or at least on the journey. Read the book. It will change your life. 

5. If you have done the steps above and at least YouTube Dave Ramsey by now you've probably heard of the Debt Snowball. Doing all of these things and combining it to Dave Ramsey Baby Step plan I have been able to pay off 3 credit cards and save $1,000+. I am currently on Baby Step 2: Debt Snowball. I have listed the steps below. But the basic reasoning of the Debt Snowball is to start paying off your debt from the least to the highest building momentum. Every payment that is completed you add the amount of what you use to pay toward the next debt until that is paid off and continue until you snowball your way into debt freedom.

I hope this encouraged you to wake up and see this life changing opportunity to change your lineage by becoming debt free. I don't know about you but I am tired of being a slave to money, payments. I am tired of having more bills or month left to money. I am a server/student, it's not that I have a ridiculous amount of money to throw on this debt. But I truly believe that I can get out of debt in 2 years with some hope, tears, sweat and sacrifice. Join me! 

Beloved Rise, 

Stuck on Boaz

My prayer is that you Beloved hear my heart and understand my intention in writing this blog. This blog is NOT a criticism towards the idea of waiting on your "Adam/Boaz". I am a firm believer that if it is the will of God for you to be married/ to have a family it WILL happen. One of the many truths that I stand on is that the word of God will never return void. What he says, IS...but I can't help observing that many of us are STUCK on Boaz or this idea of him (an imperfect human being) rather than glued to CHRIST. I can't help myself noticing the irony of wanting to be presented/handed to God's BEST (man of God chasing after Him) yet refusing to be IN HIS HANDS submitted to His will.

So has this concept/ideal of "Adam/Boaz" taken Gods place in your heart? Is Jesus even enough for you? Are you even prepared for that ministry??...because let's be real marriage is suppose to be an earthly representation of the relationship between Christ and the church. Are you ready to follow and serve? Are you willing to humble yourself and work through things even if your feelings are not in agreement?

Can God even trust you with one of His Sons?

There has been such a push lately of women desiring to be in a Godly marriage. That is so awesome!! So many sisters are now creating Godly standards and learning to stick to them. At the same time we seem to forget that all though we are all Gods PRINCESSES, the men we are praying for are His SONS, a KING-in-training. The men after His heart are purpose, they are giving a mission which is to use the talents/gifts given to them to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Jesus has commanded them. Hear me well when I say that all though not every man is going to end up in China, Siberia, Africa or wherever, all of them who confess Jesus as their Lord and Savior will have to become Christ ambassador in their spheres of influence. As women according to the Bible we are met to be a HELPMEET this mission.

Now if we were to actually go and study the Book of Ruth (where the story of Ruth/Boaz is located) you can learn that Ruth was in the process of becoming a true HELPMEET long before Boaz entered the scene. When we start in Chapter 1 we find Naomi and Ruth widows with no where to turn and with no one truly to depend on. Naomie had suffered the loss of both her husband and two sons and was devastated. She now had the responsibility of two daughter-in-laws during a period in time where it was difficult to live without the protection and covering of a man. Naomie knew of the hard times to come and the dangers to come while travelling with two beautiful and basically single women and she gave her two daughter-in-laws a choice.

Go back to what they were familiar with (home, family, potential of getting married again, security) or......come with her to an unknown land and face unforeseen challenges while believing in an unfamiliar God. In that moment Ruth had to make a choice. A. W. Tozer said it best when he said that "The choices of life, not the compulsions, reveal character". In that moment Ruth begin forming the character of faith. By declaring to Naomie that her people and God would now be hers she displayed something that many of us women fail in doing today, which is trusting God to order our steps and lead us in plans that are not met to harm us but are created to give us a new hope.

How can we be asking God to give us the ministry of marriage when we aren't faithful in the place/portion we have now?   Why should he bring us to that area of unknown when we struggle in taking that leap of faith of letting that random go, leaving that job, or even just speaking/forgiving that person. It wasn't easy for Ruth to leave all that she knew but she recognized and seized a truth. You can't remain comfortable on this journey with God. Every men or women who truly walk with God had to leave something behind in order to move forward. 

When I get into my feelings, (usually after watching a ridiculous amount of romantic movies) I imagine what it would be like to meet this guy that I am purposed to share this life with. I wonder if our eyes will meet across a room, or would we bump into each other in a crowded area, will I trip and find myself saved from a teeth breaking close call by his hands on my arms, or would it be slow realization after years of friendship. I realize today that the meeting was not as important as the process, which I will call the Eve Process.

