$40,000 in Debt to a Tripled Income

CBN.com - No one ever expects to end up with $40,000 dollars in consumer debt. But that’s what happened to Janis and Roland Leal. When the couple was starting out, it seemed there was always something they wanted or needed for their growing family. So many times they used credit cards or easy credit.

“I think there was this real struggle between what I wanted to do, what I wanted to provide, and how I thought things should be, versus how they were,” Roland recalls.

In those “early days”, Roland worked two part time jobs, waiting for his career to take off. And he managed the family’s finances.

As their debt mounted, Roland soon fell behind on paying the bills. Credit cards went unpaid. Collection agencies began to call. And tensions increased at home.

“It’s one thing if there is a problem and you have a solution,” Janis says. “We had a problem that didn’t seem like it had a solution.”

The Leals needed answers, but didn’t know where to turn. Janis started to pray. Soon after that, the couple came across The 700 Club.

“We would listen to some of the teachings,” Janis says. “Probably the biggest thing we learned from Pat Robertson’s teaching is giving.”

Then one morning, Janis says she felt the Lord urging her to read some specific verses from Malachi.

“So I looked it up in the table of contents and found Malachi,” she says. “And I was shocked because it said, ‘You’re robbing me.’ The Lord says in there that ‘you’re robbing me’ by withholding the tithes.”
The Leals wrote their first tithe check in May of that year on the income from Roland’s two part time jobs. A short time later, Roland was offered a full-time job as a government and business consultant, and overnight his income tripled.

“It was like we wrote the check and boom, boom, boom. Everything just sort of happened,” Janis says. “He gets the job. The income tripled. The weight lifted.”

As they continued to tithe and give to ministries such as The 700 Club, Roland’s boss actually challenged him to quit his job and start his own consulting company. The boss even offered to help him.

“He says, ‘What I’m going to do for you is I am going to let you take the business you brought with you into the firm, and I’m going to sub out to you a whole lot of other business that I can’t do myself,” Roland recalls.

Today, the Leals continue to see the Lord provide for their family, which now boasts 10 children. They live comfortably in a beautiful home near Austin, Texas.

“I would encourage anybody at anytime to trust the Lord for anything, especially money and finances,” Janis says.

“We can trust Him,” agrees Roland. “We can believe Him to bring the increase, which ultimately He will use to bless people around the world through folks like CBN.”

Roland and Janis 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!