My Cause for Celebration

I received an excellent bit of news yesterday and it had nothing to do with my net worth numbers or our government becoming more effective than ever by shutting down. This piece of news thoroughly filled me with pure and unadulterated joy and glee and it has nothing to do with the market being up significantly today in the face of our government being closed. No, this bit of news was personal, inspiring and unbelievably humbling.

A friend of mine whom I fell out of regular contact with over the last year made a declaration yesterday. After 17 months of hustle, focus and gazelle intensity, he and his wife are debt free. Now I have had the unbelievable privilege of hosting and facilitating Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. And over a year and a half ago I can vividly recall the first class that I ever hosted in our apartment, and this friend was a member of that very first class.

Now I won’t go into my friend’s specific situation nor give details, I feel that is his story to tell and not mine. But from my perspective upon hearing the news that he and his wife became completely debt free, well that (arguably) made my year. My friend had heard of Dave Ramsey prior to the class, listened to Dave’s podcast and was familiar with the principles. He got a great deal of fine tuning and motivation from being in FPU, surrounded by others as we each shared our stories about where we were financially and where we were trying to get to.

And 17 months later this friend and his wife have broken the shackles of debt and are now ready to live like no one else and take the first steps into their legacy journey. Now my egotistical side would love to sit here and type that I helped lead him to financial peace. But that would be a lie and also incredibly short sighted. The truth is God lead him there and used me as a tool to help him get to where he needed to be.

Through the process of finding financial peace I’ve experienced reconciliation with those that I love and have come a long way in bringing healing, love and forgiveness within myself and the baggage that I carried within myself for decades. My journey to financial freedom completely revolutionized my life and strengthened me to become a more giving person, a socially conscious consumer, a better husband, and ultimately the person that God calls me to become.

And if God can work his ways through the rough and tumble young man that I used to be, then I am just that much more thrilled and excited to see how He is going to change and transform my newly minted debt free friend and his household!