In Case of Emergency

The year that my husband and I got married, over ten other couples - close friends - got married. It was so much fun! All of us planned our weddings together, shared decorations, and made sure our weddings were as unique as we were. A couple of months after the wedding celebrations settled down and we were now managing life as married adults. You know - nice apartments, not bachelor pads or a house full of girls. Opening gifts, pouring over the beautiful photos, buying cars or even houses, sending out thank you cards for all of the fantastic gifts, buying furniture, decorating our own homes, inviting our fellow newlyweds over. It was a blast!

Until a lovely fall day when we got word that the apartment of one of the new brides had burned to the ground. Everything she & her new husband owned was gone. All of the brand new furniture, the piles of wedding gifts, clothes, a lifetime of photos and mementos were gone in an instant. The couple was at work when their neighbor's unit caught fire, but there was nothing they could do when their home was destroyed as a result. Then things got worse when they found out that their insurance wouldn't cover even half of what it would cost to replace everything. Important personal documents and identification were destroyed. Something like this is always a tragedy, but for newlyweds who barely have their feet on the ground, it was even more so. 

How do you prepare for something like that? It is certainly not something that you want to think about, but it is a reality. Fire, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes. They all happen. But the truth is… We don't expect them to happen to us. I didn't think it could happen to me! But there it was - my dear friend lost everything in a fire. I realized that if something similar would happen to my husband & I, we would be sunk. 

So what do you do? How do you prepare for the worst?

I will be honest… I don't totally know. It seems like one of those things that you never know until it happens. And of course, it is one thing to get be prepared and it is another thing to stay prepared over the years. More than anything… it is a lot of work. 

So here is my thought… Take one step at a time.  Start now, as you freshly married. Don't wait until everything is put away and accumulated. 

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be working on some posts for preparing in case of an emergency. It is a personal project that I am working on in my own life. But I have to mention this... Invest in a home inventory software. Sure you can totally do it via Excel or Numbers, but trust me it is so much easier to just use the software! 

I had been using excel to keep track all of my possessions. It was a nightmare! There was so much information that needed recorded. Then one day I was just checking out some apps for my mac and I discovered this wonderful software by Binary called "Home Inventory" (similar products are available for windows). It has made a world of difference! What took me days to do before, took me a few hours today with the program. 

So step one: Inventory your home before you get so many years down the road that this task becomes impossible. 

Vacation

This week my husband decided to surprise me with a very impromptu mini-vacation! How glorious! Here is where I sat... a gloriously empty beach....

With a book in hand, staring at this...

Hardly a person in sight, sitting on the shore on a cool day for a few hours. It was amazing!

Somehow I managed to end up as burnt as a lobster. My sister reminded me to check the expiration date on my sunscreen next time (two years expired... oops!!!!). 

No matter how many ways you cut it, I have the best husband in the world. He is so sweet and thoughtful. I love my man!

Happy Sunday!

Happy Sunday! Here is a song that I absolutely love listening to! I could totally see this being sung in the throne room of heaven. It's glorious! (You have to look it up.) My favorite portion is the last two stanzas. Jesus Saves by Travis Cottrell. 

Hear the heart of Heaven beating, Jesus saves! Jesus saves! 
and the hush of mercy breathing, Jesus saves! Jesus saves! 
Hear the Host of angels sing glory to the new born King 
and the sounding joy repeating, Jesus saves! 

See the humblest hearts adore him, Jesus saves! Jesus saves! 
and the wisest bow before him, Jesus saves! Jesus saves! 
See the sky alive with praise, melting darkness in its blaze 
There is light forevermore in Jesus saves! 

He will live, our sorrow sharing, Jesus saves! Jesus saves! 
He will die our burdens bearing, Jesus saves Jesus saves 
It is done will shout the cross, Christ has paid redemption's cost 
While the empty tomb's declaring, Jesus saves! 

Freedom's calling, chains are falling, hope is dawning bright and true 
Day is breaking, night is quaking, God is making all things new 
Jesus saves! 

Oh to grace how great a debtor, Jesus saves! Jesus saves! 
Are the saints who shout together, Jesus saves! Jesus saves! 
Rising up so vast and strong, lifting up salvation's song 
The redeemed will sing forever, Jesus saves!

Stewardship vs. Frugality

What do the words stewardship & frugality mean to you? They are just words. In Christian circles, these words tend to go hand in hand, but they really are quite different. According to the dictionary frugality maintains the idea of using resources sparingly, whereas stewardship gives the idea of supervising or managing resources for another.

