In 2001 at the age of 24, I became a first time home buyer, courtesy of Fannie Mae. Now today at the age of 34, I am proud to declare, I have become a homeowner, courtesy of Christ Jesus. I, like many others became paralyzed by debt. In 2009, the remaining balance on my mortgage was $130,000 and today, it is paid in full. I am a witness that Jesus saves and is a mighty deliverer. We made a decision not to allow the death-grip entangle us and our future generations. Make a commitment to follow God's way and retain your peace, health and prosperity. Christ set me free and I am free indeed.
Let me start my saying I believe that “Debt is Demonic” as spoken by Nasir Siddiki of Winning with Wisdom Ministries. If you aren’t paying cash for your car and home you are entrapped by a vicious cycle that is meant to give you one option… to lose. Living on a cash basis is contradictory to the common trend. God offers us a plan that we can count on. His way is always higher than ours. No wonder why many are adopting the Get-out-of-Debt mindset, as if it was ever a good idea not to be out of debt? God's way works. When we choose to borrow we are choosing bondage. There are benefits to borrowing but in most cases they don’t apply to everyday people. I learned that God’s way will lead to long term prosperity and if you don’t apply the biblical teachings to your life, sooner or later, you’ll wish you had. The credit system is designed for us to lose, but with God we can win. I’ve learned wisdom that is uncommon to the world, by accepting biblical teachings for marriage, business and finances. I dare you to make a decision and say “Let’s do it God’s way.” Here’s my part of my personal testimony of escaping the death grip.
I don't quite remember just how I felt as I signed those papers in the attorney's office that day. But I do remember feeling satisfied that our hard work had finally paid off. After months of negotiating with creditors and settling bad debts, my husband and I had finally escaped the hurt and shame of our past. We both had brought into our relationship, debt from our divorces, attorney fees from custody battles and student loan debt. Then on April 25, 2001 we now had realized the joy of success after divorce, or so we thought. To commemorate our new beginning, we now had our very own slice of the American pie. Accepting the keys to a modest 4 bed 2 1/2 traditional brick ranch soon became bittersweet. On one hand, I had accomplished conquering the financial debt and disgrace my divorce. On the other, now electing to bring a 30 year financial commitment into a new marriage could have proven catastrophic, since the most common cause of divorce is due to finances. Nevertheless, the purchase of a home was a sign of success by modern day standards.
Replacing our short lived debt free marriage with a 30 year mortgage eventually brought with it a whole new set of stress to our marriage. Now living in a quiet mostly retired community in the suburbs of Atlanta we decided to reposition ourselves for our dream of becoming independently wealthy. We read books on investing, starting businesses, and networking. We went to seminars, workshops and multi-level marketing campaigns to find out how the rich got rich. We read books such as "The Millionaire’s Mind" by Thomas J. Stanley, and "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. In all of the books we learned that great success usually came after great failures. The central theme was to be willing to take risks and create asset generating vehicles, while strategically choosing options to protect your capital. We knew that for us to maximize true financial security we'd have to begin by paying off the house.
I can recall the day I checked the principle balance after remitting my first mortgage payment. To my regret, our 8% interest rate meant only $36 of the payment actually went to the principle. I felt betrayed under the weight of the reality. Buying a home definitely caused us to rethink our plan. Soon, becoming a borrower in hopes of becoming a homeowner someday, somehow didn't feel like much of a blessing. I begin to reminisce on the days when rent was $750 and I we were cash rich. "Renting wasn't all that bad," I remember thinking to myself.
I set up a meeting with my husband and immediately we put a plan in action to meet this challenge head on. I created a spreadsheet to calculate our progress and make sure that every payment was properly credited so the bank wouldn't get a penny more than they should. My anger motivated me. When others would give accolades at our ability to be homeowners I would make it my business to offer them the stark reality. Oftentimes, people would be offended by the mere thought that I wasn't ranting and boasting over our accomplishment. After sharing my sentiment with a close friend. She told me her plans of purchasing a new home, it was then I decided to resign my position after being met with some very harsh criticism. I honestly felt the responsibility to share with people the truth about the Truth-in-Lending Statement. Naturally this led me to become a Real Estate Agent.
