The Ramsey Show - App - The 2020 Annual Christmas Giving Show (Hour 1)

Episode Date: December 23, 2020

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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. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality and best-selling author of the book Redefining Anxiety, is my co-host today here on the air. We have been teaching you for approaching 30 years to live like no one else so that later you can live and give like no one else. There's only three things you can do with money.

You can spend it on yourself and enjoy it, and you should. You can invest it, and you should. And you can be outrageously generous, and when you do that, you'll find it is the highest and best use of money. It is the use of money that will give you the most joy. On the eve of Christmas Eve, it is a Dave Ramsey Show tradition to take calls from those of you who have enjoyed generosity. You have a great generosity story. God was so generous that he sent his only son to pay our debts, our sin. And that's what we're celebrating here. It's called Christmas.

Merry Christmas. And so we want to hear your generosity stories call us right now at 888-825-5225 if you've been on the receiving end of generosity or on the giving end of generosity and it's a great story and it will inspire the rest of us to be more generous that's what we want to hear for the next several hours. Open phones again, 888-825-5225. And from a mental health perspective, when people give, it takes their eyes off themselves, and a whole lot of neurosis really comes down to being selfish. They evaporate.

When you find it within yourself to do something for other people, when you get outside of your own head and your own heart, you will find that the things that ail you just simply poof, like a vapor. And there's something magical and life-giving about being and living for other people. Very difficult to be depressed when you're out registered. Almost impossible. It activates a whole different counter set of chemicals in the body, in the spirit, and in the emotions. It really does.

You go looking for ways that you can support and help other people, which gives you purpose. So in case you hadn't noticed, 2020 pretty much sucked. That's the rumor. So what we're going to do is we're going to give our way out of it so that we all have a little bit of a better attitude. Hey, I like that plan. There we go. We're going to give. So this is the annual giving show, our last live show of the season,

because we don't work between Christmas and New Year's. I'm going out with my family to a warm place somewhere, and we'll be back in the first week of January doing the show again. So in the meantime, you'll have this to remember, these giving stories. The phone number, 888-825-5225. Brianna is in Austin, Texas to start us off. Tell us about giving, Brianna. Hi, Dave and Dr. D.

I love you guys so much. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you. We love you. Thanks. I'm so blessed to be talking with you all and to share my giving story. So my husband, Ralph, and I are actually on the receiving end of the biggest blessing of our lives. And it's funny, Dave, in October, when we received this blessing, I actually called in and spoke with you to get some guidance.

So you might remember me. So a little background, Ralph and I have been married three years and he has two older sons. Being a mom has been a dream of mine. I've wanted to be pregnant and experience motherhood my entire life. After we got married, we tried having a baby and a year into it, nothing. So we saw a fertility doctor. And at that point, after doing testing, they said, look, Brianna, based on your age and what's going on, you're going to have to do IVF. So obviously, that's a very expensive procedure.

And at the time, Dave, we didn't know you. So we were over the top in consumer debt, like coming out of our ears, just it was so stressful. So the doctor came in and gave us a little price list. And he says, Well, you guys can finance it 20 to 25,000. We have finance options. For a split second, we said maybe we should and then I said, You know what, we can't. So I cried a lot. We have finance options for a split second. We said, maybe we should. And then I said, you know what? We can't. So I cried a lot. We left the appointment. We never went back. I was so sad and felt so defeated. And I just didn't understand. I didn't understand why this was happening. I got on my knees and I cried and I prayed to God. And I basically just said, you know what, God, I'm giving it to you. I trust you. And that's that.

So 2019, October, Dave, we found you, jumped into SPU, read the book, budgeting, everything, and God willing, we've been paid. We've paid off almost $30,000 in this last year. Wow. Yes. So blessed. So here we are in 2020. October, we celebrated my birthday. We went to California to visit friends and family and dave and john a dear friend of mine over 20 years of friendship um he and his wife have been very blessed with wealth and for my birthday they blessed us with uh twenty thousand dollars to get ivs wow i love these people i love these people bri I love these people.

