Mark and I took Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University a few years ago. Because it’s founded on Biblical principles, it didn’t just change our budget — it changed how we think about money, responsibility, and faith.

We had a savings account, some retirement savings, and a few low /no-interest payments. But $25 here, $100 there, added to a mortgage, truck payment, insurance, electricity, phone, internet, and everything else stretched thin.  Most of the time, we didn’t really know where our money went.

We started the course in June, and by November, we had paid off our truck four months early. Little by little, we became completely debt-free except for our home. We built an emergency fund, increased retirement savings, updated insurance, and started thinking about estate planning. For the first time, we had a plan and weren’t just reacting to bills as they came.

Then six months later, our emergency happened. I went to work one Monday and found out my position had been eliminated, effective immediately.

But the incredible thing was — I wasn’t worried. Instead of panic, there was peace. Instead of fear, there was faith. We finally understood something we hadn’t fully grasped before: God doesn’t expect us to handle it all on our own. He just wants us to do our part — to plant the seeds and trust that He will provide the rain.

- Mark & Barbara LaGamba, Discovery Church Members