"I Just Need to do Something!"

Wow - I cannot believe it's been 5 days since I last posted. Admittedly, we've had a lot going on, but this week has really flown by. I appologize to those of you who are faithful readers!

This week in the midst of speaking, the car dying (yet again), getting ready for a youth solitude retreat this weekend and preparing for Christmas, my soon-to-be 5 year old handed me a fresh bundle of perspective. Sunday evening as we were pulling into the church parkinglot he suddenly exclaimed, "Mama! People don't have money!"

I caught myself really wanting to respond with "Yes, and we are some of those people!", and instead said, "Yes, you're right. Not everyone has money."

"I just need to do something!" he said. "Let's take one monies to their house." His out-of-the-blue revelation kind of surprised me. He is a giving kid, but he's also 4 and not all that aware of how finances and life tend to intersect at the roughest of points. I don't know what it was, but something had triggered this sense of caring in him and I didn't want to miss the moment.

The very next day we went as a family to buy toys for three disadvantaged kids and a bag of hygiene products for an outreach our church was getting ready for. I had thought about doing this earlier, but had decided against it after checking our bank statement. What can we do? I thought. Someone else will take care of them, but it's just too much on our tight budget this year. I really believed that and I wasn't willing to look at it any differently. So the Lord chose to speak through the mouth of my son and motivate us to use the money that was His anyway to take care of His sheep.

I tend to be a pessimist when it comes to finances. As a one income family in ministry, we don't have the financial resources that some other families might (though things are a lot better than they used to be), and sometimes I let that get to me. But when I stop and think about it, our faithful Lord has always taken care of us. We may have had many months where we couldn't make ends meet, but we have never lacked anything we truly needed. He takes care of us and will continue to do so.

Through experiences like this one with my son, I am learning not hold on so tightly to what God has trusted us with. He wants us to take care of each other, and He's ready to bless us when we're obedient in that. I honestly didn't want to give away our money because I was afraid of not having enough for us, but I see now how silly that was. Don't mistake this as some kind of magic trick, but we received more than three times the amount of money we spent on those toys and toiletry items in cash within 48 hours of buying them. God is indeed faithful and will give us what we need when we need it, but He expects us to share what we have when He needs it.

I'm starting to learn not to complain so much about what I think I have and don't have. I may not feel "rich", but to my son we are not a family that doesn't have money. I'm glad he could hear God's voice a little clearer than I could this week.

There are hundreds of kids out there needing those of us who can to hold on a little less tightly to the financial blessings the Lord has brought into our lives. We might see the need a little more clearly during the Christmas season when there are donation programs sponsored on every corner of our town, but it still exists long after the mistletoe has been taken down. Ask the Lord to show you where He might have you serve His sheep this coming year - you might be surprised at how much you really have to give.

Well, I'm off to chaperone 15 kids on a solitude retreat (wish us luck). I'll have something new to write about when I get back!