FINANCES

Overcoming Your Financial Troubles

By Kara Lavengood with Dory Nissen
The 700 Club

CBN.com – "We had a tough time paying our bills," Scott Spires says.

His wife Brandi agrees, "We had a teeny one-bedroom apartment and a junky car. We didn’t even have a bed." 

Like many newlyweds, Scott and Brandi started out with very little when they married in 2005. Brandi had just graduated and had a full-time job at a tutoring company, but she had brought thousands of dollars of credit card debt and a student loan into the marriage.

"It was a very emotional time," Scott says. "Brandi and I really had to seek the Lord."

Then Brandi learned she’d lose her job, because the tutoring company was closing.

"I felt like being upset," Brandi says, "but I thought that’s not the way God would want me to respond." 

"I told Brandi, 'It’s going to be OK, because I feel like God has put on my heart that we’re supposed to have that business that you’re being let go of.'"

Buying the tutoring business seemed out of the question, but God made a way. The previous owners wanted to get rid of it quickly, because they were leaving the state. They made a deal with the Spires, and didn’t even require a down payment.

Scott says, "Even though everything was coming against us, right when it came down to the end, they sold us all the supplies from work. They allowed us to pay it out for a year. That was nothing short of God."

Now they had the business, but would it succeed?

"The first year was financially very rough," Brandi confesses.

As they struggled to keep their new business afloat, they got a wake-up call. 

Scott says, "I remember the first day I learned about tithing. We were sitting down watching The 700 Club. I looked at Brandi and I said, 'I think we need to start giving.' We didn’t have much to give, so we gave $20."

"Even just $20, when you have to borrow money for food sometimes, it seemed silly and unreasonable," Brandi says. "Then the first time we gave $20, right after that we found $50."

"Can you out-give God? I guess you can’t. We’ll try again. We just kept trying to push ourselves to renew our mind and understand that God wants us to be okay. He doesn’t want us to struggle."

When they didn’t have money, they gave away possessions.

"God just put my heart, 'You gave. You did what you’re supposed to do. Everything is going to be okay,'" Scott says.

"There was one time we needed $3,500 by 5:00," Brandi says. 

"The bank said, 'What are you going to do?' I said, 'I will bring you a check before you close,' " Scott says.

A few hours later, a mother walked in and paid for a tutoring package in full.

"She comes in and says I want to buy 140 lessons, upfront, when most parents buy 8 or 9," Brandi recalls. "It was about 4:30, so we had 30 minutes to get to the bank.  We needed $3,500 and she wrote us a $4,000 check."

In just a few years, the Spires’ tutoring business has grown from 20 students to 70 students, and from 4 teachers to 10!  They’ve bought a house and they’ve paid off $40,000 in debt.

"We give now, more than what we made before we got the business," Scott says. "It’s been absolutely amazing how God has blessed completely with our personal and business finances."

Scott and Brandi saw the rewards of applying the Law of Reciprocity – "Give and it shall be given to you" – by giving to CBN. Here is your chance to give to the Lord and see your dollars bring truth to hurting people; feed and clothe needy children; keep the 700 Club Prayer Counseling Center phone lines operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; and provide medical care to those who need a tangible touch of God's love. Become a CBN partner today!

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