The Ramsey Show - App - Generosity Is the Most Fun You Can Have With Money (Hour 1)

Episode Date: December 20, 2019

Generosity, Giving Theme Hour Tools to get you started:  Debt Calculator: http://bit.ly/2QIoSPV Insurance Coverage Checkup: http://bit.ly/2BrqEuo Complete Guide to Budgeting: http://bit.ly/2QEyonc Interview Guide: http://bit.ly/2BuGnZE Check out other podcasts in the Ramsey Network: http://bit.ly/2JgzaQR 

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Rental Studios, it's the Dave Ramsey Show, where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice. Well, over the last 30 years or so, the Dave Ramsey brand the ramsey brand has become known i guess primarily much to my chagrin for getting people out of debt i'm happy that we've gotten a lot of people out of debt but i kind of think we missed the point and that people who think that that's all we do miss the point the reason that we teach people to get out of debt, to live like no one else so that later they can live and give like no one else, is so that you can build wealth, is so that you can be outrageously generous.

I have been broke a couple of times in my life where I had no money. And you know how many poor people I fed when I was broke? None. I was broke. And it takes money to do good. It's not the only way you can do good. But if you want to do good on scale, you know, you have to put some actions, some actual meat on the bones of your philosophy.

Yes, smiling. Yes, being compassionate. Yes, being kind. Yes, being generous of spirit is what the holidays are about. Yes, all of that's true. And if that's all you've got, I've been there. Give what you got. That's all you got is a smile.

Give it. That's a good thing but the idea that you could actually fund all of the foster kids in in america into an adoptive home with generous people doing that and not a single government dollar, really not that big a deal. It takes about one-tenth of what we spend on our pets every year. Ta-da. So, this show, this life that we teach you to live, live like no one else so that later you can live and give like no one else. Really, I'm always going to lead you at the end of this story to the most fun you'll ever have

with money, which is generosity. And if you want to have outrageous fun, have outrageous generosity. Not a $5 bill. A $5 bill is nice. It's better than a 50 cent piece, but a $ dollar bill is nice it's better than a 50 cent piece but a 50 dollar bill is better ask the person that you left the tip with they'll tell you the 50s bigger they get it generosity and outrageous generosity is the most fun you'll ever have with money god was outrageously generous when he sent his only son, and we celebrate Christmas because of a babe in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes, born of the Virgin Mary. We celebrate this outrageous generosity this time of year.

So we always stop because one of the things i'm also known for is apparently there's a new thing i just found that out this week i'm a little behind i don't i'm not cool so i don't know all the cool stuff i just found out what woke means so i didn't even know what that meant so um but apparently it's now cool or if you're woke, it's cool to call someone a boomer, which means they're out of touch because they're a baby boomer and they're old. And they're out of touch. They don't get it. So you're so boomer, right?

Well, definitely I am so boomer. I personify so boomer. I am a walking so boomer. So you want to make fun of a boomer? I am your target baby because i am that guy and i'm okay with it by the way i'm pretty comfortable my own skin later on maybe i'll get woke but i doubt it um so you know you know i'm just you're you're you're a boomer dave okay you're right i am actually i'm the tail end of the baby boomers 1960 was one of

the last years that i was the year i was born was one of the last years of the actual baby boomer demographic. But either way, I'll take it. I like it. I mean, I like the values of the boomers. I like the values of the millennials, some of them. I like the values of the Xers and the Gen Zs, some of them. And so, you know, I'm happy with that label. That's cool.

Boomers have done some stupid butt stuff but um the the idea that i'm uh the personification of a dad joke um or that i'm a corny person that's a you're boomer if you're corny right so i am corny and so today since i own the freaking business and the show that runs the business and and it's got my name on it, we're going to do corny all day. This is our day to do a giving show. We want to hear from people, and we want you to tell us stories that make us laugh and make our eyes leak and make us smile, because that's what generous people do. They make us smile, they make our eyes leak, and they make us laugh. I opened a little gift a while ago that one of my team members he gave me and i laughed out loud it was absolutely fabulous absolutely fabulous

you know that's what generosity does and so uh that's what we're gonna be doing for the next couple of hours if you don't like that if that's too uh boomer you're too woke or whatever you probably ought to go somewhere else because that's us, baby. We're game on. We are corn balls. We believe in Christmas. We believe in, hey, I cry at Applebee's commercials, so I'm good with it, okay? You know? And let's have at it.

