First day down……..not so bad =)

First day of summer break for both girls was not so bad. My sweet friend called and offered to let Hopie come play at her house for a while (THANK YOU!!!) and so Taylor, Kennedy and I had some time together. (Thank you to all my sweet friends who are being SO NICE during this time!!!) We got a bunch of errands done and just had a good day together. Last night Taylor desperately wanted to go to the bookstore, but I refuse to take that baby in a bookstore (she’s just to loud), so we waited until daddy got home and we went. Taylor is so incredibly in love with the Lord it just fills my heart with joy! She wanted to buy a devotional book with her own money. So we set out to find just the right thing…..and she informed me she was on a budget!

After much searching she finally found one that she liked. We got up to the counter and she started pulling out all her wrinkled dollar bills (from her piggy bank). The man at the register was just touched that this young girl was spending her own money on a devotional book. Well, a woman heard Taylor counting out her money and smiled sweetly at me. After Taylor was done, she turned around and the woman said to Taylor, “May I give this to you? I won’t be able to use it and I’m sure you could.” She handed Taylor a five dollar gift certificate to that bookstore! Taylor’s face just LIT up!!! She’s very frugal and doesn’t like to spend money unless it’s something that she just loves! While we were walking to the car Taylor and I were talking about how God had blessed her for being obedient with His money. Had she chosen to go to the dollar store and fill up on things that would get thrown away, she most likely wouldn’t have received a blessing like that! But because she chose to spend her money on something that was going to grow her relationship with Christ, He blessed her big time!

Touching thoughts for a momma in a situation where I’m trying to make many decisions about money! My friend Leigh at Speaking thru me, was talking about a ministry called, Crown Financial on her blog. Kris and I have taken the course and it truly did change the way we view money. I don’t think Kris and I agreed with everything that Crown teaches, I think they are bit extreme on some thoughts……but I agree I’d say with 95 percent of it. The bottom line is this, nothing we have is ours anyways, it all belongs to Him. When you start to think about EVERYTHING in life being God’s anyways, it really changes your perspective. It is at his discretion who he gives more or less to but it ALL comes from Him. I think the verse that stuck with me the most was this…….Proverbs 10:22, “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds NO trouble to it.”

I think about my brother when I read that verse. He received a GREAT deal of money and has had nothing but harm come his way since and before he received that money. I imagine his life would be quite different had he not received that money, which is pretty much all gone now. (which is good!) So what do I take from that verse? When God chooses to bless us with any amount of money, there aren’t going to be negative strings attached at all! But the key is being faithful with what we’re given. God has always been so faithful to us…….we have never felt like God just didn’t provide. Now……..most times it was the 11th hour when God stepped down….but He’s always been faithful!!

Yesterday I finally came to terms with a lot of stuff in my life. I finally am ok with the price-range we are in. I’m not expecting God to still bless us with a great big house, granted he could and I could pray for it………..but I’m not. I’m just being still. Does it scare me to think of being in a small house??? A little………just b/c we are so used to all having our own space. But, I realized something huge yesterday………it doesn’t matter. I’m still going to serve Him, praise Him and love Him no matter where I am.

I remember our first house and I remember being embarrassed to have people over. It seemed as if everyone else lived in a big house and had it all together. It makes me sad b/c I know that was not how God wanted me to be. I will not be that way in our next house b/c I know whatever it is……..is where God had led us. Our first house was where I led us! =) But what’s SOOO funny about this……I truly have seen God use other people to lead us to our houses. And I believe that God will use someone I know to lead me to a house. So if you see a house out there for sale, let me know!! =)

Well, wild girly’s are running around so I’d better go and figure out what we’re gonna do today. GOTTA STAY BUSY, but not spend money!! =) That is the theme for this summer!! I pray you have a very blessed day and weekend!!