Brianna, you have way better friends than I do. I'm telling you, not only that, y'all, they basically said that if it's more than $20,000, call them and they'll take care of it. Wow. So, honestly, I've never in my life had a blessing like that. We came straight home back to Austin, saw a new fertility doctor, and we're starting treatments in January.

Yay! Congratulations. Now, you've got to call back next year and give us the end of this story, okay? I promise I will. Yeah, we have to finish this story out because we're catching this blessing mid-blessing. We are. And I just want to say one thing to your listeners, Dave. I just want to encourage your listeners, no matter what's going on in life,

whether it's money issues, the loss of a loved one, marriage issues, no matter what, lean on God. Pray to Him. Talk to Him. He's going to get you through it. Honestly, we thought there was no way, and God made a way for this, and it was on his time, and we are so blessed, and I just encourage others to just remember to lean on him. Yeah, testify, sister. I like it. So, you know, here's what's interesting

that I think about in this, is that you didn't have this motivation, but the net result was when you started getting your act together and were worthy of trust, God just redirected some wealth your way. He did. Yeah. Such a blessing. And while you were living in chaos and impulse, he didn't do it. No.

Matches up with the parable of the talents. Those who manage a little well are given more to manage. And wow, I love this. Woo! Thank you. Well done. Great story. manage a little well are given more to manage and uh wow i love this thank you well done great story hey thank you for thank you for calling in with that that's cool i do remember her call she was calling she was like freaking out do i have to put this 20 000 on my debt snowball i went absolutely not it was a designated gift like the nursery gift you and i got yesterday right that was 1500 right but uh it's a designated gift, and yeah, that's a place in a couple's soul when they're trying to have children that's special.

And I know that Brianna is reeling from this extraordinary gift. I would love to hear from the people who were able to give this gift. Yeah. And I would love to hear from the people who were able to give this gift. Oh, yeah. That they walked step by step, lived disciplined lives, were blessed, and then just had the ability and then a need came forward to literally reimagine somebody's family tree. I can imagine this guy sitting there going, you know, we got $2 million in our 401k. Let's give them $20,000. Let's give them $20,000. And have a baby.

And have a family. Wow. Touchdown. Good have a baby. And have a family. Wow. Touchdown. Good for you guys. It's the annual giving show on the eve of Christmas Eve. Dr. John Deloney and Dave Ramsey on The Dave Ramsey Show. Life sure has a lot of twists and turns. Unlike a roller coaster, we never know what's around the bend. The same can be true with unanticipated medical bills.

That's why Christian Healthcare Ministries, or CHM, is a great option for those who are faith-focused and budget-conscious. CHM is not insurance. Rather, it's Christians helping other Christians carry one another's burdens with healthcare expenses. You know how important it is to be ready for whatever life throws your way, And unfortunately, medical expenses can be some of the biggest, most unexpected curveballs. With CHM, you'll have peace of mind knowing you and your family have a caring, faith-based community behind you.

As a Better Business Bureau accredited charity, CHM has helped its members successfully share over $5 billion in each other's medical bills for nearly 40 years. To see if CHM is right for you, visit is our annual giving show. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality and author of the best-selling book, Redefining Anxiety, What It Is, What It's Not, and How to Get Your Life Back. We're taking your calls about giving.

When you received something or when you gave something, all about inspiring generosity. And you know, sometimes you're supposed to give on the down low. What the Bible says, you know, where the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing and you're not doing it for accolades and that kind of thing. But I have discovered, and that's how I do the vast majority of our giving, most of the Ramsey Family Foundation giving or just Dave and Sharon giving somebody a high five with 100 or something. We don't talk about that.

We just do it, and we don't bring it up. But occasionally, you need to be a vocal video, playing video example for other people so that they see it and they feel it. And so, like, you know, the $10 million debt that we paid off around here. So we've done some publicity on that. We put it out. It's been on Fox Business. I was on Fox and Friends this morning talking about it and that kind of stuff. And, you know, the haters are like, well, you're not supposed to tell anybody when you do that.