Let's have some fun here. Open phones at 888-825-5225 as we do our annual giving show, the last live broadcast before Christmas, and for that matter, the last live broadcast before Christmas, and for that matter, the last live broadcast before the first of the year this year. So, all right, Sarah. Sarah is going to start off our giving show today from New York. Hey, Sarah, Merry Christmas. Hi, Dave. Merry Christmas. So tell me what in the world happened with your giving story.

Well, I do have to tell you first, I am a millennial, and I love corny stuff. Good. I like a lot of millennials do because a lot of them work here, and they put up with me. Yeah, there you go. So my husband and I became debt-free a year ago, and we did our debt-free scream on the air. And since then, we've been able to do an incredible amount of giving. Um, but one of our favorite stories is, um, we were told by our car mechanic that we would both need to replace tires on our cars, um, about a month after we became debt free. And we use the envelope system. Uh, We learned about it in FPU.

So we had our car envelope and we were making sure to sort of pilot full of, you know, money for our tires. Sure. And we got our final bill for the tires and it was about $400 less than what we thought it was going to be. Wow.

Which was amazing and sort of a sign to us that if you plan out your budget, you know, sometimes somebody will be smiling down on you and make it different. Most of the time. Yeah, exactly. So my husband and I decided that we would take that extra money and we would help pay someone's bill at the mechanic shop. So we asked the mechanic if he knew of anyone who had had an outstanding bill for a long time or anybody he knew that needed help.

So we were able to pay off one person's bill and pay for half of another person's bill, and it was just incredible to be able to do that. Amen. Touchdown, baby. Well done. That's fun. You got some found money? What do you do with found money? Help somebody else with it.

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This day, it's an annual tradition that we stop and just tell giving stories because generous people make us smile generous people make our eyes leak all right up next is going to be jason in utah hey jason tell me your giving story hey dave thanks for having me on i i appreciate the great work that you do, and I love your show. Thank you, sir. So I have been battling stage four cancer for the last, sorry, two and a half years, and God has blessed us and guided us through this difficult trial, and we've relied on him. And my wife has taken great care of me and our family, and people have been so good to us. At first, it was hard for us to let people help us, especially for my wife, My wife has taken great care of me and our family, and people have been so good to us.

At first, it was hard for us to let people help us, especially for my wife. But we found that by doing that, we let them honor their commitment to be Christians and to be disciples of Jesus. So we've had some amazing experiences. At one point, my prognosis was not very good, and we searched for clinical trials, and we found a clinical trial in California, which meant I had to fly there every week for treatment and then fly home that same day. But it was really promising, so we decided that's what we needed to do. And a guy from church named Chris just came up to me and he said, hey, you got enough to worry about. I want to pay for your flights. So this good man paid for my flights

for over a year so that I could get this life-saving treatment. So over 50 flights from Utah to California. 50 flights. Yeah. Wow. And I had to get to the airport every day, which was over an hour away. And so a group of men at church got together and they volunteered to take turns to drive me to the airport and then pick me up. So how are you doing? I'm doing well right now. Things, you know, I'm still in treatment, but things have improved. I'm not in California anymore getting treatment. The clinical trial did what it needed to do. And we've been so blessed. Can I give you a couple other examples? Sure. So there was a little girl at church named Marion, little angel who had battled cancer since she was one and a half until about age seven.

And when she found out that I had cancer, this is what she told her dad. She said, dad, they don't really let us pray at school, but I pray for brother Jason all the time. And man, that just, it just tore me up. And that little angel has moved on to heaven now. Um, another time. So in our church, we have a bishop. You'd call him a pastor or a lay, he was a lay minister, actually a medical doctor. And at one point, I'd gone through really difficult chemo and radiation, and I was in bed for months. I was weak and sick, and my wife had been a rock through the whole thing. But about Christmas time, she was having a hard time. And, you know, I didn't, there was nothing I could do to help her.

