Where do you draw the line?

I've struggled with a concept for such a long time.  It is the concept of money--where do you draw the line when you are purchasing something.  I am not attempting to write a sound theological argument or anything like that.  I am just putting my thoughts out there and seeing what kind of discussion I can generate.  Let me start off by giving an example of my struggle and then I can try to explain my thoughts.  Let's say you want to buy a car.  You can afford a new honda accord easily.  No sweat off your back, no debt.  Lets say this honda cost $25,000.  But someone asks you why you bought such an expensive car when you could have bought a used/new ________ (you fill in the blank for something cheaper).  Well, the first question is what is expensive?  I think expensive is a relative term.  If someone makes millions of dollars a 25,000 dollar car isn't much money at all.  Heck, 100,000 dollar car probably isn't much.  My question is for Christians though.  We are called to live above reproach.  Be different.  Have a higher standard for ourselves.  We are called to give to the needy, help the poor, etc.  Could I buy a cheaper car and give the difference to a family in need?  Yes, of course!  But, what if the new car I buy is safer than the used one.  What if the used one needs tons of repairs done on it?  What if the new one has a 5 year warranty.  For the sake of the argument, lets say you buy a cheaper car for $15,000.  That is a $10,000 difference.  But someone else says woah, why didn't you buy a 5,000 dollar car?  See what I am getting at?  Where do you draw the line?  Is it relative? You can always go cheaper so how cheap do you go?  I don't have the answers to this. I have struggled with this thought for a few years now and here are some of my thoughts so far are:

1.  Are you first of all giving you 10% to the church;

2.  Is it a need;

3.  Can something cheaper give you the same desired outcome without sacrificing safety (perhaps BMW vs. Honda);

4.  What is the Holy Spirit saying to you;

5.  What is your motivation for buying a "nicer" thing--recognition, pride, selfishness...;

6. When will enough be enough?  People always want more--faster, newer technologies, seat warmers/coolers, dvd players.  

I read through 1 Timothy today and the last chapter (6) is what finally sparked me to write about this struggle of mine.    

Starting in verse 6:

"But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.  People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.  Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."  

--FIrst of all, I don't want to fall into all that!  I am raising a child now and I want to raise her up in a way that will glorify the Lord.  She imitates EVERYTHING I do and I know it only gets worse. I am going to be held accountable for how I raised my children.  I want to be an example about how to spend wisely and I want to protect them from the things that happen when you desire riches.  I don't want to raise children who are selfish that think they need everything.  The Bible warns many times about the dangers of riches.  Plus, in my own life, i have seen it tear people down. 

--Continuing in the last section in chapter 6:17-19.

"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.  In this age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."

--Finally, I leave with this.  Some people are going to be rich and some will be poor.  No matter how much money is given, there are always going to be people in need.  Can we save them all (in regard to ridding the world of poverty, etc)?  No.  So, how much do we give?  How much do we sacrifice to help those in need?   Where do we draw the line?  

Thoughts?

McKenzie got the Roseola Virus!

Last Friday night I noticed McKenzie started running a fever.  I took her temperature and it was 104.7!  I immediately gave her some motrin and the fever went down to about 102 ish...It was very bothersome though!   I couldn't stand that she was running such a high fever!!  So, the following morning we went to the doctors and had her checked out.  He checked her throat and ears and all was clear, so he took some blood and it was clear, then he did a urinary test and it was clear.  

So, Nathan and I are just puzzled--but the doctor isn't.  He said that there is a virus called the Roseola virus (i may be misspelling this name!) that produces high fevers for a few days and then when the fever is gone a rash forms on the body.  Well, this morning McKenzie woke up fever free!! but she had a rash on her belly and back.  It is very faint right now but it is there.  I will get some pictures when she wakes up and post them. 

Funny stuff!

Okay, so I came home from school the other day (after Kerre was watching Mckenzie) and started looking through my camera...Lo and behold, I found some awful pictures of my baby!!! They were borderline child abuse!  

So, in order to make things right, I got a few pictures of my own: 

In my opinion, I think she looks happier in the last two!  haha!  

Anyway, school is out for the summer (besides my Tuesday night counseling) and I am excited!  I am going to really focus on photography and learning all the different settings to use to make good pictures.  Hopefully I will get some experience soon and be able to start a part-time business that will help pay for school.  I am still passionate about counseling for those of you who may be thinking "why are you in school then?"  I am just going after a hobby that i have loved since a kid!  Well, McKenzie is still asleep so I am going to take this time to curl up to a good book.  

Where have I been?

Well, I realize i have not blogged in quite a while.  Friends and family have been getting on my case to get back to it :)  So, here I am.  I am about to finish this semester (on Monday)!  I should be studying for my tests but this seemed to be more fun.  To catch some people up, I am graduating May 2010 with my masters in Marriage and Family Counseling.  It has taken me a while to get through this degree -- I started August 2006.  Most of the people I started with have graduated or are about to graduate this May.  I took a year off and taught middle school math for a year, but the Lord would not let me get away from Seminary :)  I tried to fight it, but there was no doubt that was where I was called.