Obviously, you're just doing this for advertising. It's like, the head gum, I could have bought advertising a whole lot cheaper than that. That's right. You butt. And so, obviously, I didn't do it for that. But, you know, when somebody says that, it does kind of sting a little, and I think, well, I wonder if I was doing it for wrong motives. But then I remember, no, we're called to teach you guys how to handle money and all of us are called

to be an example to one another to lift each other up and so brag a little bit about receiving or about giving today to inspire others and to cause it to be paid forward i wrestled with that personally for years and until i learned that people learn more by watching you and that was a signal for me that i got to be more demonstrative for my kids for my family for my friends because that's how they're going to say oh that's what that looks like yeah right in the real world and that's how that feels and here's an example of how you can do something with leverage there you go and um you know i've've gotten to sit at some giving symposiums. Like I went to this one thing with these guys,

and the average net worth in the room was like a billion. I was a wiener in a steakhouse. Right. I mean, I was not in my league, you know. They wouldn't let me in the parking lot. But those men and women had different ideas on how to do stuff on giving that was really cool. Yeah.

And it lit me up. And on my little small scale, then I was able to come back and be motivated by that. So those of you that don't like that we're trumpeting giving from the rooftops, maybe we need to do that this year because everybody's been all concerned about not giving this year. Everybody's been all concerned about taking this year, about divisiveness and polarization on the racial issues and the dadgum political disaster and mask or no mask and let's just let's just get all mad let's just spend the whole freaking year being mad at each other everybody

no not today this is the eve of christmas eve calm your butt down. We're talking about generosity, and we want to hear from you. 888-825-5225. Trent is in Phoenix. Trent, tell us your giving story. Dave, Dr. John, this is a huge pleasure. This is definitely one of the coolest things that's ever happened to me. Well, we're honored. You need to get out more, brother.

Yeah, you've got to get out more brother yeah you've got to get better friends my friend you need way better friends how can we help man tell us your giving story so a few years ago my wife and i were living in the middle of the new mexico west texas oil field and uh i had a job i was working for an excavation company and i was making the equivalent of minimum wage in the oil field and uh well the cost of living out there is horrendously high we were renting a two-bed uh one bath I think it was probably about maybe six or 700 square foot in a fourplex. And it was 1250 and we had to cover utilities on top of that. So add on all of the other, you know, food and everything else. And it was, it was draining more than we were making.

And when I was working at this company, this excavation company, I got put under the tutelage of this crusty, hard, old man. He was larger than life, very physically imposing guy, but he was very hard, very unkind, very ruthless most of the time. He was a notorious Scrooge 365 days a year, unless he was around women, in which case he had charm and charisma to burn, and he was just the life of the party. So he took me under his wing, and he taught me how to drive heavy equipment and stuff like that. And slowly, but slowly we became friends and he knew how much I was making. He made considerably more than I did. So, um, a few months later I had left that company for a job that paid a couple dollars an hour more. And my wife was working for a pharmacy that was in town. And

he came in there to get his prescription. And he came in and this was right before Christmas, and he was wearing a Santa hat. And he came in and he started talking to my wife. And he said, how's that boy that you married? And she said, well, we're doing good. You know, we're just doing what has to be done. And he said, well, it's just, you know, that's good. Good for you guys. Awesome.

