Friends, Fellowship and Forgiveness

Wow. It's been just a little over a year since I began this crazy journey. It's amazing how life never ends up the way you imagined it would. So here we are, a year later, and a completely abandoned plan. The first thing I thought when my blog crossed my mind today was that no one has questioned me, no one has encouraged me to keep going, and basically, no one would know.

Overcoming difficult circumstances seems to have become the trend in my life. I spent the majority of 2012 living with my aunt and getting upset about things out of my control. I began 2012 with the yearning to humble myself by ridding my life of excess in order to become more Christ-like and gain a better understanding of who He is. Two months in, I quit when I was suddenly without anywhere to live...but God kept working. Funny how He does that. Instead of continuing my crazy year long fast, I was instantly without most of my possessions and living on a mattress on the floor. All simply because we didn't find a house to buy by the time we had to leave the other one.

In September, I found a great little house, bought it, and moved in with a month to prepare to host Christmas. (hosting and Christmas are 2 of my favorite things!) So in the end, God quickened to me the same lesson I was trying to reach on my own; but He did it in His own way. Instead of me being in control of my story, God gave me the perfect opportunity to put 100% of my trust in Him, because there was no other way to go. And then he gave me an incredible blessing for my obedience... in spite of my grumbling! I started last year by posting this verse: 2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is all you need. My power works best in your weakness." Boy wasn't that made 100% clear to me last year.

My friends Heidi and Sam began 2013 in a time of fasting; much like I began last year. But it wasn't until my lunch with them this week did I realize that I still have a desire to complete the task I started. Both Heidi and I are in a similar state of "blooming" is what we called it. She is anxiously awaiting the birth of her son at home, except she thought she would be working by now. I am at a professional crossroads with no direction once more.

This morning, Pastor Jamey talked about prophetic words over our lives. It's interesting to hear how people react to a prophesy. Some people will take it and hold on for dear life. Some people will disregard it unless it happens to come to fruition. And some people just laugh at the idea of prophesy. Did you ever consider, and this is the profound part, that the prophesy could be true but our lives aren't ready to receive it? He made an analogy about farming: In the fall after the harvest, farmers will till their soil to allow the left over pieces of plants give nutrition to the soil. After the ground has thawed, they sow their seed. But if they hadn't prepared the ground months and months before, the seed would never produce a usable crop. woah.

I've naively never considered that I might be the problem when things spoken over my life don't happen. I always believed it would all happen in "God's Timing" but could it be that my heart has not been prepared to produce a successful crop. The seed has been sown, but it's time to till the soil.

So if I still have a great desire to fast in order to seek God and "till the soil" then here I go.

Details this week.

Month Two: Spending

So after praying about it for awhile and deciding between covering the topic of clothing or spending this month, I am confident it's time to work on spending.

I'd like to think of this as something I may adopt from here on out and not just work on it for a month only to go back to my "normal" way of living after. But seriously, sometimes I wonder where half my money goes. I even budget; only to find that I have to shift money around at the end of the month to come out even on my budget. A few years ago a friend of mine loaned me her cd's of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University to help me get on track...I'm not terribly off track...but I could be more comfortable if I had some of my debt paid down. School loans, a credit card, my business debt...just a few things. But I still find myself living from paycheck to paycheck. Mostly, I'm assuming, because I don't track the little things that add up by the end of the month. I haven't used a credit card for 1.5 years, only my debit, so I am proud of that. But if I could only work on those little things, key word would be CONSISTENLY, then possibly I could feel that I'm stewarding my money the way God wants me to.

Like I said before, my brother and I are looking to purchase a house together hopefully within the next month and how awesome would it be to have some cashflow to make the place awesome. How great would it be if my savings account started to become a little more than just an emergency fund!

