a 7 discussion on spending

A few weeks ago I came across a book that sparked my interest, but not enough to actually buy it.  Then my friend, Amy and her friend Steph, decided to do a book club review of Jen Hatmaker's book, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, so I joined, hit buy on the kindle and my journey began.  In recent years, I have found fasting interesting.  It was not something encouraged or even practiced at the baptist church I grew up in.  But the idea of fasting is biblical and to quote the book:

"Perhaps this is why Scripture calls us to the practice of fasting - from food, from greed, from selfishness, from luxuries.  It isn't just the experience, its the discipline.  It changes us.  Fasting helps us develop mastery over the competing voices in our heads that urge us toward more, toward indulgence, toward emotional volatility.  Like consistent discipline eventually shapes our children's behavior, so it is with us.  Believe it or not, God can still change us.  Not just our habits but our hearts.  Say "no" for a year and see for yourself.'"

So, why not give God every opportunity to change us?

Month Six: Spending

I specifically choose the month of spending to write on, even before I read it.  Money is hard, perhaps thats why Jesus talks about it so many times.  He knew we would have trouble with or without it.  Jen (author) chooses seven locations to spend money at for a month. 

Seven places, thats it.  If you could only spend money at seven places where would they be?

Consumerism eats at me.  Every where we look someone is trying to sell us something and when we get it bought they have something new for us to buy.   It is ugly and will eat away not only at your finances but all other aspects of life.  It is a battle and if you aren't trying to beat it, it is beating you. 

My go to excuse all my life, even as a little person, "but I need it."  What do I need that I can buy?  What can I do without?  What does my money say about my faith?

I asked my sunday school class this week,  "if you were arrested for being a Christian, what evidence would there be to convict you?"  Could your bank statments make or break your case? 

"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Matthew 19:24

Jen says "What if we are camels, on this side of the needle, dangerously content with our fake gospel and avoiding the actual Christian life described in Scripture?"

Truth be told, I suck at money.  I spend unwisely, I tithe inconsistently, I don't do money well. 

I am not rich, but I am not poor.  I do not go without.  I do not help those who do as I should.

But change is possible.  God can still use me.  He can still use you. 

What does your money say about you?

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:21

more book talk:
Charla  and Katie are writing on Waste today.
Lindsy is writing on Spending, like me.
Amy Y. is writing on both.

paul

i had a friend say the other day "who is this guy Paul anyway? i need to know about him"

the past few weeks i've spent sometime getting to know Paul, the person
we are all familiar with his words
run the race
love is the greatest of these
the letters
the examples
i can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
we know these, we recite these
but who is this guy who wrote them

paul was born around the same time of Jesus, under the name of saul
he was a roman and later a pharisee
he was known for his treatment of Christians
belittling and stoning them
but on a road to damascas he became blinded with Jesus
and changed
showing nothing but God's love every where he went after that
it took on many mission trips
to prison
and eventually to his death
all for the love of his beliefs and His God

paul calls us to action
he calls us to love
he calls us to be ambassadors for God
he was invested in God
wrote 13 books of the bible and lead many to God
what are you invested in?

Owen sang yesterday at church.  His friend Kayte stood
with him for moral support.

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:14-17

i'll talking about my investments
so come back wednesday as i share from a recent read of

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker

see what others have been saying about it here

lovely linkys
http://www.deidrariggs.com/

http://iliveinanantbed.com/

change

my head spins
life is ever changing
the only thing that stays the same is that nothing stays the same
i know
but change
oh change has got to me lately

my son finished kindergarten monday

he is growing before my eyes
i will be blink and he will be grown

this week i went to the house i moved into

after high school
i lived there until i got married
i walked around and touched the walls
the cabinets
in this house i grew up and not as a child
but as an adult
i drank too much and stayed up too late
i became a single mother
i found Jesus waiting for me
i cooked for friends every night
i had late night snacks with my brother
and i found out what i was made of
change happened there and i am better for it

i won't always teach in the same room
my son will not stay in kindergarden forever
my daughter will not always crawl
things will change
but my God...He will not
and where ever He takes me
I will work for Him

For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. Malachi 3:6

a hug

i've never considered myself a hugger

truthfully i don't really like to be touched

but yesterday i had a student who just seemed angry

and has been all year

she can be disrespectful and plan ol rude

so i took her in the hall

i said what is wrong

why are you so mean

no answer

no eye contact

look away she will go away

so i just hugged her

and she smiled

and every time she has seen me

she smiled
a true heartfelt, thank you smile

sometimes all a person, young or old, needs is a hug

Hug O' War

Shel Silverstein

A Light in the Attic

I will not play at tug o' war

I'd rather play at hug o' war,

Where everyone hugs

Instead of tugs

Where everyone giggles

And rolls on the rug,

Where everyone kisses

And everyone grins

And everyone cuddles

And everyone wins.

are you a hugger? do you ever find yourself not knowing what to say but a hug seems to sum it up?