I was in bed and I was thinking, I can't do anything to help her. And, uh, and so I just said a prayer and I, I prayed and, you know, you need to get specific in your prayers. I prayed that the Bishop would come by and help her. And within a few minutes, we heard a knock at the door and I heard him say, Hey, I just felt like I should come by. And he came in and he comforted my wife. He talked with her. And then he gave her gift cards for Christmas that he had bought with his own money. And that was exactly what she needed.

She just needed that boost. And we have just enjoyed so many blessings. So I would just encourage people, if you know somebody going through cancer or their family, reach out, just do it, you know, drive them places, pay for their flights, pay their rent or mortgage, help with Christmas, and especially pray for them. Yeah. I mean, it literally could save your life. Yep, literally.

I mean, it's pretty amazing. So absolutely cool. Wow, what a great story. Thanks for sharing that, amazing. So absolutely cool. Wow. What a great story. Thanks for sharing that, Jason. Amazing. Amazing. Open phones at 888-825-5225.

If you have a giving story, Kelly will put you on. That's all we're doing. We're doing giving stories. I'm not going to talk to you about paying off your house today. You pay off your house. You know why? So you have money. Why?

So you can be outrageously generous. That's why. That's why we do all this stuff. And, boy, change your family tree, that's being generous. You know, that's it. That's the whole thing. Paul is with us. Paul is in Missouri.

Hey, Paul, Merry Christmas. Tell me your giving story. Thank you, Dave. Hey, my wife and I have a son who is autistic. His name is Carson. And here in Joplin, Missouri, there's an agency that provides caseworkers to people with disabilities to make sure they get the help they need. And also, for more than 10 years, we've had the same, for lack of a better word, babysitter that helps us with Carson's care. It's a young woman named Tanya. This is the only person you'd ever meet. Now you'll probably remember that a few years ago, Joplin was struck by a monstrous EF5 tornado. Our house was destroyed. We lost almost everything. Thank the Lord we were not hurt. And we also have a rental house that we rent to Tanya and it was badly damaged. And also

her car was destroyed and she didn't have any insurance at all. She was in a real fix. Well, almost immediately after the storm was over, thousands and thousands of volunteers just poured into Joplin from everywhere, just people coming, looking to help. Even the Kansas City Chiefs came down to help. And about the third day after the storm, Carson's caseworker called us up and said, hey, we have all these donated items here at the office. Just come on over and take whatever you need. We said, great. So we went over, we got some kitchen stuff and clothes, and I don't remember what all. And while

we were there, she took us to the side and said, hey, somebody has made an anonymous donation of $2,500 cash. Here, take it. And we were just floored. We said, well, that's so kind. Thanks very much. But, you know, we've got good insurance. We're going to be okay. There must be somebody else that you can give that money to.

And she insisted that we take it. So we said, thank you. And we took the $2,500. And just a little bit later that same day, we met up with Tanya and she told us she had gone shopping to find a used car. And she said, oh, I found one that I really like.

It's not very fancy, but it would be perfect for what I need. It's a Hyundai. And she started to cry. Like I'm trying not to do. She said, well, the man said, since I don't have credit, the only way I could get it, I have to bring in $2,500 cash. So my wife and I looked at it and said, Tanya, you've got it.

And we gave her the money and she was able to get that used car. Wow. Wow. A couple months later, uh, the rental house was fixed up and she moved back in she she still lives there today and she still has that little car and she still helps us out with carson's care sometimes and what's interesting was it wasn't that you were given 3 500 and she needed 2 500 you were given the exact amount that you were supposed to turn around and give her. Only God could have done that. People who believe in coincidences lack intelligence.

