Please Pray for Me

I will pray for you. You and your husband may want to familiarize yourselves with bankruptcy. Find out what the long-term affects will be. My husband and myself almost came to that point about 11yrs. ago. God did manage to pull us out. I know it's hard and very depressing when you see that you don't have enough to make ends meet.


1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Psalm 27:14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

Praying for your situation

You've got my prayers too.

I really hate to hear this. I can see that you are struggling right now! It does always help to have support amongst other Christians. You are in our prayers over here too! If it helps you are not alone-- many; many are facing this it seems. I just heard yesterday of a man, 38 years of serving at the same company - it is gone - retirement and everything. Just a nightmare to those whom don’t have faith and understand God does know what He is doing. The thought was should he sell what he has to pay off his bills and eventually rent, or do this. I had no answer for them, other than to talk with God about it. He has always seemed to throw me a lifeline or not when I have found myself out there treading water! If He doesn't it is usually because there is a prize of a lesson to learn! Of course I always find it ironic how Satan works His bag of tricks… right around the holidays every time, huh? Just loves to shake our faith right to the core – a roaring lion! Sounds exactly like what is happening to you. I read once if we are not being tested we should be worried, Satan doesn’t mess with His own.

The only thing I can say is that I believe you are looking in the right direction. God does wonderful remarkable things. In my life I call it no less than miracles! Sometimes, after truly searching your heart we realize there are things that just have to be done. But no one else can tell you right or wrong. You will only find this in your relationship with God.

We know that God expects us to pay our bills. However, I do feel that this option is available for a reason. You will not have to answer to me or anyone else-- but God. I hold no opinion of you other than sorrow that you are going through this struggle! My personal opinion – if you know truly in your heart there is no other way physically to protect your family finances and assets from mistakes or hardships -- Or financial devastation - I feel this option is there for Mercy. Just as God has given us Mercy out of His Love. I think it is ok to ask for that Mercy from others. Someone had to convince me of this once, God works in many ways to protect His children. This, I do believe is one of them. I also believe it should be granted. Why? Because I would want the same treatment if I found myself there and have before But again, judging ones heart condition in the matter is for God alone.

I know in our life over here, when finances or hardships come around, in our household we have learned to view them as challenges – God is teaching us something! Are we becoming lazy with our money? Focusing too much on worldly things than Godly things? Have we truly been taking care of what He has blessed us with or have we been taking it for granted? Are we spending too much? Not being practical? Or even not giving enough! Or very simply, have we truly been looking to Him for His will, or our own? Many, Many lessons I have learned from hardships. One for sure, not too long ago led me back to my faith –a genuine understanding of faith- realizing that I am not so in control and I held way too much emphasis on monetary for my “security”! (Lately I have even realized I might be putting too much faith on education for security even, rather than focusing on His will!) I urge you to look at this situation in the same manner. This is what the Christian walk is all about. Learning to walk with Him, and try to glorify Him in all that we do. Know that God is good, know his promises no matter what you are experiencing (it sounds like you do) and keep looking up. If you are looking at your relationship with God in the right way, He will give you assurance no matter your decision. Embarrassment has always taught me lessons! But sometimes I have been embarrassed not because of feeling as if I let God down but the world’s ideas of how “I should or should not be.” Make sure the embarrassment is for the right reasons, if not get right with God again. It will drive a wedge in your relationship! There is not a Christian I know that doesn’t or has not experienced situations similar or the same as this one and can empathize with you. He has plans for you – not for disaster but for good!


(PS: I am the longwinded one around here - I just cannot help it - God has been so good to me! )

I will pray for you and your husband. I not sure what Chapter 13 is really, but I do know what bankruptcy is.

First, don't be embarrassed. No one is going to think less of your because of your hardship.

Second, you are doing the right thing by asking for prayer and seeking God first.

I'd suggest talking with your church to see if they can help you with the short term (that's one of their main reasons they're there) and see if they have contacts that could help with your employment.

Also, reduce your expenditures. If you have car payments, try to get out from under them and reduce your vehicular costs by getting cheaper cars. Student loans can be deferred for years (no decades, really). So, don't worry about school debt for now.

Try to avoid Chapter 13. It may seem like an easy way out, but it is far from easy. Lawyers are advertising for Chapter 13 so much because it really lines their pockets. It also destroys your credit, not only for the 7 years it's on your record, but for the time after that that it takes for you to actually get it off your record. (Those are the societal reasons to avoid Chapter 13, but there are arguably Scriptural reasons as well, which you should talk to your pastor about.)

Keep praying. We will pray as well.

God bless you,
Dave

Praying!

Just thought I would mention that they just changed all the rules for bankruptcy in October, and now if either of you are working it is unlikely you will be able to do so.

