How funny

Okay so earlier this morning, I was talking about how I worry about the finances. Wouldn't you know it but in today's sermon Dr. Mike talked about what the bible says about your finances. It's his new message series.

How appropriate right!

Well so what does the bible say?

Our verse today was Matthew 6: 25-34

I'm not going to spell it out for you, you can read it if you want. But the scripture is about how God created us and we shouldn't worry about what we are going to eat and what we are going to put on. God takes care of all His creations from the birds in the air to the flowers in the field so He will take care of us too. He will provide for all of our needs (not to be confused with all of our wants) we just have to trust in Him.

Powerful. I can think of many examples when God has taken care of people that have trusted in Him. Where when these people trusted in Him, He not only took care of their needs but their wants as well. There is John and Kate Gosselin, The Duggar Family, many of the families on the show Kids by the Dozen, The Blodel family (you probably don't know them, they are friends of mine) etc. It's all about faith and most of all attitude.

Check this out from Pioneer Woman (www.thepioneerwoman.com). I LOVE her! Her husband and girls just went down to the Dominican Republic with Compassion International. Just listen to what her husband had to say about two different families there:

"The first in-home visit was almost too much to take. The futility of the family’s situation was overwhelming. The mother was worried about her kids, wanted them to do well in school, stay away from drugs, find some way to a better life, but she had almost zero hope. While her daughter is in Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Program and receives help with education, health care and extra nutrition, you could tell from listening to the mother that she was scared and discouraged. Her mother had worked on a batey, and she’d grown up in extreme poverty. Now she sees her children growing up the same way, and her son is starting to get into trouble.

This visit discouraged him. He saw how miserable they were. They had no hope and walking into a situation like that, wouldn't it discourage you too? Aren't peoples attitudes contagious?

But check out what he had to say about the second family...

"...as I expected, there wasn’t a bit of difference in the living conditions between the two households—both were two-parent families living in the crudest of homes. But there was one noticeable difference: the presence of faith.

Faith. It’s a hard subject for me to talk about. I’d almost hoped that I could just come on this trip and skirt around the issue, focusing mostly on all the good surface work that’s being done here. But I need to step outside of my comfort zone for a minute. Bear with me.

What I found within minutes of entering the second home was that the mother of this family was filled with joy and was thankful for what little they had…and the feeling of hope in the home was palpable. As it turned out, not only is the family actively involved in the local church, this mother had actually been a sponsored child with Compassion during her childhood. (Ben M. from Michigan, you did a great thing when you decided to sponsor this woman when she was a child.)"

Their situations weren't different. Their living conditions weren't different. The only thing that was different was the faith that the second family had.

During these hard economic times, I want to be the second family. They have much less than I do, but they have 10x the faith. They have 10x the joy in their circumstances. I have so much material wise compared to this family, but they have more than I do. They have true faith and joy. Faith and joy despite their circumstances. This is something I aspire to be.

I have resolved to live with less. I am going to start downsizing in the coming weeks. I don't need all the "things" that I have. Heck I have a punch bowl, brand new in the box. I haven't opened it since I bought it over 2 years ago. Why did I buy it? Cause it was cheap and I thought it would be a good idea to have a punchbowl "just in case". Hmmm.... I have a lot of things like this. Do I need it? NO. Can I live without it? YES. Can someone else be blessed by a brand new punchbowl? Of course.

We have too much in this country, compared to those who live in places like the Dominican Republic. Is our reaction to the downturn in the economy because we like to have stuff and are too worried about not having stuff? I know my reaction had a lot to do with that. Just read my last post.

But I'm going to live this week with the faith that God will take care of me. In the midst of my horrible, horrendous week last week, God blessed me with winning something on the radio. That one small thing, uplifted my whole day. God is good! No matter what happens in life, how bad it can get, just remember that God is good. Mostly speaking to myself here. I'm going to write that down and put it on my mirror with my other inspirational thoughts.

Okay I'm off my soap box now.

If you want to read the entire advetures of Marlboro Man and their girls, please visit www.pioneerwoman.com and click on "confessions". It's incredibly inspirational. Just so you know!