I am God

Last Sunday we had an awesome lesson on "doing good" (Galations 6:9-10).  I walked away feeling refreshed by the Holy Spirit. Before I got to my car someone handed me an envelope with cash and a post-it. The post-it read: "Be still and know I am God" (with a smiley face). The amount of money was substantial and I was overwhelmed with the feeling that another believer was "doing good" for us out of obedience to His Word.

Monday, Troy had a job interview.  It went really well.  He felt like he was going to get it.  They would call on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, we got a letter in the mail from the unemployment office.  We have not received benefits from them for the entire month of April and in actuality he had only been paid $20 from Lowe's in April.  So our total income for the month of April was $86 (only because I worked a couple of days at the church).  In all of that every single bill was paid on time.  We received the right amount of money from others (without asking) to pay for ALL of our bills.  That is a substantial amount let me just tell you!

Also on Tuesday, I had to go to the ER, but first went to Urgent Care.  I am fine but the total cost between the two places was the amount that was in the envelope on Sunday.


On Wednesday, Troy talked to the place he interviewed at and they said wait til Friday.

We have been receiving medical benefits for the kids (more of a safety net) while Troy has been unemployed.  (Most of our debt is due to medical bills that occurred when he was unemployed before.) We also have been receiving food stamps.  Not something that we are proud of but a necessity (especially when your mortgage is 85% of your income). On Thursday we received a letter that they were no longer going to allow us these benefits.  Why you say? Well there is no good reason...
Friday has come and gone. We still don't know about the job.  My children do not have insurance.  I really don't know how we will pay for food.  But what I do know is that I was told on Sunday to "Be still and know that I am God".  This was no coincidence.  That post-it is on my refrigerator door right now.  All week whenever I have had a conversation or the phone has rang or I have felt overwhelmed with it all, I hear the words; "Be still and know I am God". 

I wonderful lesson for me this week.  The lesson is still not over.  Who knows when it will be.  But what I do know is that He is God-Redeemer, Maker, Healer, Provider, King of kings, Lord of lords, Hosanna, Messiah, Alpha and Omega.  Without Him there would be no hope.

In anticipation for the day that we can afford to get new floors I have convinced my wonderful husband to tear up the ones we have.  They are dirty and smelly and I am over them.  He has been a great sport and has done this task for me.  I would do it myself but I am not that great with a crow-bar.  (I made some holes in the drywall when doing it myself).  Anyway, in this process I have just felt like we have too much stuff.  Now by the typical American standard we don't have enough, but I don't feel as though we should be living by the American standard. 

I know someone who at the beginning of the school year buys 6 shirts, 4 pairs of pants, 4 pairs of shorts, 2 pairs of shoes, socks and underwear for her four children.  These are the ONLY clothes they have for the year.  Imagine that? Surveying my girls closet they each have at least (not an exaggeration) 12 dresses a piece.  They each have at least 10 pairs of shorts and about as many skirts. Forget about the shirts; there have got to be at least 25 each.  They both have 5+ pairs of shoes and Ellie has about 15 pairs of panties.  I bet you have only seen them in about a 1/4 of those outfits.  Today Ellie wore a dress that my neighbor thought was new, she has had it forever just hardly ever wears it.  To top it all off I have only purchased about 10% of the items.  They are all hand-me-downs.  (I am so thankful for every single piece!)

Here's the thing; as much as I love that others are looking out for us and I love that we are being taken care of I don't NEED all of this stuff.  My girls cannot possibly wear every single piece of clothing in their closet.  There is just no way.  And really, did the children of the person(s) giving me the stuff wear all of it too?  I would have to think not.  It is just crazy.  So in all of this craziness I have been thinking about what is a want and what is a need.  Troy and I want a lot of things.  We buy a lot of those wants.  We don't NEED about 95% of them.  Someone or something has told us that we do but in reality we don't.  Troy was even a bit nervous about the amount of clothes we are getting rid of.  I just looked at him and said there is enough! 

Lately I have noticed that there is a lot going out (money) and we really don't have anything to show for it.  I added up the amount of expenditures that we thought we "needed" over the last month that were really "wants".  We are going to take that amount in cash and put it in a jar.  The rule is that the money cannot leave the jar unless Troy and I both agree that it is a necessity and not just a want.  It is okay to have wants and to even get them but we both have to agree that it is worth it.  I think this will be a great visual for us. We are horrible savers and I think that we will be able to have a rather large savings account after doing this project.  I will let you know how it goes.  I want to try it for 6 months.

I don't know what to do with all of the clothes.  Someone suggested that I hand it all down too.  I can't do that to someone.  It is so overwhelming. I could have participated in Tot2Tot but this was not the right time for so many reasons.  I think I might have a garage sale and then donate the rest. Either way it needs to leave my home for good!  For those of you that read this and are the ones that hand stuff down to me, I am not saying don't do it anymore but I will not promise it will all stay with me.  I am going to have a strict 10 piece rule from now on.  I will take out my favorite 10 pieces and then pass the rest on to someone else!  That way the next person doesn't have to be so overwhelmed and the clothing can be a blessing to them too.

The girls clothes that we are getting rid of.

 

The clothes from our closet.