WHew...What a Relief !

Feeling very blessed and excited this morning! Just paid off credit cards and the only car we owed anything on. Today is a day of reflection on just how blessed we have been. Several years ago, when I first started to stay home, we ran into some financial trouble. Like many young immature couples, my husband and I thought our combined credit scores and incomes would be best used acquiring "things". New vehicles, when the ones we had still ran, had plenty of room in them and were a year within being paid for. A four wheeler that was fun, but costs us too much a month. In short, we wasted our money. When we should have been living frugally like we do now (not by choice as much as necessity) and buying a piece of property and building us a little house, our eyes were full of materialism. Well, when Lillie came along, we decided that my place was at home. A decision neither JOdy or I regret (except when money stresses us out). So the new vehicles went, the four wheeler gone...yet still things were so tight. I'll not bore with endless details, but three kids later, we were saddled with a huge car payment (another dumb, impulsive move we thought we had to make at the time) a mortgage, small credit card debt along with the basics needed to survive...and...no job. Jody losing his job was the BEST thing that has ever happened to us. We've had lots of wake up calls in our 8 year marriage, but this one has really shaped us more so than any other. We have grown up (though we still have alot of that to do) and we made it through the Lord's help and others to make it through the unemployment, Jody's schooling and job hunting. The Lord blessed him with a job right out of the gate that is wonderful and though has it's daily challenges is something he enjoys which makes me very happy. And today...I feel, for the first time in a long time, FREE of the financial burdens we have gotten ourselves into. We have learned that priorities are everything. The stuff of this world doesn't hold the same appeal. Now we want some land and a small modest house to call our own, our kids to be provided for but not spoiled and we are TIRED of debt.
Things will still be tight sometimes, but we're armed with the knowledge of our past mistakes and are capable of adjusting our perspectives. God has blessed, for sure and has seen us through a long dark valley that we are finally seeing an end to. Advice to new couples...and really any couples...debt stinks...stay away from any of it that's not necessary. Realize that what your parents have after 30 years is from 30 years of hard work and sacrifice...most can't obtain 30 years of financial blessing in 2 months of marriage! Learn to live frugally, below your means, and be content with what GOd blesses you with. It is when we become discontent that we make dumb money choices and get into such messes.
So, happy independence day to me! God has done so much and is working even now and I can't wait to see what he does in every aspect of my life.
Have a blessed day!