Yeah. Unbelievable. Wow. One more little thing. It turns out we were actually overinsured on our house. We had a mortgage, but with the insurance insurance we were able to buy our new house and pay cash for it so that was cool made us debt free after that amazing so it all came out in the end but what a fun thing to get to just to be the conduit in this case i mean it wasn't your money

more than for a few hours, right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's a cool thing. Very interesting. Very interesting. Cool. Great story, brother. Great story.

Thanks for sharing that. Absolutely amazing. Yeah, Joplin experienced volunteers from all over the nation. Lots of areas have experienced volunteers from all over the nation, lots of areas have experienced volunteers from all over the nation. Nashville had a massive 500-year flood a few years back, about a decade ago or so. Unbelievable flood. And the whole place was back up and running in less than six weeks. Homes were, perfect strangers were coming in, straightening up homes and everything else. Absolutely crazy. Absolutely crazy.

Absolutely crazy. So the volunteerism in America is alive and well. This is the Dave Ramsey Show. It's a giving show today. We'll see you next time. Based on New Testament principles, Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, helps Christian families, churches, and ministries join together as the body of Christ to share their major healthcare costs. Christian Healthcare Ministries is the original health cost-sharing ministry, a Better Business Bureau-accredited organization CHM members share to pay each other's medical bills. It's not insurance.

It's Christians financially and spiritually supporting each other. It's what Christian Healthcare Ministries has done for over 35 years. And our members have shared over $2.5 billion in medical bills. To learn more, visit chministries.org. That's chministries.org. Christian Healthcare Ministries is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. chministries.org. It's a giving theme hour here on the Dave Ramsey Show. It's a giving theme today. We teach you to live like no

one else so that later you can live and give like no one else. So we're taking your calls and your stories about giving and or receiving. One of our own Ramsey team members, Heather Honeycutt, been with us about five and a half years. She's a project manager in our live events team, our Ramsey events team. So if you've ever been to one of our events, you've seen some of her work. Joins us on the debt-free stage. Quite a year, kiddo. Yes, quite a year. So my story is a little bit of the nontraditional giving-receiving story,

and I've been on both ends of it. In September of 2018, my husband and I unexpectedly lost our oldest daughter, Michaela, at the age of five, which was obviously incredibly difficult. But one of the beautiful things that came out of that is that we were able to give her heart, liver, and kidneys to four different people. I always knew that I wanted to communicate with those families, but the Tennessee Donor Services always told us, you know, a lot of times recipient families are afraid to communicate with donor families because they're afraid it's going to increase their pain. But I went ahead and wrote a letter to each of the recipient's families about a month after Michaela died. And the process for writing a letter is pretty interesting because you can't say where you live, where you work, what your last name is.

You can't mention God. There's just a lot of stipulations to respect people's privacy and anonymity and not offend them. And then you send off your letter to Tennessee Donor Services. They send it off to the state. They contact the recipients and the letter to the recipient. So it takes months. So my prayer this whole time was just, I just wanted to hear from one person. I just wanted to hear back from one. And in April this past year, I received a letter from the family of a little girl who received Michaela's liver. Her name is Emma. And receiving

that letter was just incredibly a huge gift in our lives. I had a name that we could pray for. We'd been praying for these recipients, but I had a name. I had a photo I could put on our refrigerator, tell my other girls about. It was just a huge gift. I knew I wanted to write a letter back, but I kept sitting down to writing and I just couldn't figure out what to write back because I felt like I had said everything I was allowed to say.

So I went into Google and put in Lauren, which is the name of Emma's mom. So Lauren Emma Liver. And the first thing that popped up was a story, a news story that said somebody's baby had to die so that mine could live. And it was her. It was definitely her. The whole story was her. I watched this video, obviously sobbing, and just saw that this

was an amazing family. So I clicked on the Facebook link that was in there, which connected me to her mom's Facebook page. And Dave, I kid you not, we had a mutual friend. It was a girl I went to college with. I went to a 1600 person college. So I messaged her and said, hey, you may not want to get into the middle of this, but I'd really just love to let this family know that a family in Tennessee is praying for them. She wrote me back within a minute and said, call me. And it turns out that she literally grew up in this small town in North Carolina with this girl and her family. So they've known each other their whole lives. We started texting in June. And then in October, I got my husband and I and our kids got the opportunity to meet Emma and to hold Emma and to see her play.

