From Paycheck to Paycheck to Debt-Free—God’s Way!

Between the two of them, retired sergeant Jesus Mendez and his wife, Josie, have over forty years of service—Jesus in the army and Josie as a teacher. Now that they’re retired, they are still serving others and enjoying life to the fullest!

“We are involved with the Gideon ministry and it's just wonderful to work for the Lord,” Josie explains. “Jesus really likes to go, go, go. so, we go!”

“When you're blessed, you're supposed to bless others,” Jesus adds.

Years ago, things weren’t so rosy. The Mendez’s were stationed in Germany and struggling to make ends meet for their family of five. As Christians, they knew about tithing, they just weren’t sure they could give ten percent.

Josie remembers that time. 

“We made it from paycheck to paycheck. There wasn't really a lot of extra to go around.”

Then, their church hosted a conference and requested volunteers to house the visiting families. When the Mendez’s took in a family of four from Belgium, the evening took an unexpected turn.

“After we sat down, for some reason or the other, tithing came up,” Jesus recalls, and I said, "Oh, Lord, what is this?" 

“When I started tithing," he says, "I was tithing not the way I should. All this time I'm thinking inside, ‘Whoa, sounds like myself.’ When I started tithing correctly," he says, "Everything has been going really well for us."

So, it rang a bell in my heart, and I said, "Well, I'm gonna have to talk to Josie."  

“He's a numbers kind of person,” says Josie, “So, you know, when he came and told me, ‘We're tithing,’ I knew it had to be God!’”

The very next week, they started tithing ten percent of their gross income. Their finances improved immediately.

Josie was amazed by what happened next. “Even though we were tithing, the balance in our checkbook was not going down, but it was going up. Many times, we got checks in the mail that we didn't expect; the Lord blessed us that way.”

Jesus says they also started watching the 700 Club. “I started paying attention to Pat, and the teachings about the tithing there and how people were blessed. We learned to not put God in a box, so that we could be blessed.”

The Mendez’s decided to pass that blessing on to others by giving to CBN.

“The 700 Club is always present during crisis,” Josie explains, “They show up and they have volunteers helping people. That just touches my heart that there's a ministry that is there always to help those in need.”

Jesus agrees. “Our monies are going overseas where water is needed, or food is needed. That is awesome, that we're contributing, even though we're not there.”

Jesus continued to earn promotions and raises until he retired from the Army in 1998 as an E7 Sergeant First class. He also met a Christian financial planner, who helped the Mendez’s take their money even further.

“The cars are paid; our home is paid; everything in the house that we have in here is paid for, and that's all because of the Lord.”

These days, the Mendez’s have a secure future, and they say it all begin with one step.

“If you have doubts about tithing, just try it,” says Josie. “And you'll see that God will come through for you.”