Giving more and spending less

With spring cleaning in the air it is a good time to thinking about Christmas???

Well not exactly.

Here’s the thing: In our country we have a LOT of stuff. Stuff we take for granted. Stuff that, to us, is just…well… stuff. Yet it could be used to make a difference to someone half a world away.

Starting in Januaury of this year I started a little, experiment if you will. It seems we have a lot of brand new stuff coming into our home that we do not neccisarily need. I’m talking about birthday party favors, duplicate gifts, and gifts in excess from grandma. I started a pile in my closet (on the top shelf) of “shoebox” items:

Operations Christmas child is a project from Samaritans purse that collects shoe boxes filled with Christmas goodies for children in 3rd world countries.

OCC Philippines 9 21 11 1

Children like these who dig through the landfill located right beside their village. This sweet boy digs through the trash to find something to sell or even to help build their home. But when you are surround by poverty, there is not much of value thrown away.

For some reason I am living in a 1st world country with an over abundance of stuff and this boy is digging through the trash. I have so much stuff that I often throw away that would be a joy to someone else. What is wrong with this picture?

I am trying to re examine my “trash” to see if it could be used to bless someone else. So far I have collected several toy balls, pens, pencils, flip flops, some costume jewelry, a recorder, a kaleidoscope, playing cards and a few brand new shirts (not pictured).

I hope to have several boxes by Christmas time and divide toys, clothes, and school supplies evenly. The picture is not what I will send but just to show the collection so far. I am pretty excited about all of the stuff that we no longer need that can help make a child smile!! For all the legalist, don’t worry i will still buy several things to make sure every box is even and more than anything stuff the children need. But in the mean time can I get a woot woot for less waste, and more giving!!!

Heartprints

Whatever our hands touch—
We leave fingerprints!
On walls, on furniture,
On doorknobs, dishes, books,
As we touch we leave our identity.

Oh Lord please where ever I go today,
Help me leave heartprints!
Heartprints of compassion
Of understanding and love.
Heartprints of kindness
and genuine concern.

May my heart touch a lonely neighbor with a smile,
a worried mother, with peace
a homelss person with warmth,
and my dear friends with love

I shall go out today
To leave heartprints,
And if someone should say
“I felt your touch,”
May that one sense be…YOUR LOVE Lord
Touching through ME.

Author Unknown

Your ministry is where your feet are

God has called us all to the same job, “make disciples”

Whether our mission is in a hut in africa or a brick home in the suburbs. We are ALL missionaries. I am not trying to make excuses for us to NOT go to forign lands as the need is MUCH greater there but merely making a point for many of us who never considered ourselves to such a high calling.

I think many of us say “one day I will make a difference” but what will we do “in the mean time?”

I feel so inadequate because I am NOT serving in a foreign land, then God reminds me my ministry is where my feet are.

Right here, today where you are, is your mission field.

I meet people everyday having marital problems, young people looking for love in all the wrong places, and people searching for meaning in weath and status.

I can make a difference if I am willing to consider myself a missionary…right where I am.

Where are your feet ministering today?

To all the imperfect ladies

Somebody once told me that in ancient Chinese art, the great artists almost always included a deliberate flaw in their work. It made it human, and authentic.

This got me thinking I wonder if God, in his craftsmanship, included “flaws” in each of his creations. I certainly don’t think he made any mistakes but I think He knew what he was doing when he made us perfectly “imperfect.”

Let’s think for a minuite, If perfect was attainable then who has it? When interviewd nearly every supermodel and celebrity will tell you they have flaws. Professional makeup artist and expensive computer programs have us comparing ourselves to unrealstic expectations anyway!

This poem says it, well, perfectly!:

I made her…She is different, she is unique. With love i formed her in her mothers womb. I fashioned her with great joy. I remember with great pleasure the day I created her. (Psalm 139)

I love her smile. I love her ways. I love to hear her laugh. I love the silly things she says and does. She brings me great pleasure. This is how I made her. (Psalm 139)
I made her pretty, not beautiful, because I know her heart and how she would be vain. I want her to search out her heart and learn that it’s ME in her that makes her beautiful, and it would be Me in her that draws friends to her. (1 Peter)

I made her in such a way that she would need me. A little more lonesome than she would like to be only because I need her to lean and depend on Me. I know her heart and I know if I had not made her like this she would go her own chosen way and forget Me- Her own creator. (Psalm 63)

Because I love her, I have seen her broken heart… and the tears she has cried alone. I have cried with her and had a broken heart too. (Psalm 56)
Many times she has stumbled and fallen alone, only because she would not hold my hand. Many lessons she has learned the hard way because she wouldn’t listen to my voice. (Isaiah 62)

So many times I have set back and sadly watched her go her way alone, only to watch her return to my arms, sad and broken. Now she is Mine again. I made her and then I bought her because I love her. I have to reshape and remold her… to renew her for what I have planned. It has not been easy for her or for Me. (Jeremiah 29)

I want her to conform too my image… this high goal I have set for her because I love Her.

