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Many of you know that we've begun teaching a finance connect group here in Africa at Healing Place Church-Swaziland. It's one of our biggest passions, and sharing what we've had the opportunity to learn in the process is really what makes us tick. However, facilitating this class is a challenge. We're obviously mulungu (white), and that makes us "rich" from the get-go... no questions asked. To the Swazi, we have unlimited amounts of money, no struggles, and we don't understand the African culture -- they'll be the first to tell us that.
Steph recently preached at HPC-Swaziland on Father's Day, sharing our journey and how we spent 27 months working our way out of 66,000USD in debt -- bit by bit, penny by penny. He attempted to put it in perspective for them, sharing our then salary and converting the amount that we owed to Emalangeni (the currency in Swaziland) so that the the Swazis could better understand. Since that Sunday, we've held three classes on the emergency fund, creating a budget, eliminating debt (using Dave Ramsey's "debt snowball") and Tuesday's lesson, our last in the series, will be on tithing and generous giving.
"The good thing about principles is that they make life easy." -Dave Ramsey
Some of them in attendance (over 60) are "getting it." They're ready to be free, tired of living paycheck to paycheck, running out of money before the month is over. They're tired of being "slave to the lender" (Proverbs 22:7). And then some, well, they just think we're crazy. Debt is so ingrained that it creates oppression -- worldwide. Living within one's means just seems like something that can't be done.
"Worry and fear are everywhere. Worry and fear are another sign that contentment is not in the house. Worry and fear paralyze us and have reached truly reached epidemic levels in our culture. Worry and fear cannot exist in the same house contentment does." -Dave Ramsey
At the end of last Tuesday's class, Steph and I were getting a little frustrated, beating our heads against the proverbial wall. Swazis can be very strong, and the poverty mentality and culture obviously (and understandably) runs deep. Before I had a clue what I was about to do, I grabbed the microphone and went into a little spiel. It definitely wasn't something I planned to do, but I felt a little nudge I guess... His nudge. And, on I went. I said that we knew that they thought we were crazy, but that the program works. I explained that we never had ANY intention of being missionaries in Africa -- we never saw it coming. But it's just not biblical to have debt -- God never intended for any of us to live in bondage. And when we followed Him and started to eliminate the debt, things happened -- we looked at the world in a completely different way. We became more generous -- it wasn't about us any longer. And when the debt was gone, our whole world changed. I used this scripture from the Parable of the Talents:
The master said, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together." (Matthew 25:23, NLT)
The "many more responsibilities" for us was Swaziland -- letting it all go for something larger. We had no idea what was out there and what God had waiting for us, but when He helped us be faithful in the little things and to own the debt (as opposed to praying to be DELIVERED from the debt) that we had acquired through student loans and car payments, the magic happened. And now we get to be here... we get to experience a life on the other side of the world. The difference is that we've been equipped with tools to budget and live within our means. Yes, we get to budget here, too. But, we also get to share our journey, our mistakes, and these tools with Avery, Iliea, Ellie and the rest of Swaziland (and beyond!) so that open, receptive hearts can experience the freedom of Financial Peace -- realizing that there are amazing things out there for all of us, and none of them require living with debt.
"God tends to pour blessing on people going in a direction He wants them to go." -Dave Ramsey