And I thought I thought it was going to be so painful and so difficult and so hard. It was so joyful. It was so life giving. And I just am really grateful we got to learn more about their story. They're a family who totally understands sacrifice and love and family. The dad is a state trooper. Mom is a special ed teacher. Just a really, really wonderful group of people. And it was just so much fun to watch my girls interact with their girls.

And, yeah, so that's my giving story. A little nontraditional, but it's been a beautiful year. I can't believe you can just stand up here and tell this. I've heard it five times, and I cry every time I hear it. I mean, unbelievable. It's been a, the last 18 months have been a wild ride for you guys and your family. Absolutely. So you got a lot of family here that loves you.

I sure do. Good stuff. But, wow, there's nothing like getting to – part of the – I guess part of the payoff of generosity is watching the other person receive it. Absolutely. And in that case, that's why this turned into joy instead of pain. Yeah, and the thing I just would like to say is we – I know that a lot of times I say recipients don't reply back because they think it's going to increase people's pain. And this is only my story, and I can only speak for my story. But it didn't decrease my pain, but it provided joy in the midst of pain.

And one of my biggest fears when Michaela died was that she would be forgotten. And this is a real, true, tangible way that her story lives on. And she's going to be in these people's lives and impact a lot of people's lives. And so, um, and that way her story won't be forgotten. And like the last caller, you were like, people who believe in coincidences are crazy. Um, it's not a coincidence. It's God, like God had so much of a hand in all this. And the last little brief part of the story I'll tell is that we found out when we met them on Tuesday, September 25th, um, Emma went in for a regular appointment and her just numbers had dropped so much.

They said she's going to have to stay here till she gets a liver. And on Wednesday, September 26th is when Michaela was declared legally dead. And so I fully believe that God has his hand in the ashes. It was the tragedy of Michaela's death and turn into something really beautiful. Amen. Amen. Well, Heather, thank you for having the courage to share that story because it inspires other people um organ donation is a big deal it matters and um hey uh thank you we love you thank you merry christmas merry christmas to you too open phones this hour as we take your giving stories.

Something about the fact that giving costs you something is part of what brings the joy from generosity, isn't it? If it doesn't cost you anything, it's not rich for you. And obviously, in her situation, the cost was unbearable, unbelievable. So, wow. It's a giving show today. Our last live broadcast of the year. We will have best ofs up until January the 6th from this point forward. And we always close out the last Friday before Christmas or the last broadcast before Christmas with a giving show. And we're taking your calls. Giving stories.

888-825-5225. Kelly is in florida hi kelly merry christmas tell me your giving story hi dave um i'm calling to share about um we were actually the recipient and this was about 11 years ago um our family felt really convinced that we were called to grow via adoption. And, yeah, we felt called to a little one. And we had three kiddos at the time. And I'll be honest, we did not have an envelope with enough adoption money in it. And we weren't quite sure how it was all going to work out. But we knew we would make the sacrifices and pinch the pennies.

And we were trying our best. And yet it was a number that we weren't quite sure how we would reach financially. And Christmas, about 11 years ago, actually, I had been trying to make extra money. And there was a bazaar, like a Christmas bazaar at my kid's school. And I ran around town and I grabbed all these little things to sell. And you had to give a percentage to the school and then the rest was going to go to our adoption fund and we made $30. I thought this is never going to happen. But anyway, a couple days later, Christmas Eve, a knock comes at our door. We answer the door. It's a teenage girl we don't know. She hands us a box, and she runs off and hops in her car and drives away. We look at the box, and it said,

To the Wild Family, that's us, open December 25th. So Christmas morning, the kids all gather around. Everybody's curious as to what's in the box. We open the box, and there's a money order. Oh, gosh, I still cry about this. To our adoption agency. And you couldn't read the name because it was like chicken scratch. And it was for over $9,000.