I have finally started to actively pursue learning photography.  I have been so passionate about photography since middle school.  I remember taking my little brother, Kyle, out to some fields with my little ghetto 35 mm camera and taking shots of him.  I loved it!  Well, now I actually have a good camera with some lenses that will allow me to do some good work!  Plus, my mother-in-law has tons of stuff I can borrow so I am very blessed by that!  So, if anyone needs a photographer (if that is what I am) I would love to work with you. I am looking for people who would let me practice on them or their family so I can get experience. If you are interested, let me know and we can get together.  Right now I won't charge anything for the time because I need to learn and you would be helping me!  

Lastly, my little baby girl is almost a year old...well, next Saturday she will be 11 months old!  I can't believe how old she is but I can't say it has gone by fast because we have enjoyed every moment of her.  It is just weird that the time has passed....does that make sense?  It does to me :) So, I will begin posting more, sharing my pictures, thoughts, and life with you.  

Moses, forgiveness, love

Okay, it is 11:40 pm and I started "writing" a blog in my head as I was about to go to sleep.  I wanted to just turn over and go to sleep, but in case it was the Lord's prompting I decided to get out of bed and be obedient if it was His calling for me to wake up and type this.  There are times in my life I feel like I should do something and I just blow it off and then realize that could've been the Holy Spirit speaking to me...you never know.  

So, I am in a Bible study called BSF (Bible Study Fellowship).  It is amazing!  It is the most in depth Bible study I have ever had and it is truly a Bible study and not a grief share time.  No offense, but I have been to Bible studies where the first hour of the hour and a half lesson is dedicated to people talking about their problems and you never get to study Scripture.  I can meet for coffee or something to talk about problems, but when it is a Bible study, I want to do just that. 

Okay, so this Bible study I am in is a year long study on the life of Moses.  Most people are familiar with his life and how God used him in the Old Testament.  Think for a second of all the ways he was used by God....  He was kept alive by his mother when the Pharaoh made an edict to kill all male boys when they were born, he was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, he led the Israelites out of Egypt and to the Promised Land, parted the Red Sea, wrote the Ten Commandments, and so much more.  Okay so would you say God's hand was on him?  I sure would...I mean, the angel of the LORD visited him as a burning bush and spoke to him!  I cannot say I have ever experienced anything like that from the Lord.  

So, there is some background on Moses.  I tried to build him up a bit, not like it was hard because he was a great man.  But, do you realize that Moses committed murder?  Read Exodus 2:11-14.  He murdered an Egyptian for beating a Hebrew.  He acted on impulse and did a terrible thing.  The Egyptian was in the wrong, but he did not need to be punished by the death penalty!  I was encouraged this week and I wanted to encourage someone like I was encouraged.  Moses made a mistake.  He acted on impulse and murdered a man.  Who knows what other things he may have done, we don't know much about his life growing up.  I was encouraged by this because Moses made a mistake on impulse but God still used him greatly.  God forgave his sins and didn't hold it against him.  Too often, people hold grudges on us for things we did.  We didn't mean to do them, and if we could we would go back and fix it but we can't go back.  We can't do things over.  Moses probably regretted killing that man, but the damage was done.  An interesting fact I learned in my Bible study was that it is never mentioned again about Moses killing the Egyptian. God was not constantly reminding him of the mistake he made.  God forgave him and not only did he forgive him, but he used him so save so many people.  Scripture tells us that our sins are cast as far as the east is from the west.  Your sins are forgiven.  No matter what they may be.  WHen you come to the Lord and confess what you have done, he forgives you automatically.  We see in the New Testament that when Jesus met someone who was living in sin, for the most part, all he said was go and sin no more.  He didn't badger them and give them a lecture about the wrong things they had done.  He simply said go and sin no more.  I love that!  

If you are bearing the burden of a sin, confess it and ask the Lord to forgive you and help you in overcoming it.  Once you confess it, it is done. You don't need to bear that burden anymore.  Free yourself.  We all make mistakes and we are all in need of forgiveness.  If someone in your life is constantly reminding you of how awful you are, stop listening to them because they are not showing the love of Christ and they are only being part of Satan's plot to destroy you on the inside.  

Jesus says in Matthew 11: 28-30, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Cry out to Jesus.  If you feel like you can't be used for the Kingdom, you are wrong.  God can use you and your testimony about your life to reach the lost.  Don't give up on yourself.  Don't let someone make you feel worthless.  Find your worth in the Lord.  

Okay, 30 minutes later, I am going to bed.  I hope someone can be encouraged by this the way I was.  We can all be used by Christ no matter how bad the sin may be, no matter how worthless we may feel.  Christ loves you and died for you.  

