Sometimes living on a lower income presents some interesting situations. This past January our “beloved” minivan died, which resulted in a fun evening with my daughter (read more here), but a bit of a dilemma for our family. We had been saving, but did not have the money to replace the vehicle at that time and the one vehicle that remained was too small to fit everyone in our family.
We knew that we were absolutely committed to never going in to debt again, so we continued to save money and made life work with one “too small” car. A friend picked up my son on Sundays so we could all go to church; my husband took the bus to work on the days that we needed the car (sometimes leaving as early as 3:30 in the morning!); and we rented a van for one family outing. (Authorities frown on parents who drive with children in the trunk of their vehicle. 😉 )
Our situation was inconvenient, but we were content because we knew that we were doing everything in our power and we were trusting God to provide for us. As time progressed, though, we began to wonder if we were doing the right thing because let’s face it, nine months is a long time to be without transportation to fit all the members of our family in one trip! As we prayed, we felt assured that going to the car dealership and signing up for a car loan was NOT an option and that we would eventually find a vehicle to meet our needs that also fit in our budget.
This past week, we were finally able to get a “new to us” van and for almost $2000 less than book value! The really cool thing is that we bought it from some friends with whom we had lost contact. Buying the van not only helped us, it reconnected our friendship!
God is always good and always on time, even when we think we have gone a little too long without seeing Him move on our behalf. I love that!
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It’s amazing how God always seems to provide what we need. He may not give you any more but He always provides enough. Especially when we are faithful in giving back to Him.
Thanks sooo much for sharing your story.
Your blog helps me stay grounded when everyone around me is financing EVERYTHING!!
My auto is 10 years old and my coworkers act like it is 100 years old…but mine is paid for and they are making payments on theirs.
I am preparing to buy a house and it is WAY under what I could buy according to the bankers and it is small. But I have decided that I would like a house and not a showcase after all I am only living here for a little while ( I am heaven bound!!).
You are very welcome Faye. It sounds like you have the right perspective. 🙂
thanks for sharing…….after kind of a tough day i love reading stories like yours…..completely lifts me up…(through God’s grace)
I am so glad. Hope you have a better day tomorrow. 🙂
Sweet ride Kim! I drive a 98 with lots of rust, but no car payment, and I’m okay with that.
Who cares about rust when it’s paid for? 🙂
Exactly! We have a bit of a clunker van but its paid for, that’s what I care about not the bit of rust on the edges!
A nice reminder that you really should not finance anything other than a house and make sure what you buy is what you can afford. We have always lived that way, bought our starter home in cash and am now taking out our first mortgage/ loan ever to finance our impressive dream home. We will be able to rent our starter home which will pay for over half our monthly mortgage. We outrew our starter home years ago and have waited and lived without a lot for our dream home now and it was worth the wait.
Love your story! My husband and I recently “graduated” from the Dave Ramsey course and are following the steps and not only that but we started to go to the same church that held the class. We have seen many Gods work in our life after attending church. We are more blessful for everything! Just recently we recieved a gift from my husband’s grandmother just recently to either buy a new car (we only have one car), save it for a downpayment, a big screen tv (my husband has been wanting one forever, but we dont want to live like the Jones so we had a 32 inch box tv) or pay off debt. We ended up paying off some of our debt and we’ll be going on a mini vacation. We recently found a free old school big honker screen tv on the side of the road that had issues (my bil is a great mechanic) but it would satisfy my husbands need for a big screen tv. We are getting ready to go to my BIL’s house for my niece’s birthday party and was talking about bringing a piece of the tv so he can work on it. Needless to say 15 min after talking to him on the phone, my BIL on my husband’s side texted us asking if we are still looking for a tv. My husband calls to talk to him and tells us we can have his tv because he upgraded. My husband, who patiently waited for 3 years, is thrilled about his “new” free Sony flatscreen! Sorry for a long message and isnt the same as a “new” car, but my point is GOD is great and works in mysteries ways and being patient God will provide for you!!! Congrats on your “new” car too 🙂
That is awesome! You did the responsible thing and God honored your desires. Love it!
You humble me Kim. I have so much to learn about sacrifice and commitment. Congratulations on your new van. Drive safe:)
Thank you for saying that Elsa, but I have a looong way to go! 🙂
Gods timing is not our timing, a mantra I say to myself everyday. While my timing is more convenient, surely, His timing is divine and perfect. So, *sigh*, we continue to figure out the perfect path for our family. I’m so happy you have overcome, and without debt! That’s amazing!
