Throwback Thursday - Enough

If you would've asked me a year ago, probably even 6 months ago, if we were rich I would've laughed in your face! {not a mean laugh though...I promise} Because I don't consider us rich. Rich is expensive cars, fancy dining with 3 forks at every meal, yachts, exotic vacations, private school, paying more taxes then we make in 10 years of salary, really big houses, people who aren't related to you cleaning those big houses...Nope. That's not us.

But then I was hit in the face {not literally thankfully} with this:

Being rich means having enough.

Enough food.
Enough clean water.
Enough clothes to keep you from being naked.
Enough house to keep you dry and warm.
Enough.

Because being poor means going hungry, trekking 5 miles each direction to get water, wearing the same clothes for a year or more, living in a humble place with barely walls and a roof or nothing at all. I won't even mention indoor plumbing, electricity, appliances, cars etc...
Do I have enough?
Definitely.
Therefore am I rich?
Definitely.

I believe that this is only the beginning of what God wants to do in my heart and in my life. I have two books on my horizon to read. One that I started already and one that is next. Both of them deal, somewhat or totally, with excess (meaning after you've had enough water, food, clothes to keep you from being naked, house etc...the leftover money) in our lives. Coincidence? I think not.

I'm terrified and excited at the same time. Terrified at how much I have given in to materialism and what that means and excited to be set free from too much. I already know that a lot of my stress comes from having too many toys to pick up. Too many clothes to wash, dry and put away. Too many things to do to keep my house in order. What if it was more simple than that?

I'm not suggesting that God wants me to give everything away and live in a tent in the woods but maybe He's beginning to show me how bogged down I am by the things of this world and how I can experience more freedom in Him by releasing it, giving it away, down-sizing. Who knows?

All I know is that something has been stirred up in me and I have no doubt that it will not go away until God peels away this part of me. To free me up to serve Him, to minister to my husband and children, to minister and love others.

I already warned Mark that as I read there will be conversations. Definitely not mandates but that's how I process. Talk it out. Who knows where God will take this. And now I'm warning you :) I'm sure there will be posts journaling my experience and conviction.

Painful? Probably a bit. But from what I know about God, it will be worth every single moment.

 

*sigh* I'm ready Lord!

(I think)