And then it was all the way down to some pennies. And I knew that even kids, you know, had chipped in. And we had no idea who did it. I love it. Woo! That's a good one. Well done. Wow. It's a giving theme hour here on the Dave Ramsey Show.

We have a giving or receiving story. All we're doing is celebrating generosity this show. Garrett is in Texas. Merry Christmas, Garrett. Tell me your giving story. Merry Christmas, Dave. So August 2017, I'm doing the MD-PhD program in Texas and doing my hospital rotations and a little storm called Hurricane Harvey came to town. And I sent my wife and my kid up to my parents who were Hurricane Harvey came to town. And, uh, I, uh, sent my wife and my kid up to my parents who were just getting ready to move. And, uh, we got, I mean, not as much water as some people had, but we had about two feet of water come through our apartment

and just wreck all of our stuff. And that happened on, you know, the, the day that I was supposed to have a big end of rotation exam that med school doesn't really reschedule exams for you. Not even in a hurricane? So they postponed the exam because of the hurricane. But I didn't know when they were going to reschedule it to and I didn't have a place to live. I wasn't sure when it was going to reschedule it to, and I didn't have a place to live. I wasn't sure when it was going to happen. So I, I preemptively just talked to the coordinator and I said, Hey, look, I know the exam's coming up. I don't have a place to live. I am. I can't take it until I got a place for my family to stay. I had my wife and my kid there. And, uh, she just said, you know, hold on just a minute. And, uh, within an hour, she called me back and said, Hey,

the hospital has a fully furnished apartment for you. It's ready to move in right now. Wow. You can stay in it as long as you need to. Wow. So we, uh, went and started mucking out my apartment and I just put out a quick Facebook messenger to my classmates and said, Hey, if you guys are able to, I know I understand if you can't get there, but if you can, I'd appreciate some help. And like within half an hour had probably 20 of my classmates mucking out my apartment, literally fishing cockroaches out of my pots and pans so we could clean it and get everything moved. And it was, it was, it was great. Classmates and administrators at school and at the hospital

donated things. Within a day, we had a bed again. We had crib for my son, had a place to stay. We were, it was, it was very nice. The emotional swing was incredible just going from overwhelmed what am i going to do now i don't make anything i'm a student i don't have anything to hey we're going to be all right wow turned it around and i mean that there's that that that puts you on tilt i mean you'll you'll be 80 years old and remembering all of this generosity. All these people showing up, the pieces of furniture given, certainly the hospital giving you a place to live. I mean, that changes everything.

You'll be looking for a chance to do that for somebody else the rest of your life, won't you? Yes, I will. So have you graduated now? I have finished five of the eight years, so working on the Ph.D. right now. Okay. Wow. Good for you. Well done.

Well done. Thank you. And, well, great story, brother. Thank you for sharing that. I love it. Wow. Stephanie is with us. Stephanie is in Massachusetts.

Hi, Stephanie. Tell us your giving story. Merry Christmas. Hi, Dave. Merry Christmas. My giving story, I'm actually a recipient, and it started from the beginning of 2018. So I was going through a really hard time. At the time, I was, you know, three months pregnant. I had an 11-year-old and a six-month-old at the time, and just going through some challenges, you know, in my finances, my marriage and everything. So, but at the time, you know, we were dealing with a lot of financial stress. My husband, his job had recently closed,

so he wasn't really working much. I went down to, you know, part-time 32 hours because I wanted to be home a little bit more with my second child. And, you know, part-time 32 hours because I wanted to be home a little bit more with my second child. And, you know, just we were tight financially. There was a point where we came home one day and the electricity was cut off, you know. And thankfully, the next day I was able to call. And because I had young children, they reconnected it. You know, but I, you know, just struggling, I mean, even to put groceries in the house. One of my friends, she kind of was aware of, you know, some of the

challenges I was going through. She didn't know about the electricity getting cut off, but, you know, just in general, kind of some things with my marriage. So she, you know, she came over and, you know, during our conversation, it did come up, you know, about the lights getting cut off. And I'm not really, I don't, I tend not to share much because I always, you know, during our conversation, it did come up, you know, about the lights getting cut off. And I'm not really I don't I tend not to share much because I always, you know, try and do what I can. And, you know, I believe that God would, you know, would turn things around. But in the course of our conversation, you know, I did disclose to her about the lights getting cut off. And so right then and there, you know, she took out her, you know, her card. And, you know, she said she was, you know, she wanted me to get on to my, you know, my electricity account.

