Sleepless Nights Over $17,000 of Credit Card Debt

Chris and David have many joyful memories from their 40-year marriage. But they will never forget the sleepless nights they spent worrying about money.

David remembers those long, stressful nights. “You go to bed thinking about the bills you owe and how are you going to make the money to pay those bills.”

“There was no plan B ever,” Chris says, “except fear.”

When Chris and David married, they were both employed; she was an insurance underwriter, and he worked in sales on commission. But they spent all the money they earned, and more.

Chris explains her thinking in those days. “To me, you had arrived when you could have more clothes, more jewelry anything to make you look good and it was definitely an insecurity on my part.”

David admits, “We just did not have a budget really, we just sort of shot from the hip.”

When Chris quit her job to become a stay at home mom, they put the deficit on credit cards. Chris thought, “Credit was great. It was an outstanding way to get what we needed or wanted and with no consequences that I saw.”

But there were consequences.  The couple accumulated 17,000 dollars in credit card debt and couldn’t make the monthly minimum payments. Chris handled the bills and received the calls from creditors.

“It is harassment, but it was my debt, I owed it and you have to pay your debts. We had no backup plan, that if one thing went wrong, if he got sick, if we needed a car repair, it was another payment added to the stack of bills already sitting there.”

“I felt like a failure too, as a man, I was just trying to become more successful and it just wasn’t happening.”

By the end of 2001, the Helm’s financial strain had escalated into a crisis. a lucrative project that David expected suddenly fell through, along with commission the couple was counting on to pay huge year end expenses.

Chris says, “We needed a lot of money. We had a 60,000-dollar tax bill and one child in college. We needed six figures.”

“We were terrified,” David says. “We just didn’t know where the money was coming from.”

 So, the Helms turned to God in prayer.  They were Christians who knew about
Tithing in theory, but not in practice.

Chris says, “It never occurred to me that because we weren’t giving and tithing we were actually robbing God of the opportunity to bless us. I remember saying Lord, ‘I have not been faithful. I promise you, not one more dime will ever come into this house that I will not give to you, if you will just take care of this for us.’ She brought it to me, and I was like ‘Yeah, we need to be doing this.’  It was like the Holy Spirit just united us on tithing.

Just two months after making their initial tithe, the couple was astounded by what happened. The project that had been cancelled was reinstated, followed closely by 2 more lucrative projects.

Chris says, “Tthe Lord not only gave us all the money that we needed, he also gave us $2000 extra and he showed me his faithfulness.”

Since then, the Helms income has tripled, they are debt free and they are saving for the future. They remain generous givers, and one of their favorite places to give is to CBN.

“I see the work that they do,” Chris says. “’Helping the Homefront’! Oh my gosh.  I just want to reach through the TV and hug our military people.”
David says, “I think for me the Operation Blessing is the thing. I can’t necessarily go, but I can send money, we become an extension of that.”

She adds, “God says that those who give to the poor lend to him.”

Dave says, “If you can’t see where it is coming from, don’t let that distract you and keep you from being obedient to the Lord.”

Chris concludes, the bible says it pleases him to give us good things. You know, you look at Malachi, you know, "Give and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, good measure. The scriptures are all there.  When I started living them, it changed my world, it changed my life.”