When I was growing up, there was always a great emphasis placed on stewardship. My parents, my Pastor, ministry leaders, Christian school teachers always stressed the importance of being responsible and faithful with the resources that God had entrusted to me.

There was an extremely high cost of living, as there tends to be with any big city. While the millionaires and wealthy abound, they were not always the ones actively involved in my life. Everyone I knew faithfully used their weekly coupons, purchased items on sale, and rejoiced over a great find on the clearance rack. While the financial side of life wasn't always easy, everyone worked hard and lived within their means. They spent time with their family and loved the Lord. They were faithful to church and diligent in all that was set before them. From my child-like perspective, it seemed that they all knew God had entrusted them with their lives and they were responsible to care for it according to His principles. No matter how tight finances would be, they knew that God would provide for the tiniest need as long as they were good stewards with what they had.

I could give you story after story of how I saw this play out in people's lives.

That was stewardship.

Then I moved and the new word seemed to be "frugality." Here in Small Town, South, absolutely everything is cheaper - except for maybe groceries, because we have to pay high taxes on food. There is a lot less affluency in this area, but that's ok because it's not like I was rubbing shoulders with the millionaires anyway.

It is different though. Everyone seems to do the extreme coupon thing. Everyone shops at thrift stores & consignment stores almost exclusively, if they shop at all. And they are all always worried about money. There are certain numerous people that I absolutely cannot talk to unless the conversation is wholly centered around money. These people will drive 50 miles in their low mpg vehicle to pick up a single free item - then they will stop for lunch with the family as a reward for the money they saved. They will spend hours trolling the internet for free products, coupons, and cheap work. But they will totally miss out on time with their family, or they just can't find time to serve in ministry at church. Money is on the brain, and it is always something that they are worried about.

When I moved to this Small Town, South, I wanted to fit in with all of the other ladies. It seems like there are two key "rights of passage" - having babies (not happening anytime soon), and couponing (I guess I can do that). But I quickly discovered something about that couponing. I was worrying about money. Money is something that God is supposed to take care of. I was spending more money on groceries than ever, simply because they were on sale and I had a coupon. The ladies told me it was a good deal. Before I just bought what I needed when I needed it. If it happened to be on sale or I happened to have a coupon, it was an added bonus. Occassionally I would stock up on expensive or hard-to-find items if it truly was a good deal. But with the couponing, I was no longer relying on God to provide for me, nor was I just being a steward. I was trying to be frugal and I was trusting me.

In God's eyes, not relying on God and instead relying on me is sin. I can dress it up here on earth as a good thing, but the heart behind it is sin. When I was just a steward, I never really worried about money. Sure, I still wondered how a bill was going to be paid, or I was painfully aware that I didn't have enough money for something that my family needed. But God took care of all of that. The bills were always paid. As a steward, I carefully planned my meals with affordable ingredients. I did due diligence and searched for good deals. I tried to use coupons and buy things on sale as often as I could. Not because it was my money, but because it was God's. I knew that in the end, as long as I was faithful, He would take care of it. And He always did.

But the minute that I tried to live frugally, it suddenly seemed like the bills couldn't get paid and I was spending too much money in an effort to save money and I was busy worrying.

Stewardship & frugality - they are just two words. They mean a lot. Maybe they mean different things to you. But I know I learned the difference for me.

One thing I know for sure. God specifically tells me not to worry about finances for food or clothing because He has under control.

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. (Matthew 6:24-24)

And God specifically tells me to be a good steward of what He has entrusted to my care in Matthew 25.

Couponing, thrifting, and similar activities aren't bad. I don't mean that all. We as servants of God, just can't be consumed with them.

Be responsible, but let God be in control of your finances.

Updates

Hi Everyone,

Over the next couple of days, I will be updating a few things throughout the blog. Specifically in the area of labels. A lot of other blogs that I read seem to have 200 tags or none at all. I wanted to have only four main tags that I used (to make things easy), but then I realized that is so not helpful. So I have expanded the tag categories that I am using. You can see more information about this and some hints to what is coming on the page "Tag Topics."

Also I will be going through and fixing those horrible typos. Don't forget - new blogger over here! I hate to proofread my own work. I am too close to it, I know what it is supposed to say, and I always miss something. Sorry!

May be adding some pictures to older posts... that kind of thing. When I first started the blog, my thought was that it would be something just for me. Then people started reading it. (Thank you! It is an encouragement to me, and it has added a new level of fun.) I guess it should look nice for all of you.

As always, thank you so much for reading! Hope you like the changes.

