- [Narrator] Michael and Sonia Pope

consider themselves a team,

and do everything together.

But for years, this wasn't the case,

especially when it came to their debt.

- The two of us decidedto be hamsters on wheels

in two separate cages.

So we didn't talk about the debt.

Even though we both wereaware that it was there.

- [Narrator] The financialpressure kicked in

after they had their third son,

and Sonia left her jobto be a stay at home mom.

It ramped up when theydecided to buy a new house

before selling their condo.

- We had two mortgages to deal with.

We had condo fees in our condo.

We had to pay utilitiesin our condo as well.

- [Narrator] The couple thought nothing

about using credit cards

to provide a nice life for their kids.

- Our spending habits continued,

and actually increased,

'cause, you know, kidsare expensive, right?

- Well some of thosechoices were maybe not

relying so much on God to provide,

but on MasterCard and visa,

you know, or our credit cards to provide

for things where we feltlike we were lacking.

We didn't think thatcredit cards were bad.

- [Narrator] Michael is an IT developer,

and has always made good money.

So he thought he couldindependently outearn their debt.

Then one Christmas,

they couldn't afford gifts for their boys.

And Sonia suggested thatshe go back to work.

- And the thought of herhaving a job outside the home,

I mean, that made me feelreally bad as a husband,

I'm supposed to be theprovider of the household.

- [Narrator] Meanwhile,the bills kept coming.

They knew something had to change

when the family took a road trip

and the radiator overheated.

they had to call their credit card company

to increase their limit, just to get home.

- And I remember breaking out in tears,

asking God, and like,what are we doing wrong?

And He showed us, you know,

we weren't being goodstewards of our money.

We hadn't been sold out for God,

and really trusting God to provide for us,

because we were still in our own head.

- [Narrator] Since thePopes had never added up

the magnitude of their debt,

they didn't realize theywere $119,000 in the hole.

- It literally took our breath away.

And we thought maybewe had made a mistake,

a miscalculation.

- Were like, are we evergonna be at a pay this off?

You know, and that's when youstart having thoughts, like,

you know, do we file bankruptcy?

You know, do we walk away from the condo?

- [Narrator] Together, theycommitted to a financial plan

based on godly principles.

It included budgeting, spending less,

and selling unnecessary possessions,

as well as tithing and giving.

Things they'd been doing,

but with the wrong motivation.

- We were doing our tithes,

but we weren't givingit with the right heart.

- We started having financial difficulty.

We started feeling like an obligation.

Really wasn't joy.

- God wants us to be cheerful givers.

He doesn't want me togive just for recognition,

or so I could feel goodabout what I'm able to give.

Part of generosity is metaking my eyes off myself

and putting them on other people.

- [Narrator] Putting God firstchanged their perspective

on tithing, giving, and serving.

- We were excited becauseit was the first thing

on our budget list.

- We were just focusing andcheerfully helping people out.

- [Narrator] It was only after

they stopped giving out of obligation,

that things turned around.

Their condo quickly sold.

And Michael got a huge bonus.

- Our heart became morejoyful towards the Lord.

We just kept saying, you know,

we've been blessed this wayso that we can just give back.

- You know, we give God all glory.

We wrote the largest titheamount that we had given

to our church at that, ever in our lives.

- [Narrator] Right after that,

they were able to pay offthe rest of their debt

in 11 months, six monthsearlier than expected.

- It felt so amazing,

because I was like, God, You did that.

That wasn't us.

'Cause on paper, we shouldhave still been in debt.

We're so excited to be ableto free up our money from debt

so that we can bless otherstoo, the way we've been blessed.

- It's a great feeling to bea great example for our kids

and our family,

and just to have that peace,and a stress free life.

- [Narrator] For anyonewith financial problems,

the Popes suggests surrenderingto God like they did,

and giving from a cheerful heart.

- Prove God,

the creator and the provider of all things

will do exceedingly morethan you could ever think,

ask, or imagine.