No buy day vs. black Friday madness

The day after Thanksgiving has become completely crazy. 

CRAZINESS

People are trampling, beating, cutting, pepper spraying and killing one another-for stuff. 

It's all just stuff! 

As Americans our homes are full of stuff, over flowing with stuff, junk, trinkets, things, moments from everywhere. Our closets are jam packed and over flowing. 

We have a show about people who have too much stuff, they even have a special name for them-Hoarders. 

But, what about "normal people" who have too much stuff, but it's all put away and organized neatly?

Who are these people fighting over things at stores and hurting others? 

I can't even believe that we as a society have gotten bad enough that we can't even stop to help someone who is clearly having a heart attack or trapped in a car in a lake. 

It's IDIOCRARCY! (side note: amazing movie made in the early 2000's. I see it happening all around us.)

 People have lost the sense that God gave them! 

So what is the answer? 

1.  Realize that there is nothing that you can buy that will make you (or anyone else) happy. 
2. Know when enough is enough. 
3. Value people over things.

This video shows the real cost of Black Friday and our wasteful ways. At the end of this post I will post some alternatives you can start this year. 

For this year on Black Friday I refuse to be a part of the madness, craziness or traffic. I don't want to stand in line to get a 90" TV for $200 if there is a chance that I will die over it, or someone else will. 

I do not need another TV. We have one that works just fine. (This is just an example. There is nothing that I need this badly, that I would even CONSIDER putting someone else at risk for it.) 

As a Christian, why would I ever want to do this? Why would I trade who God has made me to be for a TV, or a 90% off discount? (again, example.) 

God made me to love people, to lead them to Him. To the only freedom that we can ever know. 

How can I do that if I am bashing them over the head one day and then greeting them in church a few days later? What does that say to the unbeliever? It says that I'm a hypocrite. That I only say that I care about people. That's not what I want people to think of me and it's definitely not what I want people to see when they look at Jesus. 

Jesus said, 'put down your cross and follow me.' 

Put it down. Put down the discounted TV, put down your sorrow and loneliness that you think can only be filled up by material goods. 

Seek the one that made you. He waits for you. 

"Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?  

If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I’m leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you’ll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels.”

                   -Mark 8:34-38 (The Message Translation) 

This year, lets spend the time with our family,  friends and people. Make it a day to buy nothing. Focus on what is important to you. If you think that things are important you are going to go shopping no matter what.  But, just ponder these words in your heart. 

That thing that you just have to have, will it save you or make you free?

Buying things isn't wrong. We are all human and have needs. Even Jesus, when he was on Earth had needs. Just keep them in their proper place. 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas!

Want to make a difference?

1. Sponser a child who has nothing. Give them food, education and the chance to grow up healthy. For $38 a month you can give a child a better life. 
2. Learn more about zero waste.
3. Invite someone to your Thanksgiving that you know can't go home to their family this year or will be alone. It is a hard time of year and no one should have to be alone. 
4. Come up with a shopping-free tradition for your family this year. 

Are you the Luke 13 woman too?

Yeah, I know...you cringed when you read that. Wait, who? What woman? Is she important? What was her name again...?

Do you remember the woman in Luke 13?
No? Neither did I. I had always read over it thinking it wasn't important...because, yeah I'll be honest, I wanted to get to the good stuff. But, this IS the good stuff. 

I mean here is this woman who had probably been in the synagogue for a long time. The rabbis know her, they have seen her every week, maybe every day. Yet, no one had healed her or been able yet. 
Then there is the woman in Luke 8 who just touched Jesus' clothing(look her up later. Powerful stuff!) 
Doesn't really seem like a big deal at first. But...then I went to a women's retreat this past weekend. WOW!! I feel like these stories were explained to me in terms I could understand. And it was SO powerful in my life. I'll explain(a bit.) 

