This past week Brian and I had a woman and her five children stay with us. The mom had plans, but needed a helping hand until she could make them happen. Many people would say that she was a bad parent because she had left herself and her children without a place to stay for an entire week, but she isn't. We all need that hand up sometimes. We make bad choices or life knocks us down, but a lot of us will never admit to the help we so desperately need. This mom was humble enough to ask for help when she needed it. She told me the day before she left, "I'm not the mom I wanna be, but I'm working on it." To me, this is what we are all doing, working on being better within our lives as Christ would see fit. I think that I learned a great lesson in this week, and it will surprise many of you. It is that when you think you are being the biggest blessing to someone else, that God uses the situation or the people in it to teach you. I learn so much from this mother and her children, but more than that, I learned just how much I have to how much I need.
This video is what our room looked like the entire week. We had to empty the closet and clean out the spare room to accommodate all these people. This mess frustrated me and challenged my slightly OCD organizational side all week. As I struggled to gain control of my indignation because I was living in a one bedroom apartment for a week, I realized that though we say everything we have is God's, we don't always mean it deep down. This week I had to give my home back to God. I needed to struggle through the fatigue, financial worry, and self-righteousness in order to see that no matter the sacrifice on my part it will never compare with that of God's. On Easter Sunday, we remember that sacrifice, and it should humble us and create a burning desire within our hearts to do His work.
Sometimes we are called to be inconvenienced for the sake of the Gospel!
Learning to do His work,