Mother's Day

we read hannah's story today

hopeless hannah prayed for a child

a child she promised to return to God

and my heart ached for my children

and i pray for them

and i pray that they love the Lord

and i pray that I can give them to Him

seven years ago i sat in a pew

hopeless

unwed and pregant

scared

and Jesus spoke to my heart

and i gave myself and my unborn child to Him

and a burden was lifted

this son

this sweet son of mine

made me a mommy

he taught me love and laughter

sacrifice and the sweetness of life

i watch him grow in awe

and love him more than i ever thought possible

this year was my first mother's day with a daughter

my precious little girl

who only wanted me to hold her

cried when others looked her way

buried her head in my arms and closed her eyes

and tears ran down my face

God has entrusted me with one of His own

And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty , if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” 1 Samuel 1:11

Happy Mother's Day

lovely linkys

http://www.jumpingtandem.net/
http://www.5minutesformom.com/
http://iliveinanantbed.com/

identity



my daddy, me, my daughter



i've never struggled with my identity

Karrie with a K

daughter of Claude Jr. and Vickie

this is how i introduced myself at age 7

i knew who i was, where i came from , and where i was going

i will be a teacher like my grandmother

i will attend NC State University because well its the best

i am a child of God

but with Jesus no identification required

He knows how to spell my name

how many hairs are in my head

He knows who i am, where i've been, and where i'm going....even before i do

and He loves me all the same

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine." Isaiah 43:1

lovelylinkys:

great grandmothers

To say I have strong women in my blood is an understatement.....

These two women are my
GREAT GRANDMOTHERS, making me fourth generation and my childern fifth generation. 


We gathered this weekend to take some photos of our special family. Thank you MHC Photography for capturing this day for us.


Let me introduce.....

Irene Barker also known as Mom (above on the left) was born in 1921 in Ashe County, NC, one of six children, 5 girls and one boy.  She attended Riverview School until the 7th grade.  She married Lee Shupe and moved to Maryland for work.  They later returned to Ashe where her family still resided.  She had three girls.  My grandmother being the oldest.  She is was a quilter and lived next door to her sister in a little yellow house on a the hill.  This is where she still lives.

Ruby Shupe also known as Grandma(above on the right) was born in 1917 in Carrol County, Virginia, one of ten children.  Ruby went from primer to seventh grade.  She did not go to high school because you had to pay to ride the high school bus and her family could not afford it.  She then went to work on the family farm milking cows, plowing with a horse, and working in the fields.  Ruby married Tom Shupe, a coal miner.  They moved to West Virgina for work and later moved back to Virgina.  Ruby is still a member of the rescue squad.  A few years ago she was in the hospital because she fell out of a tree she was trimming.

If you google their names you aren't going to find anything, but they have surely left a legacy.  The best canned green beans from Mom and the best pickles in the whole world from grandma.  I sneak out every Christmas with a jar.  They each have three children who are still around to keep an eye on them, because they live in their houses by themself.
They have loved and lost, they have moved across states for jobs and family.  They have watched their children grow and have hard times and good times and then their grandchildren and then their great grandchildren and now their great great grandchildren. 

They are a true blessing.  They have taught me to can, how to shop at yard sales, how to plant a garden, how to make a quilt, how to love your children no matter what they do, how to give, how to love, and most of all how to live.

five generations of girls

Thank you Lord for the gift of GREAT grandmothers.

What will your legacy be?





lovely linkys:

real

real is staying up too late

and getting up too early

real is being out of bread and milk

and going to walmart for the third time this week

real is diapers, pacifers

and baby toys all in the floor

real is dirty hands and faces

and dirt all the floor beside the bath tub

real is piles of clean laundry not folded,

dirty dishes, and stacks of mail on the counter

real is the laughter, the tears, the smiles, and the cries

Real is that He is with us through all that is Real

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:20

all in a days work

Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,
Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve;
Waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.
 
its easy to start my day with patience and kindness
as i stand at my door and greet my students

good morning i say as they pass my way

 

Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows,

Fearing neither clouds nor winter’s chilling breeze;

By and by the harvest, and the labor ended,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves

but as the day continues and the complaining begins

the arguing, the disgrutle comments come my way

my work becomes weary

and my sunshine falls in the shadows

and i question my calling

and pray for patience (sometimes out loud)

Going forth with weeping, sowing for the Master,

Though the loss sustained our spirit often grieves;

When our weeping’s over, He will bid us welcome,

We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

and i cry out to my collegues and complain of my plight
i force my self to smile, to forgive, to love despite

then i walk down the hall and an eighth grader gives a hug

and another says "I miss you Mrs. Combs"

and i rejoice and remember

to rejoice in my labor

because it is worth it to one

things you can do for the teachers you know:

pray for them

pray specifically for your child's teacher

send them a note, an email, or even chocolate!

say thank you

give them a new pen, i'm sure someone has borrowed theirs and not returned lately

offer them grace

pray for them again

lovely linkys: