An amazing few days. Supernatural debt cancellation!

Hey friends! I feel the need to apologize about my ability to keep the blog up-to-date as much as I'd like. It's just hard to find the time. But when something amazing happens, I am going to be sure to make a post! And something amazing happened over the past week that I couldn't wait to share!

First of all, I want to say... I watched Joyce & Creflo both this morning. And they both were discussing the difference between praying for miracles and then doing the dailies. Basically - it's great to believe for miracles and God is a God of miracles. But He is also a God that gives you wisdom and direction and "leads you by the way you should go" (Isaiah 48:17) If you are going through a challenge, whatever it may be - I know there is scripture that can guide you in your particular need. I looked up the scriptures that I needed and prayed and meditated on them for a long time. At first, the only breakthrough was my ATTITUDE! But, that is the first breakthrough we need!

So many times I see it (and I have done it myself) - people who want things to be different in their lives but they don't want to work for it. I'm not just talking about people living on welfare here. I'm talking about people who "wish". Examples?? Sure... Here are 3!

I "wish" I had more friends. "No one called and invited me to go out tonight, so I give up. I'm just going to go to a bar and meet some people there. No one loves me anyway." I'm sorry - did you call anyone to invite them out? I used to have moments like this. But now - I just invite other people to do stuff. If they are busy, I invite someone else. Just because I'm married doesn't mean I don't want to hang out with people either! Dustin & I are together like ALL THE TIME now. :) And we want to hang out with friends. But feel free to INVITE US. We shouldn't have to be the ones inviting others all the time. So stop with the pity party and call someone! If they have plans, don't take it personally! Call someone else!

I "wish" I could lose weight / feel better. Ugh... I am saying this to bring light back home to me! Dustin & I have been saying this for months. But the truth is... We are not doing anything about it - not really. We start, but don't finish. We start and I end up resisting something and so we quit. We start and I hurt my back. We start and Dustin gets tired of going. We start and then we go eat pizza and coke every day for a week straight. Look - it's true that I am extremely busy right now and it's true that I have back problems. BUT I can find 30 minutes to work out if I want to. AND I can especially eat better!!! But... we haven't done it. It's doing the dailies that would change this for us!!!

I "wish" I were out of debt. Well.. Don't just WISH. DO! If your current income will not do it, then pray for God to show you a way to do it!!

In all these instances, my true belief is this 3-step plan! 
1. PRAY scriptures!! Look up scriptures that have to do with your situation (love scriptures, health scriptures, financial scriptures) Meditate on them until your HEART knows them! Then your attitude will start to change. This is the first part of the dailies - the scriptures!

2. LISTEN! God will nudge you to follow Him on certain things. For instance - He might put on your heart to invite someone to dinner (your treat) and maybe it's someone you don't normally hang out with (and maybe not even sure if you want to). But do it and see what happens! Or maybe he nudges you to do a marathon when you can barely walk up a flight of stairs right now. Commit to it, and maybe it will help you! OR if He nudges you to give someone a gift card when you can barely pay your own bills... do it! I remember buying someone a $50 Kroger card one time when we could barely buy our own groceries. But we did it in faith!! So, listen to those nudgings. Don't you know - I'm glad I LISTENED when He told me "just apply to the job. See where it goes"

3. DO THE DAILIES! Work on your attitude. Study the word. Be nice to others. Remember that it's not all about you. Do something for someone else every single day - even if it's just an encouraging word or a comforting ear. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Pay as much as you can on your debt, even if it's just $20!

Joyce said this morning that she's glad God didn't just supernaturally deliver her from all her issues. She had to walk out the journey of the dailies. When you do it that way, you GROW! You learn so much and your faith is built like a foundation for future victories!! AND just wait... once you walk it out and see success on your end, God can supernaturally deliver on His end as well. You could get BOTH!

