Putting God’s Economy to Work in Your Life

Larry and Stephanie Larson lived a comfortable life in Southern California the first few years of their marriage. Larry was an aerospace engineer with a dream of branching out and having his own business.  And soon, he founded Co-Action Consulting. 

“I remember just sensing the Lord say, ‘This is what you should do,'" he recounts. “We've done ventilators, consumer electronics, like iPhone accessories, connected devices that connect to the cloud.”

Then several of Larry’s partners bowed out and business dwindled, slashing the Larson’s once six-figure income. Stephanie continued to get work as a hairstylist which allowed her to build into the couple’s savings, yet the bills kept coming: rent, two car payments, daily living expenses and the biggest one - a variable monthly mortgage on land they bought to build a home.

“When I saw what I was putting into principal versus what I was paying in interest, I got sick to my stomach,” Stephanie admits. “And I felt like, ‘Oh, my gosh, what if we never pay this off?’”  

Later, when one of Larry’s projects failed, he had no income to report on his taxes. He had to use his company credit card to keep the business going. Still, in the midst of the uncertainty, the couple tithed from Stephanie’s income.

“I actually loved doing it. I loved tithing, I loved being able to give to the Lord,” she shares. “It’s a form of worship to Him.”

Larry adds, “That was just a way in which I saw that blessing could come back. And I wanted blessing in my life.”  

As they tithed, Stephanie’s business prospered, and they saw God provide their basic needs. Yet Larry still questioned why his company was struggling, and the couple was in a financial slump.

“I just got to the point where I'm like, you know, ‘I'm not going to realize my dreams in life.’ Like, ‘They're-they're just not going to happen,’” Larry confesses.

He began reading and studying the Bible more in-depth. Larry says as his mind was being renewed, he figured out what his problem was.

“I was trying to get God's blessing by being obedient versus receiving God's blessing by promise,” He confesses. “He was always there, even in the moments that I didn’t experience peace or joy, it was there, it was accessible. It was like a bank account that I wasn’t drawing on.”

Larry then declares, “And I began to just rely on God's promise, ‘No, this situation's not going to mess things up in the business. He's going to take care of this situation.’”

Meanwhile, Stephanie was going through some serious esophagus issues. It was during that time that she discovered The 700 Club and started watching continually.

She recalls, “I couldn't find any other ministry that was putting out hope, hope testimonies, where something impossible happened. And I remember one day I came across a video through YouTube, of CBN. Terry said, ‘There's someone out there right now, you have been having an issue with your stomach and the acids in your stomach. Something isn't right there, and it's caused a lot of problems for you. The doctors don't really know what it is, but the Lord's healing you, and you're going to be able to eat again.’ And so I said, ‘I'm claiming this.’ I haven't had one issue ever since.”

The couple became CBN partners.  

“I felt so blessed by them that I wanted to give to them. I remember I called their prayer hotline, and they asked me, ‘Oh, like do you want to – do you want to become, you know, a partner?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah’” she exclaims. “I was like, ‘Why hasn't anyone asked me this before?’ you know?” 

Larry adds, “CBN's ministry really renewed her mind and got her – I just, I watched it happen, got her in an atmosphere of faith in her mind that I really believe released God's healing over her. I feel like it washed over onto me, too. As she was having more faith, I was starting to have more faith.”

Stephanie’s healing led them both to surrender control, putting no faith in their savings account or earning potential and totally trusting God with their future and their finances, especially their debt. 

Stephanie shares, “The Lord said, ‘You’re going to keep tithing, you’re going to keep giving, but now I want you to become aggressive about paying off your debt, and then as you’re doing that, I’m going to help you.’ And I immediately believed. So, I pretty much didn’t put anything in savings at all, and I just put everything toward debt. And then within three to four months of making that commitment, I somehow had 12,000 extra dollars that I honestly can't tell you where it came from. I’m like, ‘God is in this real?’”

It wasn’t long before the mortgage on the Larson’s land and all of their other debt was completely wiped-out. Larry got a new contract, and their savings was replenished. They moved to Tennessee, and today Larry is getting more business than ever. Stephanie doesn’t have to work unless she wants to, and now the couple has the home they always wanted.    

“Now it's almost like some of my dreams have happened so quickly, it's caused another problem where it's like, ‘Oh, great, what should I dream about next?’” Larry laughs. 

“The more that we have stepped out in faith and risked with the Lord, the more He has shown Himself faithful,” adds Stephanie.

She concludes, “If you want to get out of debt, the way to get out faster is to give. Anything that you're giving, you are giving Him an opportunity to bless it and multiply it and use it for His kingdom.”