Give back Money

Back in January I posted about our church and generosity.
I have struggled since that day to find what God would have me our us to do with our money. I received $20 and the kids got $10 and $20. I kept the money in it's envelope in my purse for a while. BUt then I decided to take it and put it in my wallet. (so that when the moment happened, I would be ready.) I searched and searched. Should I give it to the homeless man with the sign on the street corner? Should I leave it as a tip for the waitress? Should we go to the homeless shelter and see if they need moey or materials? The list could go on forever. But nothing seemed to fit. They all seemed like easy outs. Not that any of them were bad things to do, but none seemed like the RIGHT answer I was looking for. I prayed,"God please put the person in front of me that you want to have this money." (but nothing) I prayed and prayed. (but nothing) I began to feel like what seemed like God's silence was really him asking me to wait. So I did.
1 week. 2 weeks. 3 weeks. 4 weeks. And then she walked in. A girl at my work who has been going through a rough time. I asked her how she was doing, and she sighed, "I'm ok." She went on to tell me that she had a hand full of change that she was going to use to put some gas in her car. I tried to not smile and jump up and down (after all that might have been a little weird. Not many people say "hey I have no money" and then someone gets excited.) I faught hard to control my joy and in my head I heard (ding ding ding ding! YAY GOD! Way to go! Yes, she needs money.) SO I calmly walked to my purse and pulled out a $20 and handed to her. She didn't know what to say. (it is not very often that I leave people speechless for GOOD reasons.)

The really cool part is that she attends our church. She too recieved an envelope with money in it. So when I gave her the money I said, "this is my "giveback" money. And you just gave me a great way to use it. "

(the story goes on)
Later that day she said something about not having bread in her house and some other basic grocery needs. (in my head... YAY! YES! YAHHOOOOO she needs groceries.) So I went to the phone and called home (in true ET style) I asked Hubby to talk to the girls about giving their money away. I asked him to explain the situation and see if they would want to use their "giveback" money to help this girl out. They said "YES". So I went and purchased a gift card that she could use for groceries. When I came back and gave it to her...she was dumbfounded. I stopped her from saying anything and said," This is not from me. It is from my kids. They wanted to help too." ANd then I ran out the door to go home. (Yes, some where in my sick crazy mind I was trying to disappear like a super hero. :-) I heard her say as I disappeared ,"who was that masked girl?" Ok just kidding she really didn't say that. But it sounded cool.

I have been so amazed at how stressed I became over $20. I desperately wanted to give it to the right situation. I prayed about it and looked for needs. I became very aware of all that was around me. I stopped seeing my life and started seeing others. I feel like over all I am a very giving person. I always want to help and strive to do good. BUt this task showed me that I am very self centered and focused on my little world.

Thank you Lifepoint for meeting people where they are and walking along side them as they change. Thank you for being a catalyst for change. Thank for being a tool that God uses.

Thank you God for allowing me to be a part of a community that is being changed. Thank you for changing me.

My question for you is... If you had $20 dollars handed to you and told that you had to give it away, what would you do with it?
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God alrady gave you the money. So give it away.

Matthew 6:19-21

¹⁹"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.


Lifepoint Gives Back

During my crazy life I always find time to scroll through of alot blogs. Some are funny, some a stupid, some make me cry, while others just make me think.

Here are some great ones that I enjoy.

Cindy Beall

Angie Smith

Anne Jackson

Swerve

One that I enjoy often is Perry Noble.

Here is something that he wrote the other day that I loved.

#2 - Am I More Concerned About God Or Others?

Scripture is very clear, “Do your best to present yourself to God…”

When “the end” is here I will stand before God and will NOT answer as to…

• Whether or not I kept people happy.
• Whether or not I appeased the bloggers .
• Whether or not I preached sermons that people WANTED to hear.

I will answer for whether or not I was faithful to WHO He called me to be and WHAT He called me to do!

I have a quote hanging in my office by Craig Groeschell that says, “The quickest way to forget what God says about me is to become obsessed with what others say about me.”

SO TRUE!

When my head hits the pillow at night I’ve got to know that I have tried my best to honor HIM and HIS calling on my life…which IS NOT EASY in a world where everyone seems to have an opinion and a website!

BUT…focusing on them doesn’t allow me to focus on Him! (BTW…it isn’t helping you either!!!)