And then he picked up his prescription and then he had an envelope in his hands. And he slid it across the desk to her. And he said, now you wait until I leave before you open that. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to everybody, and then he rushed out the door, and I had already resigned that Christmas to be just horrible and no presents, and we were going to be behind on bills and everything, and she hurried and opened up the envelope and she found this really expensive looking

card inside and she opened it up and inside it had in his hand scratched writing to Mrs. J and that guy that she married. I hope that this can make your Christmas a little bit more magical. And there was 10 $100 bills in the envelope. Wow. And she rushed out to the front door, passed everybody that was in line. She got outside and she said it was the most magical scene she'd ever seen he got into his truck and he was just getting out of the parking lot as fast as he could and she said i'll call him bill for the sake of the story she said bill

we can't accept this that's too much and uh he said santa doesn't take gifts back and then he just roared out of there and uh a lot of people have descriptors of what santa is to them you know he you know rides in a sleigh he wears a suit he you know gives toys to people. For me, at least for that Christmas, my descriptors of Santa was he's vulgar, he smokes Camel Wives, he's an alcoholic, and he drives a Chevy. Yeah, but, dude, when you're making that kind of money, $1,000 might as well be $100,000. Yeah. That was a lot of money.

That was like changed your whole net worth yep that's huge man i've been right there i know exactly how that crap feels in in west texas speak um that guy you married is is um a special language for my friend that i can't say those words out loud or i'll just break down and start crying. Amen. I don't know. People say that about me all the time. They tell Sharon, that guy you married.

Yeah, yeah. That's totally different in Tennessee. That's definitely what they tell Sheila. Sheila and Sharon are in that same camp. Yeah, they get the same. That guy you married. That's exactly right. And there's a bit of an eye roll.

Yes. Yeah, it's like a sympathy thing, that guy you married. That's exactly right. They're just special groups. Special groups. I love it. Well done. Santa Claus smoking special groups. Special groups. I love it. Well done. Santa Claus smoking camels in a Chevy. I love it.

He's got a cigarette hanging out of his lip, roaring off in the four-wheel drive. I like it. Go, Santa. Ho, ho, ho, baby. If you live like no one else, later you can live and give like no one else. On the eve of Christmas Eve, this is our annual giving show here ononey, Ramsey Personality, best-selling author of the book Redefining Anxiety, What It Is, What It's Not, and How to Get Your Life Back. Today's the eve of Christmas Eve, and the way we always celebrate that around the Dave Ramsey Show

is we do a special giving show where we take your calls and you tell giving stories, stories about a time you gave or you received in order to inspire 17 million listeners to greater generosity pretty cool on the debt-free stage but with a giving story hillary is with us live in the lobby from lakeland florida hi hillary how are you i'm good dave how are you better than i deserve what brings you to Nashville? Well, born and raised actually here in Nashville, currently living in Florida. I'm here to tell a little bit of a giving story. Okay. I want to start that out with saying I appreciate just a few weeks ago you sharing a little bit about in one of your podcasts, human trafficking, and I actually work in that field. And after that podcast is when they talked

about the giving show. And so I actually wrote in after that. And I just appreciate you sharing and getting the word out about the work that we're doing out here. So that led me to our story about giving. And a little bit of backstory with that is that I have a little girl out here running around like crazy in the lobby. But she's a year and a half now. And while um, while I was pregnant, actually had multiple complications with her with several, several hospital visits that I was spending, um, weeks at a time, days at a time, um, multiple times that I just had to be in the hospital while I'm pregnant with her. And then after giving birth, um, she actually had several complications as well. And so in December of last year, she was born in September. In December of last year, my husband and I found ourselves

getting a bill every day. You know, you check that mailbox and it's supposed to be one of the happiest times of the year. And it was one of the most stressful times of the year. Every time that we would check the mailbox, it was another doctor, another, you know, another hospital bill, another this, another that, another hospital, you know, um, all of that. And so at that time it was, um, stress. It was just stressful all the time. And I'll never forget. And, um, it's a family member of ours and, um, our giving story begins with him because

we opened the mailbox one day and for the first time we didn't have a bill, but we actually had just enough of a check, um check to cover her hospital stay visit. And in that moment, it was like, oh, okay, we can breathe. Because for the first time, and if you've ever had a child in the hospital, you know when that bill comes, it's just this heavy burden. And to have that little amount to cover just enough to be done with that bill comes it's just this heavy burden and to have that little or a lot amount to cover just enough to be done with that bill was like just such a relief on us and and honestly from then we were not doing we we did you know your whole um everything before we got married but we

