This past year has not been easy for Stephanie and I. I quit a job I thought I would be at for a LONG time, which was very hard. I have been working part-time at Starbucks and Scottsdale Bible Church along with coaching basketball. Stephanie has been working close to full-time at Starbucks while working part-time at Mama's Cold Brew. We have done house-sitting, dog watching, and anything else we can think of to make a few more bucks. There was a couple months mixed in where we weren't 100% sure how the rent was going to get paid. That was hard. Being the husband, I felt very guilty and had a difficult time being okay with not making very much. In fact, from May 19th to August 1st of 2014, I didn't work. I did some coaching but that only paid about a dollar. Every month though, no matter what, God provided. We would get calls out of the blue from someone needing someone to watch their dog or sit their house. It was incredible to watch God's faithfulness time after time.
The whole point of this blog was to document our lives as we paid off my student loan debt. Unfortunately, when you make what we made last year, paying off debt is not much of an option. However, we were able to pay off about $2200 in credit card debt, which is nothing short of incredible. I don't know how we did it, but we did. This past year has shown us that you don't need to make a whole lot to get by. If you budget, follow that budget at least semi-carefully, you should be fine.
I can't tell you how many job applications we have filled out, how many tears have been shed, and how many times we thought God was not listening to our prayers. It gets very discouraging praying and praying with, seemingly, no response. However, we knew God was hearing us even when it felt like He wasn't. We pleaded for Him to provide certain jobs that, looking back, we are SO thankful He didn't. It's pretty amazing how often the thing we want the most, is not at all what God wants for us. Thankfully, God put friends and family around us to keep encouraging us as I looked for a real, full-time job.
Well, God finally gave us a resounding YES to our prayers. As of today, I have accepted a job offer to work at Grand Canyon University! Some of you may be thinking, "Wait, didn't he work there before?" Yes, I did work there before. I love talking with people face to face. I love building relationships with people. This time, I will have the chance to do just that. In addition to it being a great job, I will be able to go back to school and pursue a Master's degree in counseling which is something I have been wanting to do for years.
I can't even begin to tell you the joy I had when I told my wonderful wife that I got this job. I have been praying for about a year now that God would provide a job that would allow Stephanie to quit the job she had. We can begin to pay off debt, save up for a house, and do things we haven't been able too.
It's hard to express the joy we have about this job. For some people, it wouldn't seem like that big of a deal. I mean, I'm gonna make good money, but it's not like we will be millionaire's. This is more than a job and an income to us. This is an answer to a prayer we have prayed a thousand times. We know there will be struggles ahead and that this job doesn't make like perfect. However, to sense God's presence in the answering of this prayer and to see His hand moving through this whole thing brings an amount of joy I haven't felt in a long time.
There will be a LOT more updates coming as we being to kill this debt and hopefully this can be an encouragement to you that God does listen and He has everything figured out.
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