FINANCES

Turning Hard Times to Good Times

By Tim Branson, The 700 Club

CBN.com - Consumer debt continues to rise. And for many Americans, credit card debt is at the top of the list. The demand for the latest in high tech equipment or the newest SUV have put many on a one way street to the poor house.

But imagine being forced to pull out the plastic just to eat. Tammy and Greg Rouse of Durham, North Carolina, know that feeling. It was the late 1980s when Greg left his corporate job for a smaller company. It turned out to be a costly decision.

"The company folded that he worked for. They could not make it," explained Tammy. "When the company folded, we got no severance pay, so we went from living on his paycheck to no paycheck."

The paycheck stopped, but the bills didn't.

"The only way we knew how to pay the bills on time," Tammy said, "was to use credit cards. I don't recommend that to anybody, but that's the only thing we knew at the time."

Their debt slowly grew. By now it was the '90s and the country was in a recession. Greg landed a second job, but that company also went under.

"The debt began to build and what was a mound of debt became a hill of debt. We were using credit cards to make the house payment and the car payment. We were buying food on credit."

They prayed for answers, and believe it or not, they kept tithing. That's because they had only one thing left.

"Faith in God, and faith in God's Word that He would make His Word come true in our lives. And tithing was a part of that," Greg said.

Their answer didn't come right away. A year later Greg accepted another job. This time the company pulled out of town. The hill of debt became a mountain.

Many nights Tammy cried herself to sleep. "I can remember a time when one of my friends, who knew how bad things were for us, she and her husband brought food to our house."

But no matter how bad it got, the Rouses never stopped tithing. Finally, Greg landed a secure job with a national corporation. By now their credit card debt was overwhelming. This time they asked God for a plan.

"God began to show us that His ways are not our ways. And the last thing you think of, which doesn't make any sense, is to give away what money you do have when what you need is money. It doesn't make logical sense and yet that's Gods way."

So they started partnering with ministries like The 700 Club. But now they had a different approach. "We began to commit that our giving was going to be purposeful and it was going to be out of our need," Tammy said. "Every check we wrote to The 700 Club, then, became God meeting our needs.

Then God moved a mountain.

"Greg's paychecks were going a lot further than what those dollar signs would indicate. Money started coming to us from different places. It was unexpected sources, but the money wasn't unexpected because we were trusting God and anticipating Him to meet our needs."

Within a year, they had paid off their credit card debt. Not only that, they eventually paid off their mortgage -- seven years early! But it wasn't until Tammy picked up Pat Robertson's book, The Secret Kingdom, that she and Greg fully understood how God had brought them out of debt.

"Paul said, because you gave to me, because you gave to God through my ministry, God is going to turn around and give back to you. That's the law of reciprocity."

The Rouses still give out of their need. In fact, they increased their giving to The 700 Club as Chairman Circle members. Some might call the Rouses crazy for giving away money when they needed it the most, but Tammy doesn't have a problem with that.

"I might be crazy, but I'm out of debt! That's how the law of reciprocity works. He takes the money we give Him, He smiles upon it, He multiplies it, and He gives it back to us -- that's the way He meets our needs. The more we give, the more we see the way His law works."

God wants His children to live a life of blessing and joy. The Law of Reciprocity worked for the Rouse family and it will work for you. Free from debt, they are a living testimony to what God can do when we put our trust in Him and find our answers in His Word and principles. This same secret can turn your life around too. Join with CBN. God will take what you give and multiply it, blessing hurting children, feeding the hungry and healing the sick. And how like God, He'll multiply the blessing in your life as well. Join today.

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