Who do you turn to?

Have you ever heard of the saying, "Run to the throne and not your phone." When I first heard this little saying I was filled with guilt. Most of the times when I have some type of problem, I call Nathan because I want instant feedback. When I pray about things, I don't get instant feedback. Gods timing isn't our timing. At the end of the day I am glad Nathan is an ear that will listen to my problems, but he can't necessarily solve it for me or make it any better. I need to turn to the Lord with my problems because He alone is going to make things right.

In the book of Isaiah I read a passage about King Hezekiah. Hezekiah is a great example of what to do when we are faced with problems. In Isaiah 37:14-20 (chapter 36 and the beginning of chapter 37 explains more of what is going on) Hezekiah is told the Assyrian army is going to destroy him and that his "god" could not save him. When King Hezekiah receives word of this, he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD (Is. 37:14). King Hezekiah is such a great example to follow. He immediately goes to the LORD with his problem and in his prayer praises God! Hezekiah is being threatened by the Assyrian army and instead of getting scared and trying to run away, he turns to the LORD. Not only did he turn to the LORD but he praised the LORD before anything else! How many times do we praise the LORD first when we are upset? I know I don't do it. I come selfishly to the throne and give Him all my problems. I am not saying He doesn't want to hear my problems. God wants to know every thought we have, he wants a relationship with us!


So, do you want to know what happened to King Hezekiah? Well, the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp (Is. 37:36a). WOW! God is so good and He does take care of us when we come to him.

Now, I know some may say, I have been praying for years, months, weeks for the Lord to help me and nothing has changed. I ask this first. Is what you are praying for in accordance with God's character. For example, are you praying for God to give you all the riches of the world, make a man/woman divorce his/her husband so you can be w/ him/her, perhaps you are praying your spouse will look like Brad Pitt (had to put a funny in here)...Whatever it is, make sure it is in accordance with his character. The other thing to remember is to think what your motives are when you are praying. A verse that is very convicting for me at times is in Psalms 139: 23-24. It states: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting." I find myself praying for things that may not be necessary or are very selfish. I don't really pray for God's will to be done, I pray that what I want will be done. Sometimes when we pray we think we know what God's will is and we really don't. How could we know the thoughts of God? I know I have prayed over and over for marriages to last and they don't. I know that when I pray for the Lord to keep these marriages together that is according to his character because God tells us in Micah he hates divorce and we see throughout Scripture how divorce is a sin (I know Scripture does give two reasons divorce may be okay). One thing I have to remind myself over and over again is that we are all sinners. Christians are going to get divorces, they are going to get drunk, have pre-marital sex, etc. But, Scripture also says that God works for the good of those who love him. So, maybe through a divorce God's glory will shine...somehow. We may not understand it but we have to keep faith that whatever we are praying for that God is in control and that he is going to do whatever it takes to make his name known and to bring his people to him. He may not allow a marriage to stay together or He may allow trouble to come your way in other forms so that it will bring his children back to Him.

I encourage you to keep faith. When you feel as though your prayers are bouncing back, tell yourself they aren't. That is Satan's way of making you feel like our big God doesn't care about our little problems. God cares about us more than anything else in this world. Don't lose hope in whatever circumstances you are in. You may be in them because you are far from the Lord and this is his way of bringing you back...it may be a way later on in life you can help someone else in the same situation...Just don't give up on God...keep praying. Make the Lord your best friend and come to him with your problems. Lay it at the throne of our Savior who desires deeply to help us in our needs. I leave you with this:

"Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord." Isaiah 55:6-8

We made it through!

Last Saturday night I woke up with stomach flu type symptoms! It was AWFUL! Nathan ended up taking me to a clinic and they pumped me with two bags of fluids. I felt a lot better afterwards but still very weak. Well, Sunday night I woke up to Nathan throwing up! He kept saying Sunday night before bed he wasn't feeling really good but we were thinking it was maybe in his head since I was so sick...well, we were wrong! He had to stay home from work on Monday because he was sick too. To top it all off, McKenzie started running a fever of 100 degrees mid afternoon on Monday and she was also having diarrhea. We called the doctor and he was able to see her that day. So Nathan, McKenzie and I load up in the car and drive to the doctors. We looked pitiful. Nathan and I were so pale and sickly looking it wasn't even funny. Then we are carrying this crying baby who is sick. It was just one of those days. Well, the doctor said McKenzie is going to be fine unless her temperature goes over 102. It hasn't yet. She is still having some diarrhea but her temperature is below 100 so that is great. It has been hard watching her cringe in pain when the diarrhea kicks in. She is so little and fragile and there isn't anything I can do to help her out :( I guess this is the beginning of many more trips to the doctors office. Anyway, she is sleeping soundly on my chest right now. I am sure this phase is going to go by too fast so i am enjoying every minute of listening to her little breaths on my chest :)