were not actually participating in it until kind of that moment. And that's really what I wanted to share today because he gave us. And then from there we realized like, okay, we got to honor not only him, but we got to honor ourselves and we have to honor the Lord. And it took a couple months and a few more hospital visits to really get our budget under control and kind of do that whole back and forth thing. But once we got that budget under control, starting of do that whole back and forth thing but once we got that a budget under control um starting kind of mid-year this year we've um on our um baby step two and we've paid off about twenty thousand two hundred dollars so far wow good for you we have a

little bit more to go a lot more to go but we're super motivated just in you know honoring what people are out here to do. It's really just to bless your lives and to honor your family. And being able to do that and honor the Lord in that too gave us such an opportunity to say, okay, we've got to be out here doing it. And so we have one more hospital bill left. And then student loans from there. And we'll be done with our debt.

And hopefully back here doing our debt free i love it so happy for you yes well done well done i appreciate that's a great story because there's something about like you said a child being in the hospital that there's a hopeless feeling you can't not hopeless not that you don't hope for the child but it's helpless absolutely you don't feel like there's anything you can do. You're stuck. Absolutely. And then the bills are piling up and you're stuck again. And then this one check breaks them loose. That's a big deal.

It's one of the most vulnerable places I'll say I've ever been in my life. Yeah, that's a good word. Because you just, in the midst of having all of this come in the mail, you're also trying to take care of her, make sure she has the best care as well. And so that little bit of relief was like the thing that it was like, okay, this is it. And this is our sign that we have to get on board and kind of do this. We actually, I'm happy to share, but just last week on our anniversary, we got an email stating negative, negative, negative, negative. Love it. And so, you know, I'll say this.

Since doing this, we're consistently tithing for the first time in our our whole marriage um we feel like we're more of a team than we ever have been anxieties are lower um which is such a big thing people think a budget won't do that to you but it really actually helps yeah and it's a sense of power really truly it is so we're grateful for you well you too we're happy thank you congratulations and what a great great giving story thank you for sharing that thank you so much merry christmas open phones at 888-825-5225 taking your giving and or receiving stories rick and william are in utah hey guys how are you hello dave and john it's good to talk to you

merry christmas merry christmas to you tell us your giving story hey we wanted to uh call in i wanted to brag on my son william here for a little bit uh he's a junior at desert hills high school here in st george and um every year desert hills uh does a fundraiser to benefit or bless somebody in need in our community. And this year they decided to raise money for a little girl in the community that has leukemia. And they were partnering with Make-A-Wish to raise money and benefit, give her some benefit that way. And William saw this and he was thinking about it. He's got a little sister about the same age. And he said, you know, I've got this money. And, uh, he said,

if somebody, uh, you know, if, uh, my little sister was having some problems, I would hope that somebody would help her out. And so he um you know unbeknownst to us he didn't he didn't talk to us or anything he just he just decided he's like i've got 500 bucks i'm gonna throw that down and try to help jim out here so wow later and did that but i mean that's a huge deal for a 16 year old kid to kid to throw 500 bucks at a fundraiser. Amen. Well, I got to tell you, as a dad of three kids that do a lot of giving and are generous, it makes us proud.

It makes us stick our chest out, doesn't it? Oh, for sure. Yep. Way to go, William. I don't know why we were blessed to have such a good, generous kid like this. All the beatings paid off i'll tell you rick kids generous kids come from generous parents and that apple hit that tree all the way down so congratulations to you and i want you to know all the the the extra tips and the extra kindness that you showed people over the years, William just

absorbed that, and now he is able to take that and magnify it and give it to people who he's never met, he's never going to meet, but are going to be blessed by it nonetheless. So good for you, man. Amen. William, are you there? Thank you. I'm here. Hi.

