Be Prepared for the Storm. . .Life Lessons. . .

I have debated and debated on whether to write about something going on in our lives.   You may or may not know that we are a single income family, I have written numerous times about how much I love Dave Ramsey and how his plan helped us get out of debt.  I have also written about my faith in God and how he works in our lives.   We are by no means a perfect family but, I know that God loves us and that he is constantly at work in our lives. I am writing this today to inspire and encourage others that may be facing similar circumstances.
My husband was a pharmaceutical sales representative with the same company for 23 years, I say was because he was just recently downsized.   Now we are a no income family of four.  We have not shared this with anyone but our family thus far.  We are a prime example of why you should use Dave Ramsey's plan to get out of debt.   To use Dave Ramsey's words, you never know when it is going to rain so, you better be prepared.   I always talk about how God works through our lives and this is a huge example.  I was able to take the Dave Ramsey class in 2012 and we had just bought a new car. Before taking his class I had dabbled in the envelope system but only got serious after taking the class.  Dave's class showed me that we had to get out of debt and how debt is bad.  In 2012 we started following a budget and using the envelope system to curb our spending and save for special things that we wanted to do.  I know that it was God that pointed us in that direction because he knew his plan for us.    I was able to pay our car off and get out of debt, except for the house, in two years.  Since our only debt is the house we have been working like crazy to get it paid off too.
I said earlier I do not want anyone to pity us because I know this is God's plan and because he got us on the Dave Ramsey road to financial peace, we are at peace financially.  If you have not checked Dave Ramsey out I encourage you to do so.  Dave Ramsey has a plan that anyone can work if they want, you have to want to get out of debt though and you have to be serious about it.  I am not being compensated in any way for this post.  This is just something that I am very passionate about and a plan that I believe in and that is working for my family.
This is a shining example of why everyone, even those professionals that think it could never happen to me, need to be preparing for the rain.   I am so thankful that God pointed us in the direction of Dave Ramsey because otherwise we would not have been prepared for this storm.   Not that anyone can be prepared for something like this but I feel we are better prepared than we were five years ago.  We had our six months worth of expenses emergency fund in place and no debt other than the house and our house payment is manageable.  As our storm rages there are so many emotions; there is anger, frustration, sadness, shame, and yes guilt.
This is why you have been seeing so many garden and recipe posts from me.  I have not really known how to talk about this but I feel like I need to talk about it because it is happening all over the country these days.  I have put my classes on hold for the time being, the hubbs did get a severance package and that is a huge blessing and we used my tuition money to buy him a new laptop.  His laptop was company property so it went back to the company.
I know this is God's plan and I do feel blessed that he is working in our lives.  He has blessed us with a bountiful garden this year and I am truly thankful.  The hubbs and I could live out of our garden and have been these last few months but the kiddos want meat and well, I cannot bring myself to raise anything to butcher just yet.
Stay tuned this and the garden will by my focus these next few months.

"There is hope in your future."  Jeremiah 31:17