New addition to our blog

Well, I just spent the past hour working on a post only to have an error message tell me it has problems when trying to post it and then sent me to a blank post!!! I must walk away and revisit this in a bit, our sweet girl O just got home from school. Right before I tried to post I decided to “cut” part of the post and do it as a seperate post.  So, here is that post, but I promise to redo the other one that sparked something in me to share what is below.  Also, I have been saying it for a while, but I am finally ready to create a blog where I can talk about our fostering and such a little more freely.  The last step is figuring out how to make one blog private and the other one not.  Anyone know how to do this?  Fill me in.  Until then, here are the thoughts the Lord laid on my heart today:

I would like to share a little excerpt from a book I read last year that came to mind as I have been revisiting these thoughts and such.  It’s called “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan and God really used this book to speak to me.  In fact, just looking at some of the parts I highlighted I am excited all over again and just might read this again in the real near future.  I want to share this excerpt with you because I feel it is so relevant to all of us and what is on my heart to share.  By doing the things God calls us to, we are choosing crazy love.  He has given us so much and we give so little.  Now I don’t know you each personally, but I think it is safe to say that we are all challenged in the area of giving beyond comfort.  He has given so much.

“Giving that is not motivated by love is worth nothing.  Paul says from this kind of giving we “gain nothing”; however, when we give out of love, we gain much.  Giving results not only in heavenly compensation, but also gives us great joy in our lives here and now.  As we love more genuinely and deeply, giving becomes the obvious and natural response.  Taking and keeping for ourselves becomes unattractive and imprudent.

Remember the story where Jesus fed thousands of people with one boy’s small lunch?  In that story, according to Matthew, Jesus gave the loaves to His disciples and then the disciples passed them out to the crowd.  Imagine if the disciples had simply held onto the food Jesus gave them, continually thanking Him for providing lunch for them.  That would’ve been stupid when there was enough food to feed the thousands who were gathered and hungry.

But that is exactly what we do when we fail to give freely and joyfully.  We are loaded down with too many good things, more than we could ever need, while others are desperate for a small loaf.  The good things we cling to are more than money; we hoard our resources, our gifts, our time, our families, our friends.  As we begin to practice regular giving we see how ludicrous it is to hold on to the abundance God has given us and merely repeat the words thank you.

The apostle Paul addresses this issue of giving in light of the inequalitites among the early believers:

¹³Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. ¹⁴At the present time  your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, ¹⁵as it is written: “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.” — 2 Corinthians 8:13-15

I hope my next post will be our invitation to follow our journey to know crazy love 🙂