I thought it might be valuable to share some of the challenges I faced—and solutions I discovered—as I began my transition from a life of financial stress and depression, to one of peace and strengthened faith. The 8-year wrestle that ensued before finding this more peaceful and empowered way through life is one that I believe anyone hungry enough might be able to learn and glean great insight from. In reading about my mistakes and lessons learned, I feel you may even save yourself precious time… and lots of money!
Besides being potentially worth your while, as it is for all of us in our individual processes of learning, going back and remembering the beginning is also useful for me. As I repeat and am continually re-exposed to the principles I have learned, I am encouraged and inspired to keep living them now for continued growth and even greater success.
So here we go! as I share more details around our story than I typically reveal in my live presentations…
In faith that God would prepare a way for us to make ends meet—since, after all, we were trying to live lives worthy of all the blessings God had to offer us—my husband and I were married young in the summer of 1991. We drove a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle and took off on our honeymoon from Arizona in June (yes, JUNE) with the broken car heater stuck ON… But we were in love! and the details and discomforts were nothing but an adventure to us.
I was nearly done with a teaching degree, and Trevan was in his second year of school, still deciding for sure what he wanted to go into. We had planned to have me stay home when children came, and before long, our first was on the way.
Since we both were working at a home for the mentally handicapped, making less than $5/hour, I worked up until about 4 days before baby #1 arrived and then quit my job. “God would provide;” we expected it.
In the meantime, Trevan got another job in a factory that made gun safes. I think he was up to $7/hour or so? and toying with ideas of starting our own business… a business that we could grow together, from home.
We started to have disagreements over our spending habits. At the prospect of potentially using our wedding money (about $1,000) to fund our first weekend seminar in personal business development, 12 hours away from home, I fought tooth and nail. I felt that Trevan was being overly hasty and that such an investment would be unwise.
For a year I stayed home without working. In that time, we got ourselves into some credit card debt. No extravagant purchases, just life… and business seminars to teach us how to make more money.
I had finally conceded… but to my surprise, while attending these seminars, a speaker said something that actually saved my marriage. What was shared didn’t make us rich, but it rescued our relationship. Who would have expected such an outcome from a seminar about money?
To read on and find out what happened, stay tuned for the next episode of “The Young and the Thoughtless”!
(Use the navigation links below to proceed)
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- Waiting for the other shoe to drop - April 12, 2024
- Join me for the Thrive Summit: Unlocking 5 Key Relationships - April 2, 2024
One Response
Leslie, thank you for sharing as always straight from the heart!! We love it!
-hope you are well- kevin