Brother, you are a different kind of, what, 16, 17-year-old? I'm 16. When I was 16 500 in my head would have bought me a lot of things but not a anonymous gift to a young girl and i want to tell you brother i'm proud of you and you are paving the sidewalks that my little kids out here are going to be walking on as they get older and you are a reason that we can be optimistic about what the future is going to look like with young people like you in your heart so i'm grateful for you man william you're stud man we're proud of you well done i love it and uh that's what happens um rachel says in the book um smart money smart kids that more is caught than taught they are watching everything

moms and dads very unusual for you to have a outlandishly, outrageously generous 16-year-old. Secretly. Now, you can when they're, a lot of them when they're three are generous. Right, right. But life knocks it out of them by the time they're 16 if they're not seeing Mom and Dad model it. And $500 for a 16-year-old is a million bucks, right? Yeah. That's a lot of dates and a lot of music and a lot of other things that.

Way to go, William. What a stud, man. Way to go, William. What a stud, man. Way to go, Rick. Proud of both of you. Very good stuff. That's fun. Set the bar, man. Set the bar.

That's how it works. It's our annual giving show. This is The Dave Ramsey Show. We'll be right back. It's our annual giving show. Dr. John Deloney, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. Budgeting doesn't have to suck. You know, most of the time when you say budgeting to people, they like flinch, like you swung at them or something. You just need a budget that actually works. So you tell your budget what to do until you get it done, and then it tells you what to do.

So the whole thing's voluntary. You don't have to do it, so it doesn't have to be like this onerous thing. However, if it actually works, it's probably on EveryDollar, the world's best budgeting app, which is a Ramsey product and is inside of Ramsey Plus. See, with EveryDollar, you get a plan on how to spend and save every month and how to connect your budget with your bank so that all your transactions are done boom, boom, just like that. And you get custom insights on your spending. And here's the deal.

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To start a free trial of Ramsey Plus, text the word BEGIN to 33789. That's BEGIN to 33789. Gail is with us. Gail is in Jacksonville, Florida. Hi, Gail. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Show. Hey, Dave. Hey, John.

Merry, Merry Christmas. Merry, Merry. Tell us your giving story. So my husband has 15 nieces and nephews, and every year they have children. So every year we would pick one of them to buy for Christmas. This particular year we picked a niece that her husband had left her because he didn't want to raise children, and she had a two-, four six year old um she was working and he had decided that drugs was more important than the children yeah so me and my husband would go garage selling um every weekend and buy the kids clothes and toys and try to

provide as much as we could to help her um I was listening to the radio, and they had a contest, which I entered on her behalf, and I had to do an essay on why I thought she should get the vehicle, and it was giving a vehicle to somebody in need. She had a vehicle that was barely getting her back and forth to work. So I did the contest, and the day before the winner was announced, they had called me and told me I was one of the three runner-ups and that if they chose us, how would she pay the taxes on the vehicle and everything to get the vehicle? And I said, well, if you choose her, me and my husband will pay for everything. We will make sure that she even has insurance for

six months. So about the next morning, they called and said they had chose me, and we had reached out. I called her job and spoke to her boss, and we had the radio station go to her job, pick her up. She had no idea where she was going or what was going on. We were at the place where the vehicle was. They pulled in, and she's seeing me and her uncle standing there, and she started crying because we had already been doing so much. They read the essay to her, what i had said about her and then as they're reading this essay they're driving the van up behind us and then they said the gift that you have won is behind you and when she

turned around she we all started crying she was crying they took pictures of us. I love it! But it was just great. It was so great. And to say real quick, two days ago, I had told, I was going shopping to buy my pastor's wife a gift. Me and my husband pulled in to McDonald's to get lunch on our way, and I walked in to the counter, and the gentleman in front of me bought me lunch on our way, and I walked in to the counter, and the gentleman in front of me bought me lunch, and he turns around and he says, God told me to buy y'all lunch. And I thought, you know,

we're headed to get our pastor's wife a gift, so, you know, God is just so good, and so I just wanted to share. Amen. Well, thank you so much, Jill. That's so fun. It's beautiful. It's all around you. It's all around you.