NOW... finally for my news! We have walked through this stuff for a few years now with our finances. Last week, I did our September balance sheet. I realized we paid off almost $2000 in debt on top of going on vacation and getting some things for ourselves. I couldn't believe it! But Kismet and Relish had great months on top of what we had as our regular income. I was so excited when I saw this!!! We are doing it!!! But then... the supernatural came along! You ready??? 3 things happened over a few days time (after seeing that budget on Wednesday)

1. Our largest debt is the last on our list to payoff because we are doing the Dave Ramsey snowball thing. It is a credit card we used to help finance Relish in the beginning. They raised our interest rate in January (tripled it) and wouldn't tell us why. After about 12 phones calls and 3 letters to them, I wrote one last letter notifying them I would no longer be paying the bill until someone could explain to me what had happened. (They said we had a late payment but couldn't prove it and could not transfer us to anyone in management to help us). So I stopped paying and started praying and just trusting God. The day after pop died (9/9) we got a letter from a lawyer saying CitiBank was suing us. And not just for the balance due, but for about $3000 more than that from accrued interest and fees PLUS attorney's fees. We wrote a letter last week and faxed it to the law firm disputing the charges. I called on Thursday just to make sure they received the fax. The guy that answered (a lawyer) asked if he could help us. He ended up not only dropping all those extra fees, but taking off almost $3000 of real debt (what we actually owed) and settling for the rest, to be paid in monthly installments through June. It was SO easy, it was nearly unbelievable!!! AND he was really nice about it - helping us with what we could pay and working out a plan that would work!!! PRAISE GOD!!!! So our biggest debt will be paid off much sooner!!! AND it will go on our credit as good standing!!! (we got all of it in writing) So the one big bill I was concerned about - God supernaturally did exceeding blessings with!!!

2. Our second largest debt and second to last on our list to pay off was my student loan. On Saturday, before we left for Bowling Green (to visit with Dustin's family for the day) - I checked our mail. I had a letter from the Mississippi Higher Education (I went to school at Southern Miss). It was about my student loan. They said they were pleased to inform me that in September, 2011 they were able to reduce my student loan balance by $2500. It has already been applied to my account - nothing I needed to do. WHAT?! I looked online and sure thing!!! SO... we chipped off about $1500 on our first smaller debts. AND THEN our two biggest debts and last things on our list to pay - God supernaturally chipped off $5500!!!! WOW!!!! A-MA-ZING!!!!

3. When Dustin & I got back from vacation, we immediately started looking up our "next cruise". We wanted to go on the cruise that leaves from Miami - the Eastern Caribbean cruise. We liked the Norwegian Epic and started daydreaming. But I knew that with our debt situation - it would be next Fall until we could do another big vacation. Well... while in Kentucky, Dustin's grandma announced that she was taking us all on a family vacation. And guess what it is? YEP! The Norwegian Epic, leaving out of Miami!!! When is it? February 11th!! AND she is going to pay for it all! She said it was a gift - that Poppa wanted to take a trip with everyone and never got to do it. So - we will be going on our next dream vacation in just FOUR months! For free!!! WHAT?!!!

God clearly showed me the connection! We have been doing our part and now HE is showing us the supernatural!!! So, my friends...  I encourage you to do those steps!!! Read the Word! Pray! Invite that person to dinner. Then you may get invited to a spa day with someone else. Climb those stairs and then maybe you'll want to run that marathon! Maybe someone at work will start climbing with you and before you know it - you are getting in shape!! Buy that gift card for that family that needs it. TITHE even if you don't have a lot to give! Give what you can (like the woman with the perfume that poured it on Jesus' feet) Do what you can do! And then God will show you blessings and then MIRACLES!!! It's enough to make you sit down and weep for hours. I know I cried a lot this weekend. And let me just say - tears of joy taste much sweeter than tears of desperation and pity that I once cried years ago! Step out in faith and hope and love!!! Then be prepared to be blessed when you least expect it!!!

Love you all! I am standing with you in faith, my friends!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Isaiah 48:17!!!