You see...I'm the secret keeper. No, it's not an official title. Some of you may know what I mean and I hurt for you, I pray the healing power of Jesus name over you. 
The secret keeper isn't told (usually) to keep it. They just do, they feel unworthy, unimportant and sometimes even unloved. Have you ever felt that way? I've always heard we all feel like this, so I thought it wasn't a big deal. *HINT* I was wrong. Really wrong. You see, Jesus cares for us-deeply, passionately and honestly. It's a love that we cannot understand. We just aren't wired to understand it. (Ephesians 3:19)

Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself a bit here.  

10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11 And there was a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” 13 And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God. 14 But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.” 15 Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead it away to water it? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?” 17 As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
-Luke 13:10-17 

Did you get that? Cause just reading it, I admit...I didn't get it. 

It seems like I was focusing on the wrong part of the story. He's telling these guys that they are hypocrites because they do work and unbind their animals on the sabbath, yet they cannot even see that this woman is worthy of the same treatment.  Yet, I didn't see it. 

She has probably been in the church/synagogue a long time. Jesus says 'She's one of ours, a daughter of Abraham.' She's been bent over for EIGHTEEN YEARS!! Can you imagine? The Bible doesn't say exactly how she was bent over, but she may have been looking at the floor for years. Maybe she heard about this Jesus and was there like the woman in Luke 8. Maybe it was just chance. Maybe she had nowhere else to go having spent all her money on healers and physicans.   Maybe she knew all the feet and voices that passed her by, never seeing a kind face look her way. These are a lot of maybes, but we really don't know and it's not for us to know. But, it does say that she had an infirmity, some translations say demon. 
Satan wants to bend us over ourselves. So that we cannot do God's kingdom work. 


Are you bound and bent over? Does satan have you fooled into thinking that you can't be healed? That you aren't worthy? That you don't matter? That nobody loves you and you aren't important to anyone??

LIES! ALL LIES. SATAN IS THE AUTHOR OF LIES. 

Don't listen to Him. 

I was bent over thinking it was my fault, that I somehow was to blame for someone else's abuse. 

I'm not. 

That I was some how responsible for someone's actions toward me. 

I'm not. 

 I was fooled and tricked and bent over myself with hatred, guilt, shame and regret. I don't have the power to change the past (There are a few things I'd like to fix in my life...) But, Jesus has the power, and wants to, heal us for the future. He wants to give us a future and a hope.

I'm not claiming that for my future anymore. 

See, Jesus, in His mercy calls this woman by name. We don't know it, but He does. We don't need to know everything. We just need to let him do a healing work in us. Maybe it's physical, maybe it's spiritual, or maybe, like mine, it's emotional. These chains keep us from seeing Jesus' face. 
When this woman is healed the very first thing that she sees is Jesus face. How amazing is that? Can you imagine? I can't even. I mean, you are bent over for 18 years! Nobody has healed you, then this man calls you over to him by your name. And heals you, just like that. And you look up into his sweet, sweet face. We need to seek His face. 

All things are for the Glory of the one who made us. All things are for the Glory of God, The most high, He who is worthy to be praised, He who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

He cares deeply about YOU!

In the same way he calls this woman by name. He calls you, He wants to know you, wants you to come to Him. But, He always lets us choose. 





14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God.
-Ephesians 3:19


Versions stated in this post are Revised Standard Version. I encourage you to read more than one translation and find one that makes sense to you. Read your Bible and check that these things I say (or anyone says) about Jesus are true. Don't just believe something because someone tells you to believe. Investigate, pray, read, and speak to Our Father. He longs to hear from you. He longs to know you. He longs to have a relationship with you. If you don't know what this means. I will be glad to talk to you or find someone that you know in your community to speak with about Jesus. 

He loves us, Oh how He loves us. How He loves us ALL. 

Things I learned working for a horrible boss at a job I loathed going to everyday.

I know, I know. Nobody WANTS to work with people that they don't like or at a place that doesn't value them, but sometimes you just have to stick it out a little bit longer. Maybe you need the insurance, maybe you just want to stay until you find something better, or maybe you need some more experience and then you can move up a level. 

Sometimes you need to leave, but you need to have the wisdom and the discernment to know when you should stay as well. 

