The Weight of Debt
Where my prayer journal journey began.
Debt is heavy. 77% of American households have some kind of debt and the average debt PER adult is $58,604. Add us all up, and the total personal debt in America is at its highest ever at $14.96 trillion.1
As I share prayers from my journal in the coming weeks and months, you’ll see how often finances are on my mind. My first prayer that I journaled?... Yep. (Mostly) All about debt...Here it is… [If you can’t read my handwriting, skip down below where I retyped it, plus I elaborate on some parts.]
[For clarity… the journal shared below is from almost 3 years ago… January 22nd, 2020.]
The retype:
1-22-2020
I’ve never done this before (wrote my prayers down) but after Pastor Mike’s message this past Sunday2, I wanted to make strides in making my prayer life a priority. I need you God. I’m tired & stressed & pray for relief. I need my health & I need my teams healthy [At this time I had more than one company, New Scooters 4 Less, a retail scooter dealership I had for almost 16 years at this point and Repaint The Wall, a 1.5-year-old digital media company.] I rely on them [my teams] so much. These are things I’m counting on your help with Lord...
1. $81,120.96+ of credit card debt [All on business credit cards]
2. $135,000 of private loan debt [Private party loans that had been on the books since the early days of New Scooters 4 Less]
3. $10,000 principal + 8,000 interest I owe to [Name omitted for their privacy]
4. $70,000 I owe to [Name omitted for their privacy] for building loan
--> I pray to be debt free. For me to be freed of this financial burden. Plus...
1. $24,537.27 of personal debt on USAA CC
2. $11,095.00 of personal debt on CitiCard
= $35,632.27 [These debts were primarily Business Debt that I had transferred from business credit cards that were crushing me. I had one card that had nearly 30% interest because it was a variable rate and had crept up that high over the years. I moved this debt over to personal cards that had 0% promotional rates to try to alleviate the pain some, but ultimately this was just trading one problem for another-> added stress on my family.]
Total debt in excess of $339,753.23+
I pray for your help and guidance in really turning NS4L and Repaint around this year. [After reaching all time sales highs in 2017 and 2018, NS4L (New Scooters 4 Less) slowed down in 2019. Repaint The Wall (the digital media company we launched) started in 2018 and I spent 90% of my time in that business in 2019. I believe that my absence was a factor in NS4L’s decline in 2019. Also, Repaint burned through about $125,000 of $200,000 of investor capital (AND burned through the profits we had made from our hot start in 2018). Both companies were on a downhill slope.] I want the companies to be profitable and healthy and meaningful. I pour my heart into these businesses and community.
Forgive any selfishness and let all of this glorify You. I love you God. I’m grateful for the health of my family, the beautiful home and opportunities you give me. I’m grateful to be alive and have the strength to tackle obstacles like these above with your love, grace, and guidance.
For your glory. Amen.
$340k in debt. It’s even more if you add in my home mortgage, commercial property mortgage, and inventory credit lines for my scooter dealership (more will be revealed on this down the road). A huge mountain to climb. A huge weight on my shoulders. It’s crushing. If you are there, I know what you are dealing with. I know how quickly it can get out of hand and start to pile up. You feel like there is no hope, but there is.3 (I look forward to revealing more to you in upcoming blogs. Stay tuned.)
To some, it might seem surprising that I would let it get this out of hand, but the truth is I consistently put my business first since its conception. I put the business’s needs and my team’s needs ahead of my own. I can’t even begin to tell you the number of times I thought about pulling the equity out of my own home to keep my company alive. Entrepreneurs will often do just about anything to do so. It wasn’t until I really started getting the order right that I saw things change… The order? 1. God (and I’m talking about complete surrender to his will). 2. Family. 3. Business.
When I started this prayer journal, I remember reflecting on a conversation I had with a close friend. He told me to be unafraid and to approach God’s throne boldly and when I do to be specific. That’s why I listed the debts as opposed to just saying “Lord, please help me with my debt.”(Hebrews 4:16, NLT: So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.)
I’ll tell you that over time I (feel like I) got better writing to my Lord and Savior. I’ll let you decide in future blogs.
Best part of it all? He responds…
My questions for you…
Do you have any debt? Has it become part of your “normal”? Are finances a stressor for you? Have you taken steps to remove it from your life?
Have you tried writing out prayer? If so, I would love to hear how it impacted you because I’m excited to share how it has and continues to impact me.
I’ve thought for a long while about how I should share this prayer journal and still haven’t made up my mind on how it should be done. It’s easy to start… just start at the beginning! Right? Where to now? Should it be in order by date? Should it jump between different dates and years? Should it center around specific subjects that came up in my prayers? I’m still trying to decide. What are your thoughts? Let me know.
As I get this blog off the ground, would you please share it with someone that you think might relate to it? I’m excited for you to see where the story goes. I appreciate you!
Until next time, Happy New Year and God Bless,
Collin
https://www.ramseysolutions.com/debt/average-american-debt
Side Note: My family and I regularly attend The Family Church in Gainesville, FL but I often listen to a variety of sermons from different pastors. If you need help getting plugged in, let me know. There are a lot of great churches in our area.
Can’t recommend The Ramsey Show podcast enough. In 2020, I just started listening and learned so much about “the baby steps” but they offer Financial Peace University and have some great books, too. I bought everyone on my team Total Money Makeover and Babysteps Millionaires (and a Bible) as part of their Christmas present. https://www.ramseysolutions.com/shows/the-ramsey-show
Debt is certainly the worst. Thanks for sharing! I think posting based on topic even while skipping around by date would be interesting. Would love to hear more about your financial journey since listening to the Ramsey show and getting tired of being tired.
Thank you for sharing. As a business owner myself, I can relate to what you were saying about putting your business first. I was considering equity in my home at one point too. I never went that route, but I did get a SBA loan during Covid just to keep my business alive. In hindsight and if I knew then what I know now, I would have made a lot of different decisions. I wouldn’t have taken the loan and I wouldn’t have kept paying rent for an office. I can see now that I was desperate to hold on to everything I had know … I think a lot of us were, and the government dangled a carrot that many of us bit off myself included. Thank you for the reminder of God, Family, Business - I get them out of order sometimes.