And right then and there, she made a payment to bring my account current for $400, you know, and it just, you know, at the time, just not even having $20 in the bank. It just meant so much. Um, you know, and then a couple of weeks later, um, I was in my home, you know, just praying because at the, at that point, I didn't even have enough to pay the rent. Um, I was sure probably about $300 or so. And, and I was just praying and asking God, God make a way. I just don't know. It was, you know, probably about the eight of the month and the rent was already due. Um, and after I finished praying, I looked at my phone and I got a message from my brother, you know, and he, you know, he texted me, Stephanie, we want to help you. How can we help you? And, you know, I just felt like that was God really, you know, just really answering my prayer. And so him, my sister, you know, their significant others, they banded together and they sent us money, you know, to cover our groceries, to help cover the rent and everything else.

And, you know, so really it just was an extremely difficult time in my life. But I thank God because those people, you know, I believe God sent those people there, you know, to be a blessing at a time where we really needed it. You know, and just fast forward to today, you know, how much that has made an impact. And even, you know, just with me being connected to Dave Ramsey now, but that's, you know, that's my giving story and just, you know, just really want to appreciate God and for how he is, you know, just, or, you know, orchestrated things to, to get us to this place. And that kind of really kicked me in the butt as well, you know,

in terms of finances and getting things in order. Great story. How are you guys doing now? We're doing, we're doing well thank god yesterday i just paid off my second student loan um and so we are we are doing we are doing well and you know it's funny no more days of rent being behind or lights being behind no no i am in two years believe god two years like two years in two years we will be debt-free completely, and so I just really, really thank God for that. How long ago was the lights being cut off? That was 2018, so around February 2018. Yes.

So you've gone from not even covering necessities to now everything's covered and making progress on debt reduction. Yes, and you know, in September and in September of 2018, this is like some five months later, I was home on maternity leave. God connected me to you through YouTube. And I believe it all happened for a reason, because from then I've been gazelle intense and to get to this point today. So everything happens for a reason. But yes, yes. Great strides. i i thank god for everything absolutely absolutely well i'm impressed with you guys i mean because you you didn't stay in the hole

people gave you a hand and helped you get up out of the hole but then you didn't go back to the hole you said we're never going back there and you began to change the stuff so that you know the the feeling because it's i mean i've had my lights cut off i've had my water cut off and we went broke it's terrifying yes yeah it's terrifying you can't think about hardly anything because you don't have basic necessities covered yeah you know you turn on the faucet and nothing comes out it's terrifying and you feel like such a i felt like such a doofus i really did yeah and uh from going from that that point to where you are now you've done a great job and that's proof that the generosity of your brother and

of your friend uh really spurred you to you know gave you rocket fuel into your change, right? Yes. They were not giving a drunk a drink. They were not enabling you to stay there. They just helped you get through the rough patch, and you went out of there and never going back, right? Yes, yeah, and the hope is, you know, that I've been there, so now, you know, a single mother or even a family that's struggling,

I can now help them through the family that I got help. You'll see them out of your peripheral vision the rest of your life. Yeah, you won't be able to stop. You'll smell that smell. You know what it feels like. Me too. Me too. I can sense it.

Hey, God bless you, darling. That's a great story. Merry Christmas to you. It's a Giving Theme Hour here on the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Kelly, associate producer and phone screener for the Dave Ramsey Show. If you would like to do your debt-free screen live on the show, make sure you visit DaveRamsey.com and register. We would love for you to

come to Nashville and tell Dave your story. Listen.