Here are the details:
I will be spending money in only 7 places throughout the month.
1. Online bill pay...phone, credit card, insurance, student loans
2. Gas (gas only) at Holiday
3. Tithing at church
4. Lakewinds/Whole Foods (they are basically the same thing, just in different cities)
5. Target
6. buying a house
7. everything I would be spending anywhere else goes straight into savings
Yes that is all. Yes that includes bills and gas. March 19-April 18

So no lunch after church, no quick coffee on the run, no meals out because I don't feel like cooking, no new clothes, no random purchases at the mall, no Redbox movies, no treats at the Twins game...and here's my goal: nothing I don't NEED. I could sustain most of my life at Target, but most people know when you go in to Target to buy 2 things, you come out with a $40 reciept of stuff you swear you have no idea how it got into your cart. Wants are put aside this month, and only necessities will be bought.

Thank God I have no children or a husband that I will force to suffer through this month...

Day 24

One week left! I feel great! My energy is up, my pants are falling off, and I am SO ready to be done with this month. haha

There's something about a rainy day that makes me extra productive; I suppose it's because I don't feel that I should be outside or something. I love rain, it's so soothing. So I thought I'd post today since I just know the creative juices are flowing...

I was really challenged in Bible study last week. Phil 3:16 Let us hold true to what we have attained As I was sitting there thinking about the next 6 months of this fast, I was instantly convicted. Let us hold true to what we have attained. Why am I always looking toward the future and what it holds for me, or striving for the next stage in life, when I haven't quite finished the work in front of me?

I'm just finishing up my month of a food fast. And instead of going over what I've learned and applying it to my life, I've just been focusing on what comes next. We can't be making judgements today on what our future holds when we haven't experienced the journey to get there.

Is it just women who fantasize about the next stage in life? Somehow I can't see men yearning for a white dress or little feet running around the house...hmmm

Regardless of the fantasy, I think we are all yearning for what comes next. We don't want to be obedient to what we know, but if we don't use what we know and just continue searching for what's next, we will never truly grow. Matt Chandler challenged us: Do we need to stop and repent before we can move forward? Complacency is not the high road to success. 

It's time to start applying the basic truths to my life consistently! More prayer, more time spent in the Word, more awareness of what is going on RIGHT now. Less less less time worrying about what the future holds and less time focused on what I can learn to benefit tomorrow. It's about NOW

Day 19

This is hard. I knew it would be hard, and I've slipped up a few times, but I didn't really realize exactly how hard it would be. I love experimenting with food and flavors...being so limited is a nightmare. It's hard to live in a society that centers around food and going out to eat when there isn't much that you CAN eat. Boy am I thankful that I don't have any health issues that cause me to stay away from certain foods.

I am constantly reminding myself that this is only a few more weeks and asking God to keep me motivated to continue. At least God understands our shortcomings and the end result will bring growth!

James 1:2-4. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers [and sisters], whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perserverance. Perserverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Day 16

I'm a little sad today. It's National Pancake Day. One of my favorite meals in the world is brinner...breakfast for dinner. I've gotten TWO invitations to go to IHop for free pancakes today, sigh.

Maybe I'll break out that yummy sweet potato pancake recipe from last week:

Find the recipe here

Refrain from commenting about how good your pancakes taste. Please and Thank You :)

Day 1

So yesterday I was in a little bit of a panic. I waited until the last minute to go grocery shopping for the week, and then the grocery store didn't even have everything I needed! Who is OUT of sweet potatoes? Since I have only allotted myself 7 trips to the grocery store, I wasn't too thrilled with having to use up a second trip just to get one item. Anyway, I didn't think too hard about what exactly I was going to cook for the week; waiting for divine inspiration often times ends up with a run to subway or munching on random junk that's sitting in the pantry...so I was feeling a little overwhelmed.

Low and behold this morning, my friend Beca, (the amazing woman who introduced me to Jen Hatmaker's book in the first place...follow her fasting from excess blog here) showed up at Curves with a ten pound bag of sweet potatoes! "Thought you might need these, we are definitely not going to be eating them anytime soon!"

Let's just be honest, we live in America, never did I think a bag of sweet potatoes would be an answer to prayer, or even a prayer I thought about leaving my lips. But oh how cool that was, and just in time for me to run home on break and cook a few of them up.

Matthew 6:26
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

It's cool that God cares about stuff like sweet potatoes. God is good.