Great Outcome. Greater Process

           The tossing, purging, donating is such an amazing feeling! Maybe I'm just a crazy clean-loving chick, but it just feels good to rid our home of unwanted things that are taking up mind space and literal space. From every bathroom cabinet filled and easily 20 towels between the three bathroms down to 7 towels and 5 washrags now: Love it. From a closet full of linens to one small basket: Love it. From an armoire full of extra blankets to 4 extras. Love it. From a garage full of party and décor totes down to 5. Love it.  From the 15 totes of Christmas décor down to 6: love it. I love the outcome of our more simple life.  We have found that we don’t miss a thing that has moved on and we have everything we need. Perhaps even greater than the love of having less has been the process to get there. I’m not talking of the physical process, but the heart work that has taken place in each of us through this. With every season of change comes an opportunity to grow. I love the work He’s done in our hearts. It’s the real change. The change that pushes us closer to Him.  These are a few things we’ve learned along the way. These are the parts of this whole process that make us thankful. Grateful to be walking this road.You can find the first part of this journey here.

1. Strengthened the faith of our Kids

            Sometimes when we are walking through life and we encounter a pothole, it’s easier and safer to not involve the kids. What if it doesn’t turn out like we are praying? What if it damages their faith? What if they don’t trust God if He doesn’t pull through. These are the tough things as a parent. We want to grow and help to deepen their relationship with the Lord but sometimes we don’t want to take a risk. Playing it safe is….well….safer.

            I was 38 weeks pregnant.  The pregnant waddle was in full swing. I felt good overall…just tired. Physically tired. Emotionally tired. The past 3 months had been a whirlwind.  Remodeled some parts of the house, packed, staged, purged, purged, PURGED, garage sale, scheduling, listing house, selling house….all in 2 months time. Momma was tired. Our house sold in 2 days. That’s a great thing….as long as you have a place to GO! We were waiting, praying, asking, searching, calling….surely God had a place for us! We were out of options. We had 1 week to find a place and in this hot market, that was nothing short of a miraculous feat! Rentals were on and off the market in a day. If all else failed, apartment life or extended stay suite would soon be ours. Sigh. I was fresh out of hope. I stood there in our kitchen wondering, “Where the heck are we gonna go?” Homeless with a newborn isn’t exactly what I had in mind. Surely God knew I was about to pop, right?!  I could feel the tears welling up. I felt a whisper…”pray with the boys.” We’ve prayed 100 times about this. They knew we were looking for a new house, but they didn’t know it was down to the wire….and we really needed a miracle. I was hesitant at first. I knew we needed God to open a door but what if He didn’t….what if they were disappointed God didn’t hear their prayers? Then it hit me. But what if He DID?! What if he DID answer their prayers? What if he DID open a door? For our kids to experience first hand testimonies of God’s goodness, and his miracles in our lives, sometimes we have to move from playing it safe. Sometimes we have to be real with them on what we are contending for and let them join the battle with us.  Their prayers matter….their prayers move the hand of God! I called the boys down. “Boys, this is the deal. We are going to pray for our new house. We need a house in the next 5 days and we have zero options. We need a miracle. We are going to each pray and we are going to believe God has a plan.” We prayed. My oldest got his guitar and started singing. That boy. The sounds that come from his guitar are prophetic. He can unknowingly sense something in the spirit and I know he plays what’s on God’s heart. This was nothing short of that. He chose to sing Faithful God and Never Once.  We worshipped. Thirty minutes later we got a call from my hubby saying a realtor called him and we had first dibs on a house in the neighborhood we wanted. 30 minutes folks. I think God was wanting me to get to the end of my rope so I could trust him fully. No man could take credit for this. It was all Him. That day goes down in the books as a day our boys will forever remember as the day that God answered their prayers. A day that God gave us a miracle. A day that strengthened their faith. When our kids are grown and out of our house, I hope they have many stories that begin with, “Do you remember when God….”  Nothing blesses this Momma’s heart more than when God gives a testimony to my kids. They own that testimony now…they were apart of it! It took risk but the reward was great.

                                           

 2. Contentment

            We see our “stuff” as just that…stuff. I want this, I need this…those thoughts are fewer. We find ourselves more content. We don’t always thing in terms of “needing” bigger, better, newer.  Our desires have become different. I find myself asking, “Do I need this? Do I have a place for this? Is it my favorite?” If the answer is No, it happily stays on the shelf. We are human and not perfect. We aren’t walking around in 10-year-old clothes and surviving on $100/month on groceries. I’m not talking extremes here.  However, our overall perspective is shifted. Thoughts of “stuff” occupy far less brain space. We are just simply more content.

                                          

3.  Obedience > Popular Choice

            This would probably not be the most ‘popular’ thing we have done. “Are you sad to not have your big kitchen?” No. I’m glad to have a smaller one to clean! “Are the boys sad about not having a playroom? They don’t have very much room now.” If we have trained our boys to be “content” or “happy” only when they have lots of space and lots of “things” then I have done them a huge disservice as their parent. Kids NEED less than we give them. I believe their appetite for things starts with us. Several hundred dollar devices are the norm for birthdays for Christmas. When I was a kid, I got a caboodle and some Lip Smackers! Are we feeding our kids a culture of more, more, more when what they really need is quality time and family? Perhaps, yes. “This house doesn’t have this, it doesn’t have that.” I’m fully aware. Thanks for the concern. The truth is, these walls aren’t what make our family function. These walls aren’t what make our home. Our home is the people inside and the memories we make. We can easily transition to a new residence because we have new memories to make and we are doing it together. Yes, we were sad to leave our other house, but it was the memories that we left that were sad.  It had nothing to do with the structure itself. Houses will come and go. Our home will always be where we are. We create HOME. So while our choices may not be popular to some, the peace in the obedience of doing what God is asking of us is far greater. You realize, being popular is really over rated anyways.  

