Testimonies
Inspiring stories of Financial Freedom
Dear Crown Ministries, I want to thank you very much, especially to our beloved Larry Burkett. I still thank God for him and his life of selfless service that reached me and showed me God's great mercies. Almost eight years ago, my husband and I found ourselves in over $110,000 in debt. On the outside we had it all. Horse, property, RV, nice SUVs, and two children with one on the way. On the inside, where no one could see, we were a mess. We could barely pay minimum payments, we had a second mortgage, huge car payments and huge credit card debt. Despite making a good salary, we could barely make it. We worked opposite shifts and were barely on speaking terms with each other. It was a painful, hurtful condition of money worries and living with one foot in the world and one foot in a church. As the date approached for my baby to be due, I sat in my car at lunch and cried that I didn't know how I'd miss even one week of work to have the baby. We'd go under. I had a great credit rating and feared the embarrassment and failure of ruining it. As I sat in the car eating lunch, Larry Burkett came on the radio. He said he vowed to teach 10,000 families to learn to handle money God’s way, and then challenge those families to teach 10 families. I remember crying in my car, thinking somehow we would be one of those families. Even if my husband said no, I was desperate. We contacted Crown, and they connected us with a budget coach. She was awesome. She put us on a 6-year plan to pay off all our debt. My husband was given hope, and I could tell a burden was lifted. We began tithing $25 every two weeks and got rid of the RV, horse, dog, any subscriptions, cut our own hair, made our gifts, etc. We got down to the bare bones. Never did we guess how the next weeks would fall out. After 4 weeks of maternity leave, I had to go back to work. I could not go one more day without a paycheck. But I was having major health problems. Tests revealed that I had congestive heart failure and that it had gone undiagnosed for 7 years. The damage to my heart left me needing a heart transplant. For the next several months, I had no income. God was awesome! The night before I was released from the hospital, seven ladies showed up at my room and wanted to pray for me. I can list at least 10 miracles, of people I didn’t know sending me money, my doctor wrote off all my bills, my in-laws helped with money. God provided food every day by church people who didn’t even know me. We had to sell our home and move in with family. While living with them, my husband worked 7 days a week. We put every penny towards our debt. We put the money from the sell of our house towards the debt. On Valentines Day, I had gone in for one of my usual ultrasounds. My doctor came in with her mouth open in amazement. She said my heart was better than an athlete my age. I told her the Great Physician healed my heart. I went off all medications. That was 7 and a half years ago, and I am fully healed. My husband recommitted his life to Christ, got baptized, and went on a mission trip to Africa. I went back to work two days a week. Somehow we paid off all of out debt in nine months and had $35,000 left over to put down on a new house. That house tripled in value, and we sold it two years later. We tithed, gave to other ministries, bought two low-cost, good-working vehicles, and put almost $80,000 on a smaller home. Today, our three children are in Christian school, we have no credit card debt or second mortgages. We have coached other families with the Crown materials. There are still other tests going on in our lives, so please pray for us. We only owe our mortgage, and I’d like to get rid of that. I feel the Lord’s call on our lives, so I’m asking the Lord for His purpose. Pray for us for direction. God bless,
We paid off our house and three cars, and have been debt free for 5+ years. Among other books, I read Larry Burkett’s Debt-free Living. We only bought one thing on a credit card at a time and put nothing else on the card until that was paid off. This was before we were out of debt. The money is in the bank to pay off the card the day the bill arrives. That gives us dividends for one month from the bank, and the card gives us a $300 a year rebate. I paid cash for my child's private school, then for tech school and college for my wife. They were all paid for at graduation. I now pay for my grandson's private school. We have 401(k)s, Roth IRAs, and have one year’s pay stashed in laddered 12-month CDs. Our last house was paid for in one year. Your program works. Keep talking about it and get more people debt free!! You do not have to make a lot of money to be debt free and to have savings in the bank and in retirement account. It just takes looking at what you really need and what you just want. Buy what you need, and save your wants for when you can pay cash for them and still have savings for a rainy day in the bank. A big house or high dollar car and eating out are wants, when a low-priced house and a good used car are needs, along with good home-cooked food.
Calvin, SC
Just before my husband and I got married almost 28 years ago, I heard a Money Matters program with Larry Burkett. His advice was solid, and we have followed it as closely as possible. There were five areas that Larry discussed of which I can remember only three, but these have held us in good stead all these years. The first was never to buy anything that you can't pay for in cash. The second was to own only one credit card and never put anything on the card you cannot pay off each month, then commit to cutting up the card if you don't. The third was to make arrangements to give to God always. In years that my husband has been out of work (on three separate occasions equaling seven years), we have followed all of these and have been able to purchase our cars with cash, pay for our children's college with money saved in a 529 plan, and many other things. God has blessed us not with wealth but with everything we need. Praise Him! Judy, IL
Back in the 90's when my children were small, I would occasionally hear your program while driving in the car. I heard about paying a little extra on the principal of the mortgage payment each month to pay the house off sooner. We had already refinanced our home to a 15-year mortgage, so this was intriguing to me. We did not have a lot of discretionary money, but at some point, I began adding a little extra to our payment. The first record I have is in 1998 when I added $10.48. We sent in $25 extra for a while, and for 8 months, it was $40. The escrow doubled at one point, and we stopped sending any extra for a while. When I got back on track, I sent in $20 a month, and later, $32. One month last year, about 10 months before the original payoff date, we got a letter that our house was paid off! We were then sent a large check from the remainder in the escrow account. About 3 weeks later our 12 year old gas-guzzling van required $2,000 worth of repairs, which we could not afford without borrowing money; it was not worth it anyway, since it had no A/C or heat. Because we no longer had a house payment, we were able to buy a new car (using the escrow money as a down payment) that had great gas mileage (and gas prices shot way up after that). I am amazed at God's timing - it was perfect! We were faithful in those little bitty payments, and God provided for our needs. Thank you for your godly advice; I will be forever grateful. Beth, TX |
