“Hi, I’m Judy… and I’m a shopaholic.”

That’s how Judy introduced herself as she shared her story at Celebration Night. While her audience laughed, her journey was anything but lighthearted.

After the death of her husband, Judy’s life changed almost overnight. Her income dropped dramatically, she had just six weeks to move from Washington to Idaho to be closer to family, and before long she found herself relying on credit cards just to keep up. What began as a lifetime of “buy now, pay later” had become more than $11,000 in debt.

One evening at a church prayer gathering, Judy asked for prayer about her finances. A few days later, someone from the prayer gathering handed her a Love INC brochure and encouraged her to give the New Hope Program a try. “It was God’s answer to my prayer,” Judy said.

Confident she already knew how to manage money, Judy expected budgeting classes to be easy. Instead, she quickly discovered the greatest challenge wasn’t learning new financial skills. It was learning to let go of control. Turning over her checkbook, debit card, and credit cards to work with a budget counselor wasn’t easy. In fact, Judy admits she was angry. But over time, she realized that accountability wasn’t taking something away from her—it was giving her hope.

With the faithful guidance of her budget counselor, Cara, Judy has now paid off more than $6,300 of debt and is on track to become debt-free. But the greatest transformation wasn’t found on a balance sheet.

Through classes like Boundaries, Affirming Potential, and Overcoming Emotions That Destroy, Judy found healing in places she never expected. She confronted resentment she had carried for years, rediscovered dreams she thought were behind her, and experienced freedom from shame connected to childhood trauma. “I have received so much from Love INC,” she shared. “Especially the classes I thought I didn’t need.”

Today, Judy’s story reminds us that transformation happens when people are willing to walk alongside one another with grace, patience, and encouragement.

Sometimes that looks like practical budgeting. Sometimes it looks like helping someone believe they can dream again. And sometimes it looks like simply being there, week after week, reminding someone they don’t have to walk alone.

That’s what our budget counselors do every day. And because of faithful volunteers like Cara, lives are being transformed—one relationship, one conversation, and one step of obedience at a time.