Me of little faith

Yesterday I got what I considered the worst possible email from the people renting our old house and trying to buy it. The house did not pass inspection due to "apparent previous water damage". Yes, it is true that there was previous water damage. This is why we spent a lot of money on foundation repairs to make sure the house was structurally sound and dry before we moved into it 5 years ago. I seriously couldn't breathe at the thought of our renters buying a different house, leaving us with a vacant unsold house. We could really not afford both mortgages BEFORE we went into serious debt to bring home Eliza, but now, the thought sent me into a serious panic.

Why is it that I have such little faith in the all-powerful God of the universe to handle this? Why when I know that He loves me more than I can conceive? When I know that He is the One who created the sun...

...and the moon

... and amazingly beautiful landscapes that can take your breathe away...

...and make you realize just how small you really are.

AND He is the One who healed the broken hearts of these two broken people...

And blessed them beyond their greatest imagination.

Why is it that I have such little faith, when He promises to give me hope and a future, and peace that surpassed all understanding? My God is the Almighty, Omniscient, Loving, Gracious, Merciful God of the Universe, and He is also my abba father, who cares what happens to me, and loves me with the love only a perfect daddy can give. He has proven to me time after time, that He is more than capable...He is God, and with Him, ALL things are possible.

There, I feel much better now.

Passion for the Poor

For the past few weeks, God has really been working on my heart for the poor of the world. It’s not that I didn’t care about or have compassion for the poor before, but God seems to be throwing some extra fuel on the fire.

Perhaps this is because, after 3 years of trying to sell our rental house, we finally have a contract pending, and if all goes well (prayers appreciated), we will close by the end of March. What this means for us is that we will be able to use the equity from that house to pay off the debt we incurred in order to bring home our precious daughter. This relieves a massive financial burden. Perhaps, God is preparing my heart to use the extra money that we’ll not be paying in credit card debt to love his people, specifically the poor, hungry, orphaned, and sick of this world. It feels like I am being bombarded with messages of God’s command to care for them, and His message of how difficult it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

This is such a hard message for me, because suburbia tells me that we are not rich. Some in our culture would even tell us that we are among the poor. After all, we are a family of 7 living on the very modest salary of a small town police officer. After all, our family qualifies for the reduced price school lunch program, and WIC, and in the not so distant past, we were collecting food stamps.

So obviously we are among the poor, right? I think not. I think we live in a nice suburban neighborhood, in a nice home that is fully furnished and nicely decorated, with 2 cars in our driveway, plenty to eat (sometimes more than plenty), and nice clothes to wear. I think we have 5 televisions, 4 video game systems, and 3 computers. I think our boys are involved in extra curricular activities, and we go on vacation almost every year. Is that really what qualifies for poor in this country? Seriously, we are poor enough to not pay taxes (sorry, I didn’t make the tax laws), and yet you just read the life we live, and it is not a life of poverty.

Granted, we cut back in areas that many in middle class Americans do not. Things like cable TV, dinners out to eat, and brand new cars (our both have over 120,000 miles) are not in our budget. But that is it. These are not the necessities of life. Doing without cable television does not, in my book, make us among the poor. If you ask me, we are wealthy by the world’s standards.

So, the burning question in my heart is, “What are we, the wealthy, going to do to serve those who really are poor?”.

Isaac is 6!

The past few days have been so busy that I haven't had time to post, but I wanted to share my favorite memories of Isaac with you. He turned six years old this week. I can hardly believe he is getting so big already.

Wordless Wednesday - Change me!!!

Pedi-time!

I couldn't resist posting pics of the sweetest little painted baby toes you've ever seen. Princess Eliza had her first official pedi today! Her polish...pink, of course. How stinkin' fun! I love girl time! FYI: teeny-tiny baby toenails are kinda hard to paint, but so worth it.