All debtors will have to get credit counseling before they can file a bankruptcy case -- and additional counseling on budgeting and debt management before their debts can be wiped out. Some filers with higher incomes won't be allowed to use Chapter 7, but will instead have to repay at least some of their debt under Chapter 13. And, because the law imposes new requirements on lawyers, it will be tougher to find an attorney to represent you in a bankruptcy case.

Here are some of the most important changes....

http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/cat...B66870-4C52-4303-919B10B9611D3EF9/213/161/ART

Here is a very comprehensive link on bankruptcy. Changes vary by state so you can look up the rule changes by your state to get a more accurate expectation of what is happening with these laws.

It really has nothing to do with "if" you have a job. It has more to do with income as a classification. Your income is compared to the rest of society standards and then they consider debt. So if in your state say $40k year is low income, you could be qualified. Or if it is considered middle income you still can qualify! Yes, you do have to contact a financial counselor "class" to which they decide if your income is workable. If not, they send you on to an attorney to decide the bankruptcy you qualify for. Then before it is discharged, you will need to attend money management class. But these new laws prevent those whom really CAN pay their debts – to do so, and not claim bankruptcy to cheat out of their debt. It is just a closer eye on things.

But this site is very informative and lists the changes in the new laws. There is quite a bit more liability for the attorneys so many of the "low rent" types are getting out of this area. Simply because there is more responsibility for them to report accurate information and there is more work in the process-- more things to consider. It is not that simple or as simple anymore. So the typical “speeding ticket; buy here-pay here divorce or ambulance chaser” attorney will probably think it is more work than they care to do.

Chapter 13 is a VERY responsible form of bankruptcy. You DO pay your debt. It used to be that you would only pay pennies on the dollar for debt, now it is quite a bit different. For instance, a vehicle loan, if your car is worth $5,000. But for some reason with interest and fees you owe $13,000. You pay only the actual blue book value of $5,0000 on the car in your bankruptcy payment. Where as before, the old laws, you would keep the car and pay very little if anything for it. In addition, it provides you the opportunity to keep your home, car and other necessities to provide for your family. I actually like this because there are many companies out there that charge undue amounts of fees that usually is what pushes people into this. They feel as if they are drowning and will never get out of debt. They walk into credit agreements without a full understanding. I am dealing with a private student loan company that sold themselves as a government student loan, deferrable upon unemployment or disability. During my unemployment they tried to charge me over $4,000 in “late fees and assessments”. I could not pay it, because I simply did not have it. Most people don’t realize if they were to challenge these tactics in court, those companies will have to substantiate those charges and the judge will decide if they are reasonable or not. IOW As a company, I could charge you $100 a day to drive by your home while you are late on your mortgage payment, and tack $6,200 on the end of your loan for two months but I am going to have to justify those as “reasonable” charges. Usually you are prevented from obtaining credit for the duration of Chapter 13 bankruptcy which could be anywhere from 3-5 years. (I personally believe you should stay away from any forms of credit unless absolutely necessary. My rule of thumb is if you cannot pay cash you don’t need it. Other than your mortgage but I feel this way even with car payments too unless you HAVE to but they should be paid off right away!) However you may petition the courts for various reasons home repair, another vehicle loan etc. BUT the amount is very limited and again based on your plan. My brother is a mortgage broker, and explained to me yesterday that once Chapter 13 is discharged, if you have paid your mortgage on time throughout the duration. Most banks do not even “see” the bankruptcy. Just your payment history and new credit score. It is a fresh start again. There are all sorts of free advice out there and I might be wrong depending on your state. But we also had to study this so I learned quite a bit about what is going on. Honestly the best thing to do is talk with an attorney. However, I would never urge you to wait until the very last moment. It might be too late. If God plans to provide another way, He will. But I do not believe Our Father would want you to suffer in this manner. Not if this option is available. IMHO. So if your church cannot come through, or there aren’t any other sources, I urge you to search your hearts and pray about this and please don’t think this can never be an option.

Go here to check your law changes in your state

http://www.bankruptcyaction.com/

Dear friend, I am praying for you.

I know what a hard, humbling time this is for you. The Lord used a similar time to break my husband, with much spiritual growth as a result.

Because of a lot of expensive health problems on my part, and the fact that our ministry insurance was very small, financial counselors told us that we had no choice but to declare bankruptcy. A few of the lenders offered to work with us, but we couldn't even afford that. So we declared bankruptcy.

We asked the Lord what to do about what we had owed, and we felt led to pay back all who had offered to work with us (that was , as I recall everyone but one place that actually had billed us for a lot more than we owed). It took time, but it was possible, thank the Lord. We had to leave the ministry to get a better salary and better insurance, but even that was a blessing in disguise.

And as I said, He blessed us tremendously by going through that humbling time. I pray that He will do the same for you, and that He will deliver you.

Hugs -
Aloha in Jesus