A Ride Just For the Sake of Talking....

I'm just going to go there and tell you what's on my mind. I keep hearing people fret and complain about the economic state of this country. Guess what...I kinda think it's a good thing!

It seems that I have noticed more and more- having stuff makes people less content with what they have. I don't get it. I doesn't make logical sense to me, but that is how things seem to work. The more we have, the more we want. We can't afford it, but we buy it anyway. We become more worried about appearances both with our stuff and in the way we dress. I think that people are currently more willing to look at ways to cut their budget because the excuse that "in a little while we will have more cash" is not holding up as much. And you know what else? We just might have to exercise our faith more.

In school, I always hated PE. I sucked at it! I am kind of a lazy girl when it comes to running or working hard at physical exercise. At school...I had to do it. So I did. This kind of seems like a similar thing to me. There aren't other options, so as much as it isn't fun, cutting back has to be done.

I started cutting back before a lot of people. I was feeling like our life was full of clutter and things we don't need. We have stuff that isn't necessary and I don't know why we keep it (other than the stuff that is part of my husband's "collecting"...that's a whole different topic on it's own). The cutting back goes in waves and I am not sure where all the stuff comes from because a couple of months after I get rid of a bunch of stuff, I am willing to get rid of a whole lot more. And the funny part is, we aren't buying more.

Confession time. I would say that I am not one to put my faith in the economy. I think that mostly that is true and I haven't worried about it much because I know that God will provide. He always does. We have lived on a pretty tight budget a couple times (tighter than our not very wiggly budget right now) and we always get what we need right when we need it. That's how our faith grows. We have to exercise it.

The thing is, I guess I have kind of had my faith somewhere else...at least a little. You see, Target is an awesome company. We love being a Target family for tons of reasons, and we haven't had to worry much about loosing that. In fact, we have been just waiting for Handsome to get his promotion that is supposed to be coming in the spring, anticipating where we might go and what will change for us. As was pointed out to me, something that I didn't really piece together myself, is that we have been placing our faith in Target. Perhaps not the economy, but definitely our employer. When you don't have to worry, you don't examine as much. I guess that is something that I have to work on and remember.

When we think about the future, it has always included Target. It's not like there is any reason to believe that will change any time soon, but I think that we have to be careful and open to other options depending on where GOD wants us to be. Just because we have somewhere stable doesn't mean that there that's where we are called to be. I have to question myself and wonder...if He called us to something else, something less stable, would we trust Him? Would we take that step?

I don't know. I would like to of course say yes, but you can't answer a question like that unless you are actually in the situation. I can say that God has changed our hearts in some major ways recently and we feel that there are plans that are not what we had in mind when we set out on our journey in marriage. But isn't that the fun of living for God? Figuring out what He has planned and running with it? Learning that things you thought you would never do, and in fact SAID you would never do, are what God has in store? I would say that is pretty spicy and not at all boring. (By the way, NEVER say never in front of God. Hello- that is just begging for something to happen. I am serious. If you really want something, you might try saying, "I would NEVER...". Okay, so that won't work either. It was worth a try though, right?)

So, I guess that this post is all over the place and I kind of jumped around. It isn't anywhere near what I started out writing, but that's fine. You tagged along for the ride while I figured out some things the Lord wanted to say to me. Thanks for coming along. I hope He spoke to you about something too.