My old job was at a college and they paid for my tuition. I was trying to finish my degree and I knew that I needed to finish up as much as I could with their help. (Tuition was more than I was making in a year for one semester, not to include books.)

I did in the end quit to finish my last semester there, but it worked out well. I was engaged (to my now wonderful husband!) and we worked together on a plan for me to finish my schooling and that I would be able to afford it when I finally left. (There are some things that I actually typed here that my old boss said to me would never happen and I think she was just being mean and spiteful, but I didn't want to be like her; so I deleted them.)

I worked 2 jobs for a little while because I was trying desperately to get out of the debt hole I dug for myself. I could blame my ex-husband, but ultimately it was my fault and I dealt with it. I am debt free now and I will remain thus for the duration of my life. 

Things I learned working for a horrible boss

1. Sometimes you need to learn humility. 

I didn't want to admit that I was prideful. (I think that's part of being prideful.) but I was. I thought that I could do all the things better than anyone else, and that I didn't need their help. I was wrong. I had always worked with a specific type of people and these new people were different and SO unlike me. I was humbled in the fact that I need to humble myself before God. 

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." -2 Chronicles 7:14

2. Someone there may need to learn something from YOU. 

Maybe your calling is different than mine was, but since I'm writing about my experiences I can only tell you what I know. Maybe you are supposed to be a light to lead others to Christ. 

"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." -John 13:35

I taught a few of the girls how to become debt free and I talked to one extensively about Dave Ramsey and I gave her the website. I really hope that she is now debt free, because nobody wants or should have to be a slave. 

"The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender." -Proverbs 22:7

3. Learn to work FOR God. 

Near the last year I worked there I realized that it didn't matter how the people there treated me or how miserable I was, I was working for the Lord. What an honor and a privilege that should be! 
I want to hear "Well done good and faithful servant" when I get to heaven. 

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord. Colossians 3:23

4. Learn to pray for those who persecute you.

Not everyone is going to like you, in fact quite a few people that you interact with will down right loathe you.  Some of them don't have the tact to not tell you that they don't like you in some sort of mean way. 
There was a girl I worked with who was tactless, rude and downright mean to me and quite a few others. She was the quintessential mean girl that you would recognize from high school. Some how she still managed to be quite popular. She mistreated people and I was one of the few to stand up for others. But, I learned that something in her was broken by watching her. Her and my boss got on quite well, but I was always the "odd one." I'm kind of use to it, but it still hurts none the less. Praying for someone who hates, despises you and does everything in their power to mike your life a nightmare is NOT easy. But, it is worth it. Holding onto that anger will only hurt you. Giving up that pain and hurt to God will make you a better person. But, lets not get prideful again, right?

"But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," -Matthew 5:44

5. Patience is a hard learned virtue

Patience is never easy to learn. I asked for patience in my life once. God decided to grant me that wish. Placing you in a workplace that you can't wait to run screaming from EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. is definitely going to help you learn patience. I had to learn to be patient for my homestead and now I have it. I had to learn patience to have a wonderful life with my husband, and now I have that as well. But, I did have to go through some hardships to get here. I think it was worth it, and I wholeheartedly hope that it will be for you as well. 

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes." -Psalms 37:7



In the end I feel like God was trying to make me a better person, in several different ways, by working there. I love my life and I wouldn't trade a single day of it away. The trials and experiences that you go through in your life made you who you are today. Remember that we are all works in progress.

Why giving and tithing can bring you closer to God.

Tithing. To some people this is a touchy subject. Yet, God tells us to give back 10% (at least) to Him.
A lot of people will say, "But, any god that needs my money isn't a god I want to serve." Yes, I would agree with that. But, God, that is the Great I am, Jehovah Jirah, the Lord who provides, Jesus Christ, The Great Sheperd, does not-I repeat does NOT NEED your money. He asks it of us. He even tells us to test Him. In nothing else does he say to test Him. It does not say, test me if you are Jewish, or even test me if you believe in Me. Just, test and see. It is proof that God wants what's best for us. That He is there for us. And it is a material way for us to see beyond our own self important noses.


