Julie Gumm - Author

Big Changes Require Big Faith

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Well it seems as if this is certainly a year of change for our family. First with the adoption, and now with jobs.

After nearly six years with Palm Valley Church, Mark is leaving
his position as Executive Pastor. We truly love our church, the staff and our
friends but Mark feels as if God is calling him on to something else. We’re not
sure exactly what that “something else” is at this point. After months of
praying for God to show us what he has for Mark next, we feel as if we just need
to obey his “Go” and take a leap of faith that will allow him to show us the
amazing things he has in store for us. (And there is no doubt that they will be
amazing.)

Of course having the major breadwinner leave a job in the middle of an expensive adoption is quite a scary thought. But we are so blessed that we are in a position of NO debt and a nice emergency fund that allows us to be obedient to God’s call without the hesitations that many people would feel because of the finances.

God has also opened the door for me to step into more of a full time role at our church as the Communications Coordinator – handling the print and web communications. He is so faithful to provide in our time of need.

We appreciate all your prayers for wisdom and clarity in what God would have for us next. We are both super excited to see what the future holds. We would also appreciate your prayers for Noah and Natalie as we realize that there is a lot of change happening in our family this year and we want the best for them.

You can read Mark’s thoughts here.

Debt Free Adoption

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For those of you that know us personally you know much of this story. For those that don’t, I must start by telling you a little bit about our family’s money philosophy. About 7 years ago my husband started listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio and bringing home tidbits of his advice. Dave Ramsey is a talk radio host and financial expert (and also a Christian) who believes in a debt-free lifestyle. His motto, or one of them, is “Live like no one else so later you can LIVE like no one else.” We attended one of his one-day events which led us to beginning his Financial Peace University class at our church about 6 years ago (still going strong).

We paid off all our debt except for our house within about 2 years – credit cards, student loans, cars (sold one of them). Then just a few months ago, in November ’07 we reached our major goal of paying off our home. We are 100% debt free.

And then God led us to adoption, which is not an inexpensive endeavor. We have savings that will pay for part of it but we do not have all that we need. I began to say “Well, if we have to go into debt to do it, then we will and we’ll pay it off as quick as we can.”

Yet once again God used Dave Ramsey to speak incredible truth into our lives. Last week I was visiting a friend in Pittsburgh. It was late one evening and I was flipping channels when I discovered that the new Dave Ramsey television show was on the Fox Business Chanel. (We don’t get it at home.) I was all excited to see what it was about.

Dave was taking calls from different people. A man called in and explained that he felt God calling him to a career change that meant going back to school and thus, in this man’s eyes, incurring debt. I forget what his actual question was but I will never forget the words that came out of Dave’s mouth. It might not be verbatim but the gist of it was, “If you truly feel like God is calling you to this then I believe that you need to look at creative ways for you to finance your schooling. There is not ONE example in the Bible of God calling someone to do something and then using debt as a tool to accomplish it!”

I think my jaw actually dropped into my lap. How little faith I have had. Sure, I know that God will provide the means but I just assumed some type of loan would be part of that. How could I short change his power by thinking so small?

When I told Mark what I had heard he pretty much said “Well, I’ve been thinking the same thing but I was afraid you’d be upset if I told you.” And he’s probably right 🙂

So a debt-free adoption it is! I’m not sure how it will happen but I am totally stoked to see the amazing ways that God will help us earn/find the funds.

Update: It’s been two years since I first wrote this post and because it’s still visited frequently, I felt like I should add an update to it. We brought home our two kids on December 27, 2008, just 11 months after this post was written. And we did it all debt free! It wasn’t easy.

In fact what my original post didn’t mention is that right around this time, my husband left his full time job with our church because of God’s leading. We had no idea what God had in store for him but felt 100% sure that he was telling us it was time to go. At the time I was only working part time but God, in his perfect timing, provided a full time job and benefits for me….at less than half of my husbands income. Yet we remained convinced of our debt free path.

I really can’t explain how it happened. No huge checks arrived in the mail from anonymous donors. The couple of grants we applied for we didn’t get. I do know that I had freelance work (web and print design) coming in at a steady pace. My freelance work has always just been an “as it appears” kind of thing. I don’t go advertise or hunt down jobs, I just take the ones that come to me through word of mouth. Well they kept coming and coming and coming. Some big, some small but a steady stream.

We cut back our budget even more which freed up a few hundred dollars every month.

Miraculously, every time a check needed to be written, the money was there. God was faithful, as he always is!

Satan’s Cell Phone

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On Friday night my mom and I went to see Christian comedian Chonda Pierce. I’ve heard bits and pieces of her act and she is FUNNY! What I was not prepared for was how powerful a speaker she was.

She has battled depression, something she writes about in her book Laughing in the Dark: A Comedian’s Journey through Depression. Toward the end of the evening she began to share about her recent relapse into depression – one that got so bad that she was eventually hospitalized.

She talked about how much she loved going to group each day and that she finally figured out why. It was the one place where she could go each day and be 100% totally authentic.

She said, and I agree, that this is what church should be but so many times it is not. We see a friend we know and ask “How are you?” We get the typical “I’m great, how are you?” in return. But is that the reality. Is that the truth? Granted we are often picking up kids and “busy” but shouldn’t church be the one place where we can say in response “You know, it’s been a tough week.”

Why are we afraid to be authentic with one another? Are we afraid of rejection? That the other person is too busy? That once we start into our problems that we won’t be able to stop and will be emotionally overwhelmed?

She made one other comment that, given all the recent discussion about depression I would share. She was talking about how Satan can just fill our heads with all kinds of lies that will absolutely drag us down.

“If Satan is the author of lies, then depression is his cell phone!”

How true. Those of us who have suffered through depression know that there is no time when our mind is more easily accessed and where those lies are heard loud and clear. I just loved it.