God knew what he was doing when he made us. So before you criticize that face you see in the mirror, remember you are perfectly created my friend! Every beautiful part of you, even the flaws, all for His glory. Walk in confidence today knowing you are the handywork of an almighty God!

This is a little…uncomfortable

I used to hear preachers talk about “getting uncomfortable” and to be honest I didn’t like it. Why wouldn’t God want me to be comfortable? I like being comfortable. I like predictability, I like stability, and I like warm fuzzy socks.

I am in this weird place I don’t know how to describe. I read books like, Kisses from Katie where a 19 year old girl left EVERYTHING she knew to be comfortable and lives in Uganda. She is now 22 and mother to 13 once orphaned little girls. I hear stories of friends who just last week returned from Honduras where they saw countless houses made of magazines, and scrap wood with no electricity and plumbing.

I see pictures like this:

I read radical too and that probably didn’t help.

It cost $20 a quarter to send a Ugandan child to school (including their meals). Yet that cost is 4 times the cost of their electricity or plumbing which many of them can’t afford anyway. Lack of education just continues the cycle of poverty.

We can spend more than $20 going out to eat for ONE meal!

It just makes me, well, uncomfortable ya know?

I love nice things as much as the next girl. I don’t think smart phones are sinful, and I love our home.

But I just can’t help but see things differently. It is uncomfortable. It would be much easier to ignore. I don’t see poverty around me everyday. I don’t personally know any starving children.

And I think that’s the problem.

I have heard it said it is not that we don’t care about the poor, it is that we don’t know them. Just this glimpse from books and stories from missionaries makes me WANT to know them more.

But it’s messy helping the poor. They need soo much, some need more than you can give, some are looking for handouts, and some are dirty. It isn’t always safe, some have disease and some are unkind.

But God doesn’t just ask us to help if we have nothing else to do, He commands it…of all of us.

As Katie Davis said, “I am not afraid of disease or death, I am much more afraid of being comfortable.”

I guess I am seeing through all of this that comfortable isn’t such a great thing after all. A restless hunger to do more to the least of these isn’t comfortable. From the small amount I have experienced helping, it is pretty messy and time consuming too. But it is so much better than staying comfortable.

Part of me wants to sleep on the floor and skip meals out of guilt, but I know that solves nothing.

Lord, break my heart until it moves my hands and feet. Open my eyes to see your love for ALL people. May I worry less about being comfortable and more about being used by the King of the universe to do great things.

I can’t change the world, but I can start with one. Making a difference for ONE person…can change that person’s world.

Mannequins make great models

Today is a guest post from Cecila. She is a missionary in Haiti and is an amazing writer. She is sharing her post today about feeling “imperfect” and it is BEAUTIFUL! I hope you enjojoy!

It must be lovely to be a mannequin; to be perfect in every way and to never have to struggle with emotions.

Sometimes it’s typical to think that missionaries have this “all together”, “picture perfect”, “I’m-working-for-God”, “queue the angelic music” kind of life.

Contrary to popular belief, we experience;
doubt,
fear,
loneliness
and anger.

There are times, when we feel so alone, the lizard on the wall seems to be our only companion. We look at the little creature, and in all of our loneliness, we talk to it (don’t worry, this doesn’t happen a lot). We get pissed to the point where we yell at the coconuts hanging on the tree for not falling (or falling). We get tired of having to communicate in a language other than our own. We look at the fellow to which we are trying to explain something and start to blab in English (yeah, it’s kind of awkward).

We have days when we ask ourselves why are we in a third world country – where showers are cold and bathrooms are scarce. Why are we in a country whose currency can be counted in two ways (gourdes and Haitian dollars) and the electricity is never consistent; in a place where everything takes two times longer and is usually done backwards. We ask ourselves these questions and sometimes feel a tad bit clueless and somewhat confused. These feelings and emotions aren’t something that disappear as one mounts on a plane to enter the mission field, in search for the will of God. We have no halo, we carry no wings.

We are humans (in a foreign country), trying to conquer the mass of arrows and darts life throws at us. We are humans who have experienced the Grace of God on our lives. This Grace, so intense, so pure, so precious that we can’t help but share it with others. And we seek to spread it. This is why we do what we do. Far from perfection and still learning to deal with our vast array of emotions we look to hold the orphan, shelter the parent-less and teach those who would otherwise never get an education.We give of the Grace that was so freely offered to us.