~Kay

Praying for Boston

My heart & prayers go out to the families and loved ones of those who were injured or killed during the Boston bombings yesterday. Please continue to pray that the officials will find those responsible and bring them justice.

Heels & Wheels

No denying it... no matter how many hours I spend talking to Southerners, I am still a Northerner in my brain. I have finally learned that parkway means a long road. Viaduct means overpass. Sweet tea &  cornbread means heavenly manna to Southerners. Cut the switch means to turn ON the lights if they are off and turn OFF the lights if they are on. And a whole collection of other words that have new meaning to me. (Secret - sometimes I sit there and just nod because I am so totally lost. Those words are not in my vocabulary yet!)

So the other day I was sitting in church and the pastor said, "And we know that God owns all the heels." I was sitting their thinking - Well, that was strange. I know God is in control of my feet, but really that doesn't fit with the message.... at all. The whole concept of God owning feet really just went over my head. It must be a Southern thing.

Then this week in pastor's message, he mentioned that we have to follow God's wheel. The image that popped into my head was a wagon wheel or a chariot wheel leaving a dusty imprint in the dirt. He had just mentioned a chariot, so I guess we need to follow God's chariot? That makes sense. I think.

As I was sitting there, thinking about God owning the heels and following God's wheels... a strange thought occurred to me. Perhaps he meant God owns all the HILLS and we should follow God's WILL! Oh boy!! Am I really that blonde? It took me way too long to figure that out. So much for those thoughts about Oregon Trails.

What's Missing?

Let me ask you a really simple question: what is missing in your life? 

Is it:

·       The love of a family member?

·       Wealth?

·       Possessions?

·       Popularity amongst your peers?

·       Fame in the world?

·       Accomplishments, recognition, or a pat on the back?

Just think about that for a minute.

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. 

And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left. 

For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.

Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.

And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and other of the Levites, all that could skill of instruments of musick. 

Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters. And

when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses. And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.

~2 Chronicles 34:1-3, 8, 12-15~

At one time, there was something missing from Josiah’s life. We know from verse one of this chapter that Josiah began to reign over Israel when he was eight years old and verse two tells us that Josiah was a good king doing right in the sight of the Lord, following David’s godly example, and not faltering away from God. But despite what we learn from verse one and two about Josiah, there was still something very important that was missing from Josiah’s life.

Before Josiah could find out what was missing from his life. He had to (in a sense) clean out his life of the things that didn’t belong there. He had to clean out the temple of God.

For some reason the temple had become sort of like a bank for money, so Josiah had his men go in and take all of the money out of the temple, so they could repair it. What’s cluttering up your life? Think back to those things that we talked about being missing from your life. Are they really necessary or just cluttering up your life? Looking back, those things aren’t missing from my life. They are just clutter.

To find this really important thing that’s missing, we have to remove the clutter – all the things that are standing in the way of God.

When all the money was removed from the temple, Hilkiah the high priest found what had been missing. It was the Word of God. It had been buried beneath the clutter of the temple and no one even knew it was missing, not even the high priest – the man of God. How is it possible that the Bible was missing in Josiah’s life – he was such a man of God.

What is missing from your life? What aspect of your relationship with God whether prayer or devotions or something else needs to grow but can’t because of the other things that have crept into your life?

Mother's Day Gift Ideas

My least favorite task is to come up with cheap gift ideas for special events like Mothers Day, Fathers Day, and Veterans Day. There are only so many unique ideas for that specific occasion before you become mundain. And to make it worse, to get something Mothers Day-specific costs an arm and a leg. my one dollar per person budget only goes so far. Like how many years in a row does that mom want a carnation? Is she really going to use that cheap bookmark? Another pen?

Now give me the assignment to come up with great gifts for the entire church family and I am going to have a blast. We recently bought these cool magnetic clips and they turned out beautifully! There are so many great ideas and so many cheap options, when you are doing something that simply has the church logo. Otherwise, good luck! 

I love pens and notepads, but I really like the nice generic ones, not cheap ones trying to be fancy with strange notes on them. Ergghhh....

So here are some ideas that I have come up with. Hopefully it will help you...

• A single flower - carnation, daisy, rose, tulip
• A chocolate covered strawberry in a pretty packaging, homemade
• A nail polish & nail file in cellophane bag with pretty ribbon
• A gardening tool or kitchen tool (check your local dollar store)
• Handmade jewelry by the children's or youth ministry
• Gift bag with items that each have a special meaning to the ladies in your church (maybe related to a recent ladies event or Bible study)

After working on some ideas periodically over the last few weeks, I realized something. If I get a really good selection of gifts, I can just rotate them. That way there might be a repeat of gifts over the years, but it really wouldn't be so bad to get a flower once every five years. Would it? I think not. And if you did a carnation one year, you could do a daisy on the repeat year - five years later. 

