No Extra Cloak or Pair of Sandals

Do you remember this advice from Jesus in the Gospel?  He tells his disciples to go out and spread the good news, but not to bring any extra provisions.  Why?  Because God himself will provide for them.  Wow!  That’s a pretty amazing concept!

So, as most of you know, we have been on a long journey to find and move into our new home.  We have stayed with family.  We have stayed at a local homeless shelter.  We are finally home.  It’s an odd feeling having somewhere to call “home.” We spent so many months wandering that to have our own beds (or couch in my case!) is truly awesome.  God is so very good!  Not to mention, His plan was perfect.  Was it always comfortable?  Absolutely not!  However, I can’t imagine how everything would have worked out so perfectly if we hadn’t been through each single step!

But I digress…what I wanted to blog about was the amount of stuff we accumulated over so many years of staying put and the direction in which I now feel such a calling.  My oldest, Child #1, once called me a hoarder.  I was so hurt (and honestly, she had more things than I did at her age, but not judging.  Ok, maybe a little!!!)

As we were moving and packing the detritus of 25 years in the same house, I got super overwhelmed.  There was just so much!  So we culled our belongings.  The resale shops had a complete boon from our donations.  It was hard, and sometimes even impossible to get rid of enough, but eventually we were able to move anything we truly wanted to a storage unit or mom’s place, the Church, etc.  Whew!  Just thinking about it makes me tired!!!

So, now we’re in our new home, which is much smaller than our house was and we also have no garage or shed.  Where does all the stuff go?  I got to praying about this and realized that God didn’t want me weighed down by my belongings either.  If I somehow gave away too much, He would provide me with what I did needed.  Whoa!  It opened my eyes.  So, I don’t have to cart around all this stuff?  Nope.  I do not and neither do you!

One of the first things I did was to think about my friends from the shelter.  When one of them told me that all she had was a mattress and a phone, I was like, oh heck no!  I am not letting that happen.  So, I dropped off a couple of things for her and then met her at the shelter to help her get a few things from their stock that they keep from donations to help former residents.  They want the stuff to go to good homes (and help in cleaning out the shed!) and the former resident needed basic things like plates, cups, etc. to set up her new home!  Perfect match!

I do not mind in the least donating to thrift stores, however, if I can help a friend in need, all the better!  It also helped me and my kiddos.  We get more space because, honestly, who needs all of this stuff?  Also, the feeling of giving and less clutter is amazing!  Just think…Jesus really knew what he was talking about when he gave those instructions!  It took me a while to figure that out, but better late than never!  Now, go give your belongings to someone who has nothing and can really use them!!! Ask yourself, “Do I really need this? Is it serving God to keep it?” Then go! Go! Go! Give! Give! Give!