Lately God has been teaching me a lot about the Spirit of excellence, or in other words, learning to be excellent in all things. I was reading in Daniel and came across a passage I’ve read before but this time it ignited something different in me.
Daniel 6:3 (ESV & NKJV) says, “Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.”
If you continue to read the story of Daniel, Scriptures tell us the men who despised Daniel couldn’t find any fault in anything he was doing in the Kingdom because of this excellent spirit he operated out of. This made me evaluate and question myself: do I do everything I can to the best of my ability? If I am honest, the answer is a resounding NO. So then I started to examine where I am currently at. When gauging the health of who I am as a person I always come back to three pillars: Physical, Financial, and Spiritual. When I have a good grip on these three pillars in life, I feel better about myself and I function at a higher capacity. But when I am not in control of any of these, I find myself lacking.
As many of you know, I have been traveling for the past 3 years. I traveled for 11 months internationally on the World Race in 2017, spent 5 months abroad in 2018 leading another World Race squad, and I am now in Spain attending G42 Leadership Academy for 9 months. Scattered throughout this time, I spent a total of 10 months at home, support raising and earning money through multiple jobs I had.
While traveling the world sounds like a fun escape, unfortunately my American responsibilities carried with me, including my hefty student loans. While I’ve been living on mission, it has been hard for me to pay these loans since I haven’t had a lot of money or a steady income. To say the least, your boy has been struggling.
Through these past couple years, God has changed me so much. I honestly used to not care much about my loans. My thoughts were, ‘they’ll get paid eventually.’ Or ‘when I have steady income I can jump on them.’ But over time God started changing my heart. As someone who is a Christ person, I am supposed to reflect God in all things. I am supposed to be a good steward of all He has given me and this includes student loans.
I thought being a good steward of my finances consisted of tithing and giving to people in need. Although those are good things everyone should do, it is not the end all be all.
You may think neglecting student loans was ignorant but guys, it gets worse.
I was also recently introduced to Credit Karma. I know right, where have I been? One day I want to get married. One day I have aspirations of owning a home where people can stay when in need or passing through. Owning a home comes easier when I have a good credit score. Well according to Credit Karma I do not.
Three months ago I learned I had a 545 credit score. 545!!! What. How does that even happen? When I first saw this on the Credit Karma app I was flabbergasted. Apparently I had three different collections on my credit report I had no idea was on there. In addition, the only credit card I have active had a credit card utilization of 90%.
How have I been so careless with the resources God has given me? How are these actions reflecting God to others? As I have been trying to align myself with a spirit of excellence, I have been asking myself questions like these. I think it’s a healthy evaluation and want to share with you all so you don’t find yourself in a similar situation, so here is one of my biggest tips.
If you have a credit card and are trying to build good credit by using it then you should always have it under 30% utilization while paying at least $10 more than your minimum payment each month. 30% utilization means, for example, if I have a $1,000 credit limit, my goal should be to keep my balance below $300 at all times.
As harsh as the realities of a terrible credit score and mounting student loans are, God still says I am enough. Though these things seem impossible to overcome at times, I find my confidence rests in Him alone.
Though I have made what seems to be a complete mess of my finances throughout my adult life, He still loves me through it. The truth is debt is a terrible enemy. But God, being the loving creator He is, does not abandon us in our debts. He has brought me awareness of these problems, called me to rise above them, and granted me with the wisdom to overcome them.
Like Daniel, God is birthing in me a spirit of excellence. Daniel didn’t always have this spirit about him, but he chose in every decision he made he was going to do it the best way he knew how. He wanted to honor God in all aspects of his life. I want the same to be true of my life too.
I have chosen to break the chain of debt the devil had on me in Jesus name. I have chosen to walk with open hands into freedom. Practically, this looks like creating goals and plans moving forward.
Because I am still living missionally and will not have an income until December at the earliest, it’s hard to make a plan to tackle my student loans. So starting January 1, 2020 I will put into effect my plans to tackle this debt. But for the remainder of 2019, my goal is to fix my terrible credit score.
Goal: Have a 700 credit score by 1/1/2020
To jumpstart this goal, as of two months ago I paid off all three of the collections on my credit report. Also, the $1,000 I was supposed to get back from taxes went to paying off interest on my student loans. These two steps alone have brought my credit score up from 545 to 605. PRAISE THE LAMB. And then last week I paid almost all of my credit card balance so I now have under $50 in debt towards Capital One. Once this new payment shows up on my credit report, I believe my credit score will reach 650.
I share these struggles with you in complete vulnerability in hopes you will not make the same choices I did. And if you have, I can challenge you to seek the spirit of excellence God desires for you. I also want to give you the power to hold me accountable in my goals because I am serious about this! If you need someone to do the same, please let me know and I’d be happy to.
I do not want to just be a hearer of the Word of God but a doer. These goals and steps I have described and taken in the past couple months is me pushing towards having a spirit of excellence in all I do.
I hope this part of my journey I have shared with you will encourage you wherever you are at in your walk with God and journey with Him. You may seem stuck where you are but its not true. God has broken your chains so all you have to do is walk out of the grave. Start small. Create some goals and the steps to achieve those goals. Then put one foot in front of the other and move. It just takes one step.
Thanks for reading
Love, Peace, and Mac n’ Cheese.
ps follow my other blog because I will no longer be posting on here: https://hallaroundtheworld.home.blog/