I found it so interesting how the creation of Eve had really no active participation on Adam part. Outside of getting a rib (notice it's not a toe for him to walk on or hair to sit on top of Him) Adam was asleep during the whole thing. God his Father saw that he had a need and went about providing for it. Eve was that answered need.

I can't help but to feel that intimacy during her forming. God was literally forming her, stitching her, molding her into the woman she needed to be. The man had no opinion but God had complete control. Whew. I like to think of that brief time as Eve single season. During that moment she had God undivided attention. She wasn't rushing the process because ultimately she was in the hands of the Creator of Time. Only when she was ready according to His Timing was Adam awoken and presented this beautiful gift, which is what we are after going through the process.

How can we tell God to wake our Adam or present us to our Boaz when we keep running from our process?  Every woman who have been presented to Gods BEST has had an Eve Process, a season of preparation, a season of complete intimacy with The Lord. Ruth season of preparation involved her working the land during the beginning of the barley harvest.

When I read Ruth story I feel in my heart that Boaz field was either not the first field she tended/work or that first meeting was not the first time she was found working on the harvest. I say this because when Boaz acquired about her from the guy in charge of the reapers, he was able to tell him that Ruth was Moabite who traveled with Naomie who has been working from early in the morning until that point with just a short rest. He identified her as a hardworking woman, dedicated, something that you don't always see after just one meeting....But the main point is that Ruth was developing a Godly reputation that was preceding her and speaking for her in her absence. I am pretty sure that Ruth was not the only women in the field, but just like Adam eyes were open only for Eve causing an outpouring of adoration so was Boaz to Ruth. Which brings me to a little love note shared to me by God, what he has for you is for YOU. No one can take it in fact he has said in his word "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined the things that God has prepared for those who trust Him". Beloved trust Him with your heart and love life. Instead of passively waiting, pining for the Boaz/Adam to come learn to enjoy the Eve Process.

How to Enjoy the Eve Process

1. Develop sound doctrine. It's shocking to me how vulnerable we women/singles especially are vulnerable to horrible doctrine/theology. Instead of pinning for an imperfect man lets agree to study THE  Creator of Man. There are way too many books, podcast, resources available out there for us to continue to excuse ignorance. It's not that you don't know, eventually it comes to the truth that you don't want to know.

2. Develop a prayer life/intimate time with God. Nothing beats spending true uninterrupted time with your Creator. There is something so personal in allowing Him to download himself into you. When you develop that it's more difficult to be fooled into allowing something else become your source. Beside in marriage, women we are called to pray, to intercede in the spiritual realm, cover our husbands, family, friends, environments. I don't know about you but I don't want to learn/develop that skill in the midst of an attack when I have more to lose.

3. Develop a Healthy Lifestyle. How can you get busy doing the work of God if you are always sick and tired. Your body is his temple. It's time we start treating it that way. Beloved let's stop believing lies that we can be great in God while living undisciplined and without self control. Being obese, skinny unhealthy is not godly. Point Blank. Learn to cook healthy meals. Good exercise habits.

4. Discover who you are & mature in areas of weakness. Pastor Andy Thompson shared in a sermon 10 questions everyone should about themselves. Below I've listed the questions from Pastor Andy but I truly want to stress the beauty of discovering who you are with are. What's your love language? Forgiveness Language? Stressors? Stress Releasing Habits? Favorite Activities? Pet Peeves? Likes and Dislikes?

• What are your strengths?
• What are your core values?
• What are your weaknesses?
• What do you like? What does your perfect look like? What are your desires?
• How are you viewed? What do people say about you?
• How did you get here?
• What is happening right now?
• Where are you going?
• Who are your friends?
•  Who are your enemies?

      5. Get your financial life in Order, become knowledgeable on marriage. It's mind boggling to me how we desire for this season but we lack in preparing to be successful in it. Did you know that statistically finances, lack of communication of one of the main reasons marriages end up in divorce?  There are so many great books by amazing authors that teach about happy, successful marriage. How to get them and most importantly how to keep them. Cornelius Lindsey: "So you want to be Married, I'm Married, Now What", Andy Thompson: "Handle with Care", and Willard F. Harley, Jr: "His Needs, Her Needs; Building an Affair-Proof Marriage." Bring something worthwhile to the table start working on you, knocking down some credit card/loan debt. Be active! Check out my blog Live Like No One Else: Debt Free Journey

No man can ever complete your life outside of Christ and waiting to live for that moment is truly an insult of that life that Christ died to give you. So all though this blog was written with my sisters in mind this is an encouragement to all SINGLES, get busy doing the work of God, Get lost in discovering His Character. Don't pine away for the reward of a relationship when GOD is all the gift that we could ever hope for.

God isn't expecting perfection, he is however requiring dedication.

Beloved Rise,