Oh! To be a perfect little mannequin would indeed be ideal, but then I would never have the ability to receive this wonderful Grace and participate in his perfect purpose.

Thank you Cecilia! You are wise beyond your years! Please feel free to check out her personal blog or her families blog and see what a cool difference they are making in Haiti.

Jesus needs a better advertising campaign

The Barna Group, a respected Christian survey organization, recently asked young people to identify which perceptions they most strongly associate with Christianity. The three most commonly agreed-upon were: anti-homosexual, judgmental, and hypocritical.

Westboro Baptist church has made headlines with their “God hates fags” philosophy where they protest soldiers funerals. Also making headlines are abortion clinics being bombed & protests for nearly everything under the sun.

At almost every event with a large crowd you can find “the megaphone man” yelling about hell and eternal damnation.

All in the name of Jesus??

If this is the Christianity the world sees than no wonder many people are not interested.

My dear friend Katelyn posted this awesome quote:

I have decided to stop letting political and religious organizations represent me on the issues. I have decided to represent myself, and in so doing I hope to accurately represent Christ.

-Mike Foster “Unchristain”

Dear friends, Forgive us. Forgive us for the embarrassing things we have done in the name of Jesus.

We are imperfect people for sure. Our attempts to model Jesus are clumsy at best. He calls us, imperfect and broken, to transform us so we are no longer the same. We just don’t always leave the old us behind.

Please don’t reject Christ because of Christians. We are still trying to wrap our head around the God of the universe wanting to make disciples out of us.

Despite our misrepresentation, Jesus was a pretty amazing guy.

He was the preacher of all preachers yet you could find him dining with some of the worst “sinners” of his day. Mark 2:15

He was the King of all the universe yet he was born to regular people in a palace no wait, a manger. Luke 2:7

He deserved servants and crowns, yet he washed his disciples feet. John 13 1-17

He is the only one that was or ever will be worthy of all the fame and fortune of the world, yet he was a servant. Mark 9:35

He spoke love into the people no one loved. John 4

He would touch those no one else would touch. Mark 1:40-45

He did nothing wrong, but he never tried to defend himself. John 18:28-38

He could have had a thousand Angels come to take his place on the cross, but he took mine instead. John 19:28-30

I want to invite you to consider that maybe the televangelists and street preachers are wrong — and that God really is love. Maybe the fruits of the Spirit really are beautiful things like peace, patience, kindness, joy, love, goodness, and not the ugly things that have come to characterize religion.

-Shane Claiborne

The Jesus I know is turning the world upside down with his love. The less I get in the way the better he can “advertise” through me.

Have you ever witnessed a not so great “advertisment” for Jesus?

-Katie

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Frugal Christmas, Homemade gifts and wrapping!

I thought it would be fun to do a little homework on some fun homemade Christmas gifts! My search lead me to plenty of suggestions. I weeded out all of the horribly tacky, non-useful, and way too difficult projects. Leaving you with all the good stuff

Without further adieu, Plug in your glue gun, open the kitchen cabinets, and let’s go homemade this Christmas!

First up, the wrapping:

Let’s think “outside the box”

Reusable shopping totes cost just as much as a gift bag yet they are reusable! Tie a bow to the top and there ya go!
Baskets also make a great reusable gift presentation.

Inside the box

When wrapping a box, instead of wrapping the box and lid as one unit, wrap each separately. When you use the wrapped box, secure it closed with ribbon or another tie, not tape or glue. Also, tie on the gift card and trimming. Reuse the box without re-wrapping it until it looks shabby.
Newspaper, butcher paper, and paper bags (laid flat and cut) are all great wrapping paper alternatives.

Now the gifts!

Conversation starters booklets. A cute book of lots of fun random questions like:

What’s the longest you’ve gone without sleep?
What did you do for your 13th birthday?
Perfect for car rides or date night and a great gift for a couple.

complete instructions here

Herbal infused Olive oil Got a Rosemary plant? Got olive oil? Why not make a super easy rosemary infused olive oil.

source
Warm olive oil in a sauce pan. Pour into the bottle with a few freshly harvested clean rosemary sprigs. Put the bottle (perfect opportunity to re-purpose an old bottle) aside to cool. Seal with a lid or a cork. Set the bottle in a dry, cool place with no direct sunlight for at least one week. And there you have a fabulous gift for the chef in your family. More details here.

