We had 46,000 reasons to live debt free

Jeremy Barber realized his actions needed to match his wife’s dreams to be a stay-at-home mom.

For the first five or six years of our marriage, I got really good at managing our $40,000 to $50,000 of debt, most of it student loans.

We went through a nine-week financial course in 2015, and that’s when we decided to get serious. My wife, Randi, had a dream of being able to be a stay-at-home mom. At the time, we had an 11-month-old girl, and we knew that in our current state, that wasn't possible.

During the course, I really began to realize that 100 percent of "my" money was God's. If I would be diligent with all of it — and not just the 10 percent I had been tithing — He promised to honor that. We put a tangible goal in front of God that seemed impossible and watched Him work out immeasurably more. 

God is able to do immeasurably more than anything we can ask for or imagine!

We paid off all $46,000 of our debt! He turned what looked on paper like 31 months to debt freedom into 13 months. We were willing to do whatever it took.

We lived in a garage apartment at my in-laws in order to remove the stress of having a mortgage. I did as many woodworking and handyman jobs on the side as I could to increase our income. We still had fun and dated, but we cooked a lot instead of eating out. God even moved the hearts of two people to pay off $13,500 of our debt!

We’re currently working on saving 3-to-6 months living expenses and investing 15 percent of our income. God is able to do immeasurably more than anything we can ask for or imagine!

Go to newspring.cc/finances to win with your money.