$60,000 In Debt to Completely Debt-Free

When Sharon Clarke’s marriage ended she became a single mom for her two teens. She needed a good job, and in that first year, she studied and became a real estate agent. It took time to build up her clientele so she had to rely on credit cards to take care of their daily expenses. She managed to rack up nearly $60,000 in credit card debt. “The things that I had to purchase on my credit card were food, gas, cell phone bill, and any kind of other bills that can be put on the credit card,” Sharon says. Sharon had learned to tithe and had even joined The 700 Club years before after hearing Pat Robertson teach on giving. “He went over the Scripture in Malachi,” Sharon says. “He said that the Lord wants us to give. He wants to open the window of heaven and pour us out a blessing.” But after the divorce, when money was very tight, Sharon believed God was asking her to give even more than she thought was possible -- to double her pledge to CBN. For Sharon it was a matter of changing the way she thought about her situation. “The Lord just had me not focus on the circumstances that I had,” she says. “But it made me see how so many people out there could be going through difficult times and just not know how to get through.” Sharon made her pledge and became a 700 Club gold member online. That’s when her real estate sales really took off! “By the second year after the divorce I was able to make about $83,000 dollars in commissions alone,” she says. “I don’t know how to explain why that happened.” Sharon has completely paid off her debt. “The things (I own) are beautiful,” she says, “but the biggest blessing is the empowerment and the strength that He has given me and how He has taken care of me and the children. That is amazing to me.” Sharon knows the value of the lessons she’s learned – and is now passing them on to her kids. “They get an allowance of $10 a week,” she says. “I have taught them that nine belongs to them. The other tenth belongs to the Lord.” Sharon continues to prosper in the midst of a downturn in the housing market. And she knows first hand what it means to test the Lord in the area of giving and the blessings that come as a result of obedience. “I’m giving because I want to be obedient to Him. I want to trust Him in what He says. And I know that there are people out there who for whatever reason may have found themselves in a situation that I was in,” Sharon says. “God doesn’t need our money. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He wants us to trust Him. He wants our heart.” Sharon discovered a powerful truth from God’s Word. Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (NIV)