Homemade candies, chocolates, cookies and cakes are always a hit. Try this recipe for homemade truffles!
Give the gift of your time or skill. Whether you are Mr. Fix it, a hairstylist, or you can babysit. Offering your service is a great gift!
Themed baskets/or buckets are always fun. Fill a popcorn bucket with packages of microwave popcorn and movie tickets for a date night basket! Other ideas are: Spaghetti night baskets with sauce, noodles, garlic bulbs all in a colander. Or (my personal favorite) a watering can filled with gardening gloves, seed packets and a trowel.
The gift of family history. This is one of my favorite ides. Each year choose a topic to write about your family’s history. Every member contributes their own unique story to the theme. Example themes are: how you met your spouse, the first home you lived in, a funny story about when you were a kid. What a treasure these stories would be from our 80 year plus grandparents!
Reasons why I love you. Just take an empty jar, then type out all the reasons you love that person. Print then cut into strips and place in jar. Recipient can pull one out a day to be reminded of your love.

source

A memory jar. Similarly to the reasons why I love you this gift is a GREAT idea for a grandparent or other older relative: Contact friends and family members and ask them to send memories and old pictures. Memories can be placed on folded card stock placed in a large jar or may be better in a homemade booklet. They will LOVE it!
Family Recipe Books collecting all your families favorite recipes (if they are not a secret) and compiling them in a book to share with everyone is certain to be a crowd pleaser.

If homemade is not your thing, please check out my gifts with meaning post. Whether your gift is homemade or fair trade what a wonderful difference you are making!

Join the conversation. What is one of your favorite homemade gifts you have given or received?

Part of the Green Resource at Sorta Crunchy, the Greenbacks girl, Life renewed, and a Delightful home

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Gifts with meaning

The average US family spends about $800 per year on Christmas yet most of us don’t even remember what we got last year. Much of it is exchanged, collecting dust, or forgotten in our mass of STUFF.

Instead of a gift that will be forgotten…Why not give a gift that MEANS something?

There are several amazing organizations that allow you to purchase beautiful handmade items and your dollars directly support freeing slaves, or ending poverty!

Some of my favorite are:

Trade as One

Amazima Ministries

One of my friends bought the necklace from Amazima ministries and let me tell you it is even cuter in person!

And World Vision.

The gift of changing lives, hope to the poor, and freedom for the oppressed is much more exciting than fruit cake don’t you think?

Rich People problems

US and Canada represent 5% of the world’s population but almost 30% of the world’s wealth. Africa is home to double the world’s population yet only 1.5% of the world’s wealth. (source)

Yet when polled, 98% of American’s considered themselves NOT rich.

Rich is a moving target one that apparently only 2% of Americans (the richest countries in the world) feel they ever reach.

If you were to ask me if I were rich I would have said no…but I think I had a perspective problem.

From Craig Groeschel’s book “weird” he met a young man who heard “stories” of rich people that lived like this:

“There are some people who are so rich, they own a car! I think it’s only 3 to 5% of people in the world so not many, but some people are so rich, they own TWO cars! Some of these people even have a house for their cars! It’s called a garage, …then they get in their cars and they eat at restaurants, they are so rich they pay other people to make their food and serve it to them!…Some of these people are so rich they have special rooms in their home just for their clothes! Nobody sleeps in there, only clothes on hangers and shelves like a store. Some are so rich they have a closet for the man and for the woman. Clothes for hot weather, cold weather, some for work, some for church. It’s crazy! “

What’s crazy is how blind I have been to how MUCH I have compared to how little so many others have.

What’s crazy is how I sit here in my comfy pajamas and type on my computer, the hum of the TV in the background, a full belly, and pretend I don’t have it made!!

I am realizing how BLESSED I am and thinking twice before I complain about ANYTHING. I am shifting more toward living in gratitude instead of want.

Here are some things I could be prone to complain about lately:

I backed my husband’s car (because we have two cars) into the side of the garage (because we have a garage).
I can’t decide what to wear because I have so many choices!
And my house could use another de-cluttering. Because we can afford “clutter.”

I will take these “problems” any day over not knowing where I will sleep or if I will eat tonight.

Check out Rich Word Problems. It’s a blog dedicated to all the humors stuff we complain about like:

I lost my phone and it’s on silent
I just updated my status with important news, one hour later, no comments.
My computer is operating at least 1 second slower that it did yesterday.
I just got used to the old facebook and then they changed it again!

Let’s encourage each other to live in gratitude and laugh at all of our “rich people problems.”

We have a LOT to be thankful for.

What is something silly you have complained about lately?

Imperfect People

Imperfect People in love with a Perfect God

Category Archives: making a Difference