The Little Dilemma

I used to live in a small town. And by small town, I mean a small town for the fourth of the year when college isn't in session its around 35K. But now, I live in a big town. And by big town, I mean an estimated one million, all the time.

I graduated in Spring 2011 and got married early that Summer. Since my husband and I met, we have consistently been on the same page, especially when it comes to finances and faith. We hadn't always agreed on every purchase like we [usually] do now, but as time went on, we grew closer into one, and we were able to agree on our goals for this season of life. Our goals: love Jesus. One of the ways we want to do this is to one day, hopefully soon, go into "full-time ministry". I fully believe in sharing your faith in a full-time work setting, of course; however, working full-time jobs doesn't leave very much time in your day, or at least enough time to do what we would like.

So, why don't we just go for it now? Trust me, I would love to, and I am sure had we not run into our little dilemma, we would have, and potentially, done so prematurely. I have learned so much, an indescribable amount, because of confronting our little dilemma.

Our little dilemma? Oh, just over 155K of college debt. Some people have smaller mortgages. Praise God, we both found jobs soon after graduation. Oh, but remember the big town I said we moved to (because it was the only place that had jobs)? It also happens to be included all the searches for most expensive places to live in America. With all that said, the one thing to remember is that, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible". I wish we had started documenting all of our emotions from the beginning. I think I would have just described a big black hole with no escape. But now, it just seems like were about a mile into a hike up to the peaks of Mt. Everest, and just learning all the tricks along the way. It still a big adventure, and seems overwhelming and almost impossible at times, but completely achievable with hope and persistence.

Let me ask a question, if you were at the foot of Mt. Everest but then turned around and said that you will just think about climbing tomorrow, will the climb get any easier? Will Mt. Everest climb itself or just go away? If you didn't know, the answer is, sadly, no. Once interest was explained to me, I became an uber-advocate of paying off student loans, or debt of any kind, sooner than as soon as possible. We paid over $12K just in interest last year. I dont know about you, but I dont have that kinda of money to keep burning. I know there are certain situations where unemployment gives us no chance but deferral. But the longer you defer, the more interest racks up. And the more interest racks up, the bigger your debt is, and the bigger your debt is, the more your interest will be that is added to your debt... you get the cycle. PLEASE do not be sad or scared about these figures. No matter how much debt you have, you must believe you can get out of it. Set goals and stick to them. Get fired up and exceed your goals. Debt is no fun to be in. It makes happy things in life seem negative. I want to see people freed from anything holding them back from freedom. (Not redundant.)

Overview: We love Jesus. We want to help others love Him too. We have debt and lots of it. However, we know that God is bigger than our debt. With His help, wisdom, and strength, we will pwn our debt. We also want to help others pwn their debt.

We'll send some tips everyday to lighten the load, speed up the journey, and share the enjoyment of life. (Even the pwning debt part.) Most of these tips were not discovered because we were smart. More often than not it was something we saw go terribly wrong and don't want others to have to try. Give 'em some thought. Or tell us were silly, but just tell us why so we can right our wrongs!