As you start rotating items, keep looking for items to add to the list. Eventually you could be rotating the favorite items once every ten years instead. That is really a ptty good deal. 

If you still want to honor the mothers in a special way instead of a generic gift for each mother, you could honor specifically the women who became new or 1st time mothers or the 1st time grandmothers. I would avoid honoring women for things like oldest grandmother, or woman with the most children, or youngest mother, simply because some women might find those types of things embarrassing. Be attentive of this, especially if you are in a larger congregation and might not know everyone's "story." Everyone's budget differs and the number of women who would qualify for this type if gift will differ from church to church. 

• Devotional book specifically for mothers or grandmothers
• A specially imprinted, fancy mug or water bottle 
• Gift certificate to a nice salon for a manicure or spa treatment
• A nice purse or tote bag (the ladies in my church obsess over Coach and Vera Bradley because we have outlets near our property and can score name brands at deep discounts. They would love a gift like this even if they only had a small chance of receiving it!)
• Voucher for a discount to an upcoming ladies retreat or Bible study hosted by your church

No matter how many ways you look at it, selecting giveaways for any event is difficult. I hope that this gives you a few ideas for Mothers day. Oh... Above all, make sure that this Mothers Day gift is something useful and valuable to the mother. Something that lets her know that you thought about her! 

Stay tuned for some ideas for Father's Day and other fun gift occasions. 

How Far Would You Go?

Where He leads me I will follow, I'll go with Him all the way. 

When God calls you to serve Him in any particular capacity, how far are you willing to go to serve Him?

That question seems to come up in my life quite often. When I was a teenager I committed to follow Jesus wherever He chose to go. Put me on the mission field in Russia or China? Bring it! Serve as a layman? Let's do it! Whatever He wants me to do - that's what I want to do! 

And God has put me to the test... multiple times. When I was looking at colleges, I knew that the Lord wanted me to go into ministry. I wasn't totally sure what capacity He wanted me in ministry, but I knew full-time ministry was in my future. That's what God wanted for me. The problem was I wanted to go to one college that focused on ministry, and my parents wanted me to go to a different college that focused on education. Both were great schools. Both would give me the opportunity to serve in full-time ministry. But my parents wanted me to go to this other school. 

As a person who was living in my parents' home and planned on continuing to do that until I graduated from college, and as a person whose parents were helping to pay for college, I knew that I had to obey them - to go to the school of parents choosing. That was following God. Even though deep down in my heart, I personally felt that I should go to the ministry school. God had given my parents responsibility over me, and He had given me the responsibility to obey my parents. How many times had I been told that if I obeyed my parents, I was obeying God? It was the right thing to do, so I applied and proceeded to prepare to attend that college. As I did this, God changed my parents hearts so that they actually wanted me to go the ministry college. We all knew that going to the ministry school was where God wanted me to be. God had simply tested me to see how far I would go to follow Him. It was not a comfortable life lesson to learn, but it was necessary. 

The important life lesson I learned that summer of my senior year came back into play a year ago. My husband and I were facing two choices. We had prayed extensively about both ministry options. They were incredibly different, requiring different skills with dramatically different people in dramatically different areas of the country. There was no specific reason that we would have chosen either option. But every time we knocked on the door that led us here, it swung wide open. We followed God.  He led us here. We wouldn't have chosen it for ourselves. He chose it. He asked us to follow Him, so we did. 

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. 

How far would you go to follow Jesus?

Prayer Request

Dear Friends,

Please be in prayer for my husband & I today. God put a burden on our hearts months ago. It is an emotional burden... A heavy burden that we do not bear but must still live through. My husband and I are workers. When God lays a burden on our hearts, we immediately jump into action. But this time, we were totally dumbfounded. We had no idea how to act and have simply waited for God to move. We have waited for several weeks and now - today - we will know a little more. Maybe today we will know the next step. Maybe today we will know that God just wanted us to be willing to obey Him. Maybe today we will know if we need to wait more. I don't know. And that is why I ask for prayer.

The Lord's will be done. Not mine, not my husbands. Where He leads us, we will follow.

- Kay

Beginner

I just want to apologize for all of my beginner blogger issues. This past week or so I have been blogging from my tablet, which did not work out as well as I would have liked. Today is the first day back to the laptop...

So please forgive the errors, repeats, and blah. I learned my lesson. :)