"'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this', says the Lord Almightly,' and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it'." Malachi 3:10


Not only does it teach us to give to someone other than ourselves, but we get back blessings. That's something you can't buy in any store. He doesn't say what the blessing will be, but that you will receive one. I do not tithe because I want to receive a blessing. Yet, I say try it and see what happens. The Lord may bless you with a raise or with good health. Maybe your blessing will be the good that you are doing in your own life so that someone else may eat tonight.

Doesn't that make you feel good? To know that you are giving to someone else. You can give to your church or to a charity. Either way, it will be put to good use. Be educated about where the money is going also. God doesn't ask us to give to people who are going to buy drugs or alcohol or anything we don't agree with morally. He will use it for His good. And that brings us closer to God.

Are you tithing? I would encourage you to do so. And as always if you have any questions I would be happy to answer them for you, assuming I know the answer. If I don't I will happily find someone who does know. And if it is not something known we can pray about it to the one who knows all.

God bless.

The difference between self-sufficiency and being God-sufficient

You hear a lot these days about being self-sufficient. Especially in the thoughts of people that I talk to or read their blogs. People are worried. They are not happy with the situation in our nation. The 'recession' is over, but people are still hurting. I see it everywhere. The people that sit a few rows up from us are loosing their house to foreclosure. The lady that helps you at the bank is getting a divorce because they have grown apart while her husband has not had a job to support their family. All around us people are broken and hurting. This isn't a new thing. Long ago people were broken and hurting. It's part of being an imperfect person in a broken world. Jesus came to save us all and give us peace.
But I want to share something else with you. A lot of people think that "Money is the root of all evil." I'm not sure where this idea came from, that's like saying that a hammer is evil because it might be used to hurt someone. That's silly. The correct quote/bible verse is that "The love of Money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."  1 Timothy 6:10
This means that loving something other than God is the real problem here.
Also in Philippians 4:10-19, Paul expresses that he has found that God is the true supplier of his needs. Elijah was fed by the ravens in the OT (1 Kings 17) morning and night. God cared about this man no more than He cares for each of us. He will supply our needs.

Fredrick K.C Price has this to say about God's sufficiency: "Let this Scripture [He means Philippians 4:12-13 here.] be a guiding light to understanding God's will on the subject of prosperity. It tells us yes (we can have riches), and no (do not trust them). With the mind of Christ (see Phil. 2:1-5), we will never become high minded if blessed with wealth. Here is the assurance that if our lives are geared to the Word of God, then, through Christ, we can experience either financial wealth or temporary setback, but we will still be steadfast in our living, all because our trust will be only in Him. If the economy should dissolve tomorrow, God's people would not be rendered inoperative, because God is our source. He can keep us through times of scarcity as well as in times of plenty. He fed Elijah by sending ravens to bring him food in the morning and evening (1 Kings 17:2-6). God can do that now. He is the same today as He was then. (1Tim. 6:17/Duet. 8:18)"

From 'God's plan for prosperity-God wills to insure our sufficiency for every good work' sectioned "Riches are not to be trusted." Red added is my clarification.

So, I aim to be dependent on Him; And not myself. He who gives us every good thing. All things are from Him. And He loves us more that we could ever know.

I realize that while I am stocking up supplies in my home for those 'just in case' things. God has given these blessings to us. I believe that God wants us to be smart about what we have been given and be good stewards of His property and gifts within us. If I use them to the best of my ability, I believe that He is pleased with me. We are to enjoy Christ's peace and purpose in life regardless of the circumstances.

None of this means that I do not plan to grow a garden this year or plan on getting chickens in the spring. What it does mean is that I acknowledge that everything is given by God to us and I remember to praise Him and thank Him for the blessings that we are given. I encourage you to do the same.

This post is meant as a stimulant toward believing in Christ's sufficiency in facing all life's circumstances. If you have any questions please feel free to email me or leave a comment here.