Thanks Lynette!
I cannot begin to tell you how comforting and useful your blog is to me…. For so many reasons, thank you.
Thank you so much for your encouragement Lauri! Blessings to you!
I had been praying for over a year about getting a lift van. We have 4 11 year olds, one in a wheelchair. I don’t know if I really believed (i guess not since I am admitting that!), but I just prayed “God, we need a lift van but we don’t want to go into debt to get one. “. Over the spring, I hurt my back moving my handicapped daughter and basically we became house bound. We started looking at lift vans and figuring we could “do a loan” because a lift van to accommodate our family is about $60,000 and nearly impossible to find used. I kept praying that we would be responsible. We talked with a vehicle specialist about what we wanted, an he told us it would be nearly impossible to find a used version of what we wanted. I kept praying, and then got the brilliant idea (God Breeze, perhaps?) to look on eBay. We found a van, only one state away. My mother and step dad (not Christians, so they don’t get all my praying stuff) were excited by this vehicle and offered to go get it since they knew where the town was – my mother had done her post graduate work there! We still had to come up with 20,000, which was way more than we had in savings, but again we figured we could probably swing a loan. Then my mom said “we’ll help”. Which turned into “we will buy it for you”. I am totally humbled by their generosity and again God shows that He can answer the big prayers and He will use Whom He will use!
I LOVE that story Laura! Thank you so much for sharing.
Nice van!!! I think you waited for just the right one!!
Thanks Patti–we are excited!
Congrats. Enjoy every moment. I agree you never know what God has in store; it’s on his time. Im a believer in doing the same thing we are a one car family; compromise, communication, and prayer 😉
Thanks Eleni!
I applaude you for sticking to your financial plan and waiting it out even through all of those inconvenient times!
We are in a similar situation where we are trying to save for a “new to us” vehicle and our current car had a repair that the dealer said would cost more than it’s worth to fix. After a lot of thought, we decided to proceed with the repair instead of go in to debt to replace the car and we are back on track for planning ahead instead of reacting to a car “emergency.”
Thank you for your motivation!
That is a tough call when the repairs are worth more than the value of the car. I think the value of staying out of debt makes up for it though. Good for you for staying on track.
Way to go!! This is a perfect example of a time when most people would say it’s absolutely necessary to go into debt – but you proved it’s not! We’re in a similar situation right now, and one of our siblings just leased a 2012 Jetta despite not needing a new car…it’s hard sometimes to watch things like that happen and not think “it would be so easy to just go on into debt and have such a nice car”. But we have our 3rd little one on the way, have a budget that works for us, and don’t want to mess that up! :] Thanks for staying true to your values.
Good for you for waiting! I have never regretted any decision that kept us out of debt, no matter how difficult it may have seemed at the time. Blessings on your new baby!
Encouraging to hear! We have been driving beaters for some time now, and refuse to go into more debt for a vehicle. As soon as we can, we will start saving for one, and wait for the right opportunity as you did!
You can do it Char! 🙂
I so needed this reminder today! Thank you for sharing!
You are very welcome Sheila!
So glad your wait paid off! You really earned that van, congrats!
I love your post and just read your post about sleeping in your van. I totally understand the emotional connection. Your story is IDENTICAL to ours if you insert a Honda Civic for a van. Our beloved was 16 years old. I cried. It was my first and only “new” car which I bought right before I met my hubby. Lots of fun memories over the years which flooded back the day we took it to it’s final resting place. : )
16 years is a long time. It’s like they become part of our family. 🙂
Nice looking van so worth the wait. God’s timing is always perfect!!
Thanks Zoey!
Im so happy for your blessing!! I couldn’t think of a more deserving mom!!
Thanks so much Shawnee!
love stories like this!
we have actually been blessed
twice by being given cars
just exactly when they were needed
not gorgeous and expensive cars
but simple vehicles that were enough
for our needs
thanks for sharing!
alison
I love how God provides for us. We have friends who were recently given a really nice van. It’s so encouraging to hear that God did that for someone else as well. Thanks Alison!
I love hearing how God blesses the faithful and double fold. Awesome!!
God’s timing is always perfect!
Thank you for sharing this..I am trying to sell my van right now and this has reassured me that God will provide in His timing. Thank you:)
God is faithful, all the time:) We are the ones who tend to forget. so happy for your family, we are working on paying off our vehicle that we went in debt for & hope & pray we never have to do this again:)