(Sandy Kingston is a coaching client at More Than Enough. She receives one-on-one monthly coaching sessions, and has participated in Unleashed workshops. She was Dave and Reb’s guest on Let’s Talk Money today, and graciously agreed to put her thoughts on paper. If you have any questions for her or for Dave and Reb, please email info@morethanenough.ca)
By Sandy Kingston
I’d tried many years to manage my financial affairs only to find myself deeper in debt with every passing year. Finally, I surrendered to the fact that I needed help.
I could see that my financial situation, if not addressed, would lead me into other addictive behaviours that would only offer temporary relief – and I knew that wasn’t God’s plan for me. I believed it was His plan for me to overcome this area of my life through Him and for Him. I also knew it wasn’t God’s plan for me to declare bankruptcy. I’ve always believed that if I spent it, I owed it. If I was smart enough to get myself into this mess, I should be smart enough to get myself out.
So, with a heart-stopping amount of debt to clear up, I contacted More Than Enough in October 2019. I knew I’d need to be accountable to someone other than myself, so I elected to enroll in the Unleashed series of workshops, and doubled up with one-on-one monthly coaching with the extraordinary Sarah-Jane.
The Unleashed Workshops helped give me a new perspective on the role that money has played throughout my life to my own detriment, and to the detriment of those around me. Unleashed provided me with a way to take stock of my own personal short-comings around money and indeed my powerlessness to resolve those issues without God’s help.
It also stirred up in me a desire to become a better servant in this area and to help others by sharing my own experience, and resources.
Change in perception
Through showing up to the Unleashed sessions, doing the work that was asked, and by following the guidance of my financial advisor, my perceptions around money and spending have miraculously started to change. The change in perception is an important piece; without that, my old thinking would continue to take me back into debt. My new perception around money is now more in line with how God would have me think and shows up in what He would have me do.
Where once browsing in a shopping mall seemed like a great way to spend an afternoon, now I see it a waste of time. Not only that, but the better choice seems to be sitting in my backyard spending time in gratitude for the things of God. How did that happen? Unleashed opened a channel through which God’s grace could flow.
My debt load since October has substantially been decreased. I have paid off all Corporate Taxes including GST which had accumulated since 2015 and all property taxes including around $13,000 in interest and penalties. Note to self: CRA takes their receivables very seriously – God please save me from going back there.
Thankfully, I am getting closer and closer to being debt free with God’s help and the help of my amazing coach – Sarah-Jane. It was through her direction we were able to put together a realistic picture of where I’m at, and what needs to be done to eliminate all debt going forward. She has been an invaluable asset to helping me differentiate between the true and the false, and has been unwavering in her commitment to set me free financially and living a life free from debt.
I would like to say to anyone out there experiencing the depths of financial despair, that there is a solution. There is a way out – through Unleashed. If you are prepared to show up, listen, follow directions and be an active participant in your own financial recovery, that feeling of despair will start to dissipate within a very short time. Even your willingness to go through with the process will bring about results.