Getting what I asked for.

Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
    give me neither poverty nor riches;
    feed me with the food that is needful for me,
lest I be full and deny you
    and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or lest I be poor and steal
    and profane the name of my God.

Proverbs 30:8-9

My husband and I took this challenge from Francis Chan via YouTube about 5 or 6 years ago.   The Lord started pressing on us to live very simply.  We thought we were, but no.  I still had my Starbucks indulgences, never stuck to a budget, and ate out way too often.  But, he still kept pressing us.  Was it to prepare for the adoption of our two littlest ones?  Maybe.  Was it to prepare us to live in an RV for 4 months?  Maybe.  Was it to prepare us to live on mission? Maybe.  I think it was to bring us even closer to Him, because He loves us. 

We continually ask Him to remove from our life the things that keep us from depending on Him alone. He asked my husband Jason to walk away from the height of his career to focus on the "least of these".   It was one of the hardest things we have ever done. People that we love dearly thought we crazy to throw away the American dream.  In the back our minds we were nervous that they were right.      

              
So were they?  Well, we are about a year into this journey of recklessly following Jesus and I must say No, they were wrong.  We are poorer than we have ever been and we are more blessed than we have ever been.  He has broken our hearts for what breaks His time and time again. We have shared the gospel of Jesus to people that we never would have associated with in our previous life of suburban comfort. We have witnessed life change because of the Holy Spirit.   This..... is.... the..... joy.  This is the true blessing of the christian life. 

 He has blessed us with everything we need in a way that makes it clear that it is His doing.  He has put food in our pantry, clothes on our backs, and even new tires on the car.  He is using my husbands meager income from a non-profit and blessings from friends to provide.  It has been extremely humbling to receive when we are used to being the ones to give.  Humility is such a gift.  It kills the desire to think you have anything to do with what is good in your life. It is all a gift from Him.

Pray that he reveals the idols in your life.  Pray Provers 30:7-9.  See what He reveals.