The first year we paid down our mortgage enough to qualify for a refinance at no cost. So we refinanced and continued to pay the original monthly payment to further drive the mortgage down which was now at a 5.5% interest rate.
With the new income coming in from the Real Estate business we got caught up with the housing investment market. We purchased a property and when we found out we were expecting another baby decided to use it as a daycare. Between my husband and I climbing the corporate ladder, becoming speculative investors and the lustrous social lifestyle in Atlanta, it wasn't long before we had abandoned our plan. We went on a constant binge of upgrades using our newly established credit to foot the bill. Don't get me wrong we were rolling in the cash, but at some point our outgo was on the brink of exceeding our intake. And as I heard Pastor John Hagee put it.”this will eventually become your down fall."
Our financial health and lifestyle choices eventually led to the discovery of a larger problem. While on the quest of financial independence, we adopted the mindset of the heathen. Live, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Our growing lust for worldly pleasures and achievement came at a cost we hadn't considered. Soon our marriage was on the rocks. I remember calling out to God, I plead to Him and he brought salvation to our home. We recommitted our lives to Christ and vowed that He would be the head of our family.
After awakening to the sobering reality of all we bargained for, debt commitments, private schools, designer wardrobes, shoes, shoes and more shoes, real estate renovations, payroll, and luxury vehicles all compounded with increasing interest rates and loss of rental income, we received bad news. We would be losing one of our contracts. The onset of a pending catastrophe was thwarted by the hand of God.
I'm writing today to let you know that no matter what you face, face it with God. God enabled us to surmount tremendous difficulties. When I look back over my mistakes, nothing compares to the mistake of counting God out of the equations. He is the one who makes all things possible. In my folly I learned valuable lesson and have obtained wisdom and understanding. I thank God that when my heart was ready the Lord spoke to me in 2008. He said, "I will open up my treasury for you." I repented for following the ways of the world when indeed I had known better, because I knew how God felt about debt. It was God who placed the desired to be debt free in my husband’s heart many years before. My husband and I made God our top priority and in turn God revealed the plan for us to get out of debt. God wouldn't allow us to file bankruptcy. But we did return what we could lawfully. We sold our real estate, put our children in public schools and disciplined ourselves for freedom. I will tell you that not everything He commanded was understood but we did what He said. God proved to be faithful and merciful to us when we couldn’t understand His kindness. We saw so many falls along the way. Lost everything, but God committed His hand to us when we were the least deserving.
In October 2009, I heard about Nasir Siddiki's ministry Winning with Wisdom, from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was moved by his testimony of how he paid his mortgage off in three years. I saw my family now see God stay the hand of the enemy by going into covenant with Him. When Siddiki referred to a mortgage as the "Death Grip," chills went down my spine.
After 2 years it became clear that the Lord was doing all that He said He would do. We’ve experienced Jehovah-Gmolah the God of recompense, Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Lord of our Righteousness and Jehovah-Jireh, our great provider.
His treasure was indeed opened to us. God's treasure is without limit. His riches are uncontainable. Since that October, after hearing Siddiki in 2009, God enabled us to reduce our mortgage by 100,000. Today, February 25, 2011. I hold in my hand a certified check paying the final 32,000 of our mortgage.
God showed us favor in every area and even allowed me to close my businesses stay at home with our children. So only by the grace and sovereign hand of God we can say the "Death-Grip" has been released.
-a servant's heart
Disclaimer. A servant's utterance is copyright protected (c) 2011 a servant's heart and the information contained expresses personal views and values of a servant’s heart. The passage in its entirely may be forwarded or linked without consequence however, for any non-personal excerpt for print or publication should request consent from a servant's heart prior to use.
0 comments:
Post a Comment