It's all around you, this generosity thing. But that's a fun one. I mean, they pull the car up behind her, and everybody turns around and starts crying. I almost start crying when you're telling it. That's great. Yeah, it was awesome. It was a van of all things, and she had two four- and six-year-old children that she's trying to provide for.

That's a game- for and um no child support or anything so this yeah we we even took her and got her six months worth of insurance on the car we bought her a cell phone um and paid for that in advance and we just set her up you know and it was just so heart-filling. And giving is so better than receiving. Amen. You know, there's just something about it. A lot more fun. And the good news is you were in a position to do that.

Yes, yes, amen, amen, yes. All because thank you for your plan. We've been listening to you since 2000. I didn't know that you did it. I'm proud of you. Yeah. Yeah, you got yourself in a position. You know, being generous, you can have great intentions.

If I intend to send my wife flowers, it doesn't count. You know? But, you know, you got to really do it. And so you can have all kinds of great generous intentions in your little heart. But if you don't get yourself positioned to act on those, then you're not ever going to really get to see the benefit of that generosity. And you guys did, Gail. I'm proud of you.

Well done. Very well done. That's cool. That's so cool. That's fun. Because, I mean, that's a letter-writing exercise that paid off real big. And then also the cell phone and the insurance and all the knickknacks, right?

And the taxes. Those are game changers for that family. Yeah, it's amazing. Absolutely a game changer. Beautiful stuff. Kevin is with us on our giving show. Kevin's in Dallas. Kevin, tell us your giving story.

Hey, guys. Merry Christmas. So my story begins back in 2013. I had just gotten out of college and had been offered an internship at a church here in Dallas. And so I was working part-time there and kind of figuring out who I was as an adult and what I was supposed to do with my life. And as I was doing ministry, I realized that I felt called to learn the Bible and train for ministry. And so, uh, just so happens there's a good seminary here in Dallas called Dallas Theological Seminary. And so what I did was I felt like I was obeying God and, uh, put all of my savings that I had, uh, after college

into my first semester there. So I was able to pay for that in fall of 2013. But the problem was that was all my money and I didn't really have much money at that time. So I didn't really know what to do from there, but I felt like I was in the right place. And I remember I was coming to the end of that fall semester in 2013 and it was a Friday and it was a Friday that my money for the next semester was due. And if I didn't pay for next semester, I'd drop my classes and I wouldn't be able to continue on. And I remember praying that morning to God and just saying, Lord, I know, I think I'm in the right place. I don't have any money and I know I don't want to go into debt or anything to do this. So, hey, if you want me here, you need to help me figure out a way to pay for this. And otherwise, you know, I'm glad to take some time off school and take a load off for a while.

So anyways, that was that morning. That afternoon, I showed up to my desk and nobody really knew about this, except for a couple people who were close to me and my family who didn't tell anybody. But I show up at my desk, and there's an envelope on my desk. And I'm looking at it going, well, what's that? And I open it up, and there's no name on it. And inside of the envelope is $3,000 cash unmarked with a Bible verse on it that's Romans 12, 13 that says, give to the saints who are in need. And my bill for that next semester was just about $50 away from $3,000. So that money covered

my next semester. And I'll tell you what, I was floored. And I've been in seminary for about seven and a half years, and I just graduated about a week ago. I wrote my last paper. I love it. Well, congratulations. What a great story, too. Don't you wonder who that was?

I do. I really want to know who that was. I really want to know who it was. Was it a professor? Was it a pastor? Was it a parent? Who did that? That's awesome.

That is. That's very cool. Almost to the dollar, man. Well done. Well done. And you just love it when you've got That's awesome. That is. Almost to the dollar, man. Well done. Well done. And you just love it when you've got God's fingerprints all over it. This is a giving show on the Dave Ramsey Show. Have a friend or family member

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