Simple Steps Lead to Financial Breakthrough

Before they married, Brandyn and DJ didn’t think twice about their spending or their debt.

“We were looking more at the world around us and what our image would look like if we had something at a higher status,” DJ explains. “You know, I wanted to have this type of car. ‘Oh, I have to have these shoes when they release.’”  

Brandyn adds, “I didn’t really have a budget. It was like as long as I can make the minimum payments, no late fees, I’m good. If an emergency popped up, credit cards were my savings.”

During her single years and after becoming a Christian, Brandyn took a class at church on money management. She tried to practice the budgeting principles she learned, but wasn’t consistent and continued to spend. Meanwhile, she began tithing to her church. 

“When I started tithing," Brandyn says, “it was, ‘I needed to. I had to.’ Over the years, as I changed my mindset, it became, ‘I want to help others, to serve others, to advance the kingdom of the Lord.’” 

DJ also gave at church and to community causes. But he still spent without concern for the future. And when Brandyn and DJ tied the knot, nothing changed. They made expensive purchases for their life together, and their joint debt grew. Soon, they decided to buy a bigger home for their expanding family and were shocked to see how much interest they’d be charged on the loan. That prompted them to finally face their overspending and the interest on their consumer debt and student loans.

DJ recounts, “It was like, ‘You realize we just pay, we pay every year thousands of dollars in interest on something that's, you know, a credit card that's $2,000, but we're getting hit every month for $150, when our payment is $200.’ Not making any progress at all.”

The couple decided it was time to get a handle on the way they managed money. They cut up their credit cards and pledged to pay off their total debt of $137,000. To do so, Brandyn a VP of a large nonprofit, took a job waitressing. DJ was an accountant, and he got a second job, too.

“Whatever we made,” DJ says, “it was going back to our debt, tackling it from the smallest to largest.” 

At one point while paying down their debt, Brandyn chose to stop tithing from her income.

She explains, “It was like, ‘You really, really, really need, you know, you need that money to pay towards debt.’ And so, I let the enemy get my ear. I stopped trusting. You know, I took it back. I knew what I was doing was wrong. And it ate me up inside, spiritually.”

After a year of not tithing, Brandyn says God spoke to her.

“In my quiet time, and you know, in my prayer time, I just heard God, you know, ‘Trust me. Be a faithful tither. I brought you this far, I'm not going to leave you,’" Brandyn remembers. “You don't need to pause your tithe. Continue to give and continue to pay off your debt. It can be done.”  

DJ shares, “Brandy and I really did a lot of soul searching. Part of what I would say our journey was focused on is God's guidance. And so, we started looking more spiritually, looking inward, and saying, ‘We really have to humble ourselves.’”

Brandyn began tithing again and the couple watched what they spent, while they continued to work off their debt.  

“I started to prefer the feeling of being debt free than needing something that would build my image,” DJ says. “One material thing just makes me want another material thing, and another material thing. Getting rid of one debt does not make me want another debt. It was giving me encouragement, making me want to pay off another debt.” 

In five years, the Rodríguezes paid off all $137,000 of their debt. They say the process changed their perspective on money and God.

“I learned how to take my hands off any and every situation.” Brandyn admits. “You know trusting the Lord, trusting Him in my finances, in my marriage, in my children.” 

DJ says, “I became the man I was called to be, the husband I needed to be, the father. We literally would have not have been able to do this without God's grace.”  

Today, Brandyn and DJ are committed to budgeting and staying out of debt. They encourage others to manage money God’s way.

“Not only are we called to be fishers of men, but be better stewards with our finances,” DJ declares. “Give a little more. Dedicate yourself to becoming more disciplined to your faith. Then you can be dedicated and disciplined to your budget.”

Brandyn concludes, “I believe in being obedient to the word of God. I try to teach my children the same thing, as well. Whether it's their tithe and their offering, when you truly trust Him, follow His guidelines when it comes to these things, and you will be blessed, and He'll make a way.”