                                                    

4. Trust His Whisper

            Over a year before all of this, I would randomly feel the need to prepare for something. I didn’t know what, but every time I felt the nudge, I would go through something. I told my hubby “I just feel a change coming and it feels like a move.”  I’m sure at first he thought it was the newly pregnant hormones talking. A few months later he felt the same. It wasn’t a loud “thus says the Lord.” It wasn’t a direct prophetic word, “you will sell your house next year.” It was a whisper, and we knew it was Him. It was a simple, "Trust me in this." He was in the smallest of details. He confirmed things when we doubted. His whisper guided us. It built our trust. It built our faith. His whisper is a priceless gift.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.-John 10:27

 These are just a few of the things we've realized through this process. There are many more to come, I'm sure. We are a work in progress and enjoying the journey. We are, simply thankful.

Living Simply

Over a year ago we felt the word for the year was “simplify.” Sim-pli-fy.  Such a vague word that carried a heavy weight….a heavy purpose. We weren’t sure exactly what it fully meant for us so we tucked it away in our hearts and mulled it over often. I read books on simplifying, listened to speakers on the topic….what exactly does this mean?  Webster is always so kind to lend a helping hand, so I looked to see what he had to say. Simplify (v.): to make less complex or complicated; make plainer or easier. Who doesn’t want a less complex life? Sign. Me. Up. We knew God was asking us to simplify our lives….entirely. Our schedule, our things, our commitments. Everything was about to get a major overhaul. On one hand I was overjoyed. Simple just seemed peaceful. On the other hand, I couldn’t help but wonder…what is the purpose in all this? It just seemed so counter-cultural. Downsize. Simplify. Reduce. In a culture that is all about upsizing, filling schedules, overloading calendars, and accumulating, more, more more….I knew this was about to be an interesting journey.

There was one thing that the Lord was after in all of this…our hearts. Would we open our hearts completely and let Him have full access to what he wanted us to cut out? Would we trust Him? Were we going to embrace this fully or would be sit back in our comfy lives and pretend it was just a crazy idea in our minds? We couldn’t dismiss the ways He confirmed or the way He continued to speak. We were on board…fully. Over the next year, there were a lot of things He asked us to give up along the way. We were very involved in church and had many responsibilities. “Will you lay it all down?”  He asked.  We had a home we loved, with space that was enough for everything we ‘needed.’ “Will you sell it?” He asked. We said yes. Yes to all. He was calling us to a deeper place with Him. A deeper place that needed less background noise and our undivided attention. Is it possible in a culture where we are focused on do more, spend more, have more, that we have so much distraction and less of a focus on Him? If my mind is constantly reaming with schedules, calling this person, meeting with that person, planning this event, managing this big house, up-sizing this car, managing a calendar that is booked 3 months out...how can we possibly keep focus on Him? How can we really hear Him clearly in a brain that is foggy with all the plates we have to keep moving? When the outside noise is so loud in our world that we have created for ourselves, how can we possibly hear His quiet whisper? We were at a place where it was simple: we couldn’t do it anymore. We needed Him more than we needed approval from people. We needed His voice above any others. We needed His rest more than we needed our packed calendars. We needed His peace, His joy more than we needed a comfortable life full of things that will eventually be in a landfill somewhere down the road. We needed the white noise of our lives turned off so we could hear Him clearly. I'm not suggesting God doesn't speak in the busy....in the crazy seasons of life. I simply think we were not created to be addicted to more....addicted to busy.

Buy more, consume more, have more--and it’ll suppress any appetite for  God.--Ann Voskamp

Fast forward more than a year, we now have half the space, in a simple 3 bedroom house and we couldn’t love it more. We have less than half the material possessions and haven’t missed one thing. We have less resources spent on managing a big house and more resources to give. We have a calendar that is filled with family time and time to really pour into ourselves. It has been the most life giving season for us. We stay in a purging state of mind…getting rid of anything not necessary.  We have not perfected this by any means, but we are in a constant state of working towards it. We want to be in a place where we manage our stuff, not where our stuff manages us. For us, less means more. Less stuff. More of him. Less of our desires. More of His. Less noise. More of His whisper.  Perhaps this is just the beginning of something even more He is calling us to, and if that is the case, then I say YES. Less is the new more.

*For the record, I’m not into extremes.one way of thinking…one way of living. This is just a glimpse of OUR journey. Your journey may look different. The common thing we can all walk away with, is there is peace in His plan. Freedom in doing what God is calling each of us to. For us, for this season in our lives, our call is to simplify.

Why Blog?

I'm not one that enjoys the stage. I will gladly stay on the sidelines all day. Please don't ask me to speak somewhere and don't ever expect a microphone to be in my hand! My heart starts racing at the thought! I'm a homebody that perfers a small group or a very small handful of friends over the large gatherings and long lists of acquaintances. My favorite place is home and my favorite people to be with are the 4 I share a roof with.  So why the blog? It's simple really...to share my story, to open my heart. Most of my adult life I have been weighted down with insecurites, cares about what people think, feeling like a square peg in a round hole, not really "fitting" anywhere....and I'm sure the list goes on. Truth is, I didn't really know how to love 'me' and surely didn't know how to 'be me.'  I've been on a journey the last few years, and am really beginning to see who I am, what I am here for, and to not put much weight on what 'others' (friends , family, and acquaintances alike) perceive about me. God is showing me what it means to truly be fathered by him and for me to find ALL my identity in him. I believe there is freedom in being vulnerable..freedom in being real. So here I am, sharing parts of my story and things stirring in my heart in hopes of encouraging others along the way and inviting more freedom in my heart. Thanks for sharing in my journey.