Paul said it best in Galatians 1:10…we have a choice…I have made mine and will not look back…there is way too much at stake!

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What blogs do you read and why?

Feel Sorry

Do you ever walk through the grocery store and see "THAT MOM"? You know the one.... her kids are screaming, fighting, begging for anything and everything, and she looks like she was hit by a freight train. No makeup, sweats, hair messed up, face red, and she looks like she needs a nap.

Well today that was me.
But it wasn't near as bad as it apparently looked.

Today was my day off. I have proclaimed that my day off would be the library, gym, grocery store day with the kids. It is a way that I can maximize my errands and spend time with my favorite little people (Ok so 2 of them are my height, not your average "little people")

First stop- The Gym. Workout, kids swim, etc.
Second stop- The Library
Third stop- The grocery store

The kids were a little hyped up from the gym. I had promised candy to well behaved children. (Bribery= frowned on by the idealistic dreamers. Treasured by the realistic parents who need to accomplish things in their day.) Most of the way through the store the little kids were singing (maybe a little loud. But I enjoy the songs over the whines) and they were naming off what kind of candy they wanted because they were being so good. (ok ok, and little bear was walking backwards through the entire store.) By the time I got to the register most of the other costumers new that we were in the store :-) I giggled inside as I watched onlookers give me the "Wow, she's really got her hand full" look. Then I just had to laugh out loud when I got to the parking lot and a couple of people gave me the "I feel really sorry for her, she looks like a mess, and her kids are crazy" look. Because the truth is.... we were having a blast. And I looked like a mess because I had been working out with my kids and enjoying my day.

So the next time you want to feel sorry for someone, think about it for a moment. They might really be having a hard time and need a little love or they might love what is going on and exactly what it took to get them there.

Just a glimpse into my day.
Much love.

Pirate Night

Family night strikes again!

Catch up on my other blog.

Finally Home

It gives me great pleasure to finally be able to post about Hubby's new job. It has been a loooooong and painful road that we have traveled to get us "here". It is a little hard for me to post because there is SO much packed away in my brain. I feel like if I just spill everything it will look some thing this:

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So I will post little bits and oneday you will get the entire story.
We have been through alot of emotion and heart ache in making our decision. It has to be one of the hardest yet easiest decisions ever.
The hard side of it comes because we had to turn another church down. A church full of loving, compassionate, full of life, people and we had to make a choice that would hurt them. The easy side comes because we got to say yes to a place that we already called home and serve in (now Hub just gets a paycheck for it.)
I recently read a post about ministry and it asked the question: Would you choose to worship in the church that you are on staff with? Meaning... if you didn't get paid and HAVE to be there, would you worship there?
I can whole heartedly say YES! It is pretty cool to me, that we chose to worship there and now we get to be on staff.

There are 2 moments that really stand out to me through this whole process of figuring out where God wants us to serve.

#1 The first time we flew home from Indiana (Just me and Hubby). Our plane was coming in for it's landing a Reagan National. (side note: best airport to flew in and out of, because you fly right over D.C.) anyway.... I was staring out the window at the Capitol Building, Washington Monument, etc. and I had this flood of emotions. Tears rolling, I began to reflect on how much I love this area and how sad it would be to leave. D.C. is one of my FAVORITE cities. I really love it here.

#2 The second time we flew home from Indiana (Hubby, 2 kids and me). We flew into Richmond. It was late and we were all EXHAUSTED. Right after we landed we all made a bee line for the restrooms before we headed for the car. The airport was pretty dead (it was about 11:30pm) and it was very quiet. As we came out of the restroom I heard to overhead music playing "I'm Going home". Hubby and I chuckled and went on. But deep inside, my heart was being tugged on and in my emotional females ways, tears welled up.

Thinking back on different moments through this crazy journey of almost 4 years, I am amazed at how God works. I am in aw of and thankful for the opportunities that He has given us, that have helped us to grow.
Indiana vs. Virginia was definitely something that we agonized over. We fully recognized the hurt that we could cause, but our decision wasn't and couldn't be based on emotions and feeling. The worst thing that we could have done was to say YES to a church because we didn't want to hurt someones feelings. Our ultimate goal in all that we have done and gone through is to be where God wants us. And to serve in a place that we can call home.
I am so thankful that GOD to be on staff in at Lifepoint. It truly is HOME.