Solomone Faletau
My story of miraculous debt forgiveness
A decade of bad financial habits, a binge gambling addiction, and lack of financial knowledge led me to almost $100k of debt. Then in 2015 I met God and although my life changed in so many ways I still struggled to manage my finances. Almost every day I prayed, “Lord please forgive my debt. I know you have the power to forgive it, please help me”. Deep down I knew I didn't deserve it.
I didn't want anyone to know about the debt because I was embarrassed and money isn't an easy thing to talk about. For 18 months I avoided facing up to my situation and never returned calls from debt collectors, I knew I couldn't pay it back. I’d tried all the budgeting services but they all said the same thing, “You need to file for bankruptcy - your income won't be able to cover these repayments”. I didn't want to file for bankruptcy but it was my only option so I filled in the form and only had to sign it before sending it back. I paused and said “God please confirm this is what you want me to do”.
Hours later I received an email from a lovely lady who was the facilitator at the Christian budgeting class I was at 4 months prior. She said she kept thinking of me and my wife and invited us over.
We went over the next day and I could really feel the Lord's presence in them and their home. They asked how we were doing and I told them that I was actually in the process of filling out bankruptcy forms. Her husband prayed for us and boldly said “God doesn't want you to go bankrupt! He wants you to take responsibility for your debt.” That hit me and I knew this was the direct sign I had asked for. I realised avoiding phone calls wasn't taking responsibility. The next day I started calling all the debt collectors and financial institutions, negotiating smaller settlement amounts. Throughout my correspondence with them I felt that God gave me the right words to say.
The most valuable lesson I learned was that God wanted me to learn what the Bible says about money. Not long after taking responsibility for my debt, I prayed and asked God for direction. I came across a verse in Malachi 3:10:
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”
It was the first time I’d seen a verse where God says test Him. I wondered, “how is giving away the little money I have going to get me out of debt?” It was payday the next day so I decided to give some of my pay away. The next day my boss called me for a meeting. She said “I just want to let you know we appreciate you and so we’re giving you a pay rise which we’re going to backdate it to two weeks ago”. This was the first of many blessings we’ve received since applying Malachi 3:10 to our lives.
I'm not saying every time I tithe I get a pay rise or that I am 100% perfect with finances and stewardship now. But whether you are in debt or not, I recommend that every Christian prays about their finances and practices generosity in their own lives. It helped me to know that I can trust God with provision. My heart has changed towards being more giving and generous.
God is so good! The only debt I have now is the remainder of my student loan. I didn't have to file for bankruptcy and I don't have any more personal debt. I didn't deserve miraculous debt cancellation because the majority of it was bad debt from my bad decision making. But God freely blesses us with things we don't deserve not because we are good but because He is good.
I didn't want anyone to know about the debt because I was embarrassed and money isn't an easy thing to talk about. For 18 months I avoided facing up to my situation and never returned calls from debt collectors, I knew I couldn't pay it back. I’d tried all the budgeting services but they all said the same thing, “You need to file for bankruptcy - your income won't be able to cover these repayments”. I didn't want to file for bankruptcy but it was my only option so I filled in the form and only had to sign it before sending it back. I paused and said “God please confirm this is what you want me to do”.
Hours later I received an email from a lovely lady who was the facilitator at the Christian budgeting class I was at 4 months prior. She said she kept thinking of me and my wife and invited us over.
We went over the next day and I could really feel the Lord's presence in them and their home. They asked how we were doing and I told them that I was actually in the process of filling out bankruptcy forms. Her husband prayed for us and boldly said “God doesn't want you to go bankrupt! He wants you to take responsibility for your debt.” That hit me and I knew this was the direct sign I had asked for. I realised avoiding phone calls wasn't taking responsibility. The next day I started calling all the debt collectors and financial institutions, negotiating smaller settlement amounts. Throughout my correspondence with them I felt that God gave me the right words to say.
The most valuable lesson I learned was that God wanted me to learn what the Bible says about money. Not long after taking responsibility for my debt, I prayed and asked God for direction. I came across a verse in Malachi 3:10:
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”
It was the first time I’d seen a verse where God says test Him. I wondered, “how is giving away the little money I have going to get me out of debt?” It was payday the next day so I decided to give some of my pay away. The next day my boss called me for a meeting. She said “I just want to let you know we appreciate you and so we’re giving you a pay rise which we’re going to backdate it to two weeks ago”. This was the first of many blessings we’ve received since applying Malachi 3:10 to our lives.
I'm not saying every time I tithe I get a pay rise or that I am 100% perfect with finances and stewardship now. But whether you are in debt or not, I recommend that every Christian prays about their finances and practices generosity in their own lives. It helped me to know that I can trust God with provision. My heart has changed towards being more giving and generous.
God is so good! The only debt I have now is the remainder of my student loan. I didn't have to file for bankruptcy and I don't have any more personal debt. I didn't deserve miraculous debt cancellation because the majority of it was bad debt from my bad decision making. But God freely blesses us with things we don't deserve not because we are good but because He is good.