Give, and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over, shall men give into your bosom. Luke 6 v 38

When Sheila and I first met we shared a ‘ten shilling note’ between us.  With her five shillings (25p.) she bought toiletries and underwear but my five shillings (25p.) was frittered away, a magazine, some chocolate – I had nothing to show for it.

As a salesman and  Manager my income dramatically increased.  I splashed out in every area.  Borrowing became a habit, an overdraft plus were the norm.

I was promoted to the position of Sales Manager, I had to borrow money to advertise for Sales Representatives, and buy equipment for training them and for them to take out and demonstrate to their prospective clients. This money was recovered if they did well but became a debt to me if they failed.  Many of them failed and over the years my debts increased, being aggravated by more loans and a second mortgage on our home.  So it was in 1979 I was in debt to thousands of pounds.  How the Lord delivered me from the bondage of debt is a miracle of God’s grace.

In those days we had a television set, but some time after I had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour we decided to dispose of it and took it to the ‘tip’ and threw it in.   However, before we threw it away we had watched a programme of a Catholic priest who worked in India feeding ‘Street Children.’ 

‘The money that was given for this work is always sent directly to the Centre in India without any deductions.  The sum that was donated was the sum that was sent!  At that time one Centre was feeding seven hundred children a day.  We were moved by this work and made a joint decision not to buy or eat any biscuits and to send to India the £4.00  a month we would normally have spent on buying this luxury. 

When the Lord called me to serve Him and Him only I resigned from my job as Sales Manager, cut up my credit cards and began to pay off a little each month.

We were led to tart tithing to the Lord a tenth of our income under Biblical principles.  (Malachi 3:8-10)  We had read in God’s Word not to owe any man anything (TEXT) and asked the Lord to get us free from debt.  At that time there was a specific need in India and we received a special appeal to help meet that need.  We had enough money to send a cheque for £50.00 – the largest amount we had ever given!

A few weeks later I received a letter giving us a receipt for the gift.  There were other letters that day including one from a solicitor.  I opened it and gasped with amazement when I read of a bequest left to me by a friend.  She had left me £50.00 but the letter continued; her daughter, the main beneficiary, had increased the amount to £500.00 I stood breathless with  the impact of this wonderful gift.  God is no man’s debtor!  When I showed Sheila my letter she showed me hers.  She too had been sent a cheque for £500,00!  Amazing! Yes God is amazing.

Nineteen years later I thank God that I can testify that the Lord has set me free from debt and in all that time we have never borrowed money.  Although we have had many testing times, we have never borrowed a penny.