Lesson from a Yard Sale, Part 2

RECAP from last post: We had an adoption yard sale.  Huge blessings.  God is awesome.  Within two days of tithing from the yard sale, He then provided us more than we made at the entire yard sale!  We are about 1/8 of the way there with the fundraising for the adoption.  If you want a testimony of His faithfulness, check out the last post. 

Among all the blessings that God so graciously lavished upon us at the yard sale, He taught me a great deal.  As I said in the last post, God and I had a little discussion about the yard sale being donation only.  I was concerned that people would take advantage, that they would walk away and not give us any money at all.  ...And I was right.  We put out multiple signs and told all who came that the items were not priced but we asked that they give a fair donation for our adoption in exchange for the items. 

Most of the people were very nice and encouraging.  Kenneth was able to share the gospel with a few men, one of whom brought his entire family to church the next day!  I was able to talk with an older gentleman who had a great ministry going to some men in a trailer park.  Other people were amazed by the adoption.  Some people paid $10 for a pair of shoes or and old volleyball.  Some paid for items but then gave a little more with a huge smile.  It was a great experience and wonderful opportunity to share the gospel.

However, there were a few circumstances that *really* *really* tested my sanctification.  All on day 1, mind you.  1) There were some who worked for a consignment store.  When they found out that our sale was by donation only, they greatly took advantage.  One even said to me, "Well, I will sell this for $6.  I am going to give you $3."  She continued to gather the items that most people search for and loaded boxes into her car.  She did give us some money, but not really.  2) Someone paid a small price for a nice riding toy that our dear friends so graciously donated.  Not even an hour later when our friend drove by the consignment store, the same exact riding toy (identified by unique stickers)  was out front.  3) Another lady gathered several large boxes, packed with things, and then paid us $3.  She even said, "I don't even need all this stuff."  4) Someone gathered about four large boxes of things.  Asked my husband to help her pack all of it in her car because she couldn't carry it.  I do not exaggerate when I say that he had to make multiple trips to her car.  I watched him shut the trunk and then she just drove off!  Did not pay a cent.

Numbers 3 & 4 did me in.  I was so angry.  Not because I felt that they had taken money from me (remember, these were NOT my things in the first place), but because they had such a hard heart.  To know that someone is trying to raise money to bring home a child who doesn't have a family, and then to take advantage..that is what I struggled with.  I prayed over and over in my mind.  "Lord, help me to see what You are doing here.  Help me trust You.  Help me not be so angry.  Lord, please, help me!  Lord, let me see this with Your eyes.  Vengeance is yours, I know I need to leave this up to you.  Payment is not mine to exact.  Lord, I just hope those people needed those things (except in the case of the woman who said she didn't.....No!  Her too!  Her too!  Uggg!).  If we could minister to them by letting them just take all this stuff, then so be it.  That is okay.  Well, I want it to be okay.  This is silly that I am even worked up.  You are in control. "  And I am going to admit, I did ask God to convict them of what they had done.  But I am pretty sure my motives weren't the nicest.  Not at first anyways.

And just when the blood pressure finally settled down...  I kid you not.  Offenders #3 & 4 returned!  And brought friends!  Here is a glimpse of my immediate inner dialogue, "Um, Lord, are you kidding me right now?!  What are you doing here?  You are obviously trying to teach me something.  And help me to learn this lesson quickly.  Open my eyes to see what you are doing.  I don't think I can handle this.  Are you really going to let them do this...again?!  Did they not take enough!"  And all I really heard the Spirit say was, "Kristy, calm down.  You let me handle this.  Do you not trust me?"  At that point I needed to go into the house and let Kenneth handle #3 & 4. 

As we were heading home that afternoon Kenneth and I were talking about the day.  All the highlights and blessings, and all the situations I enumerated above.  My heart began to get really sad for those people.  I thought about why they acted that way, how their hearts could be so hard.  And I knew it was because they did not really know Jesus.  They had never come to grips with the fact that they are great sinners in need of a great Savior.  That this life is not about accumulating wealth, but about treasuring Christ, the One who gave them life. 

I then began to pray that they would be convicted.  Convicted about their sin.  I prayed that they would realize that they have sinned against a holy, righteous God and that they deserve His wrath.  And I prayed that they would come to Christ.  That they would know that Christ died on the cross to take the wrath of God that they deserve.  He put the full weight and penalty of our sin upon Himself so that through faith we might have His righteousness.  I prayed that they would get it.  And then I prayed that perhaps God would make a Matthew or Zacchaeus out of them.  As Zacchaeus confessed when he stood face-to-face with our righteous Judge "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.  And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold" (Luke 19:8). 

...And then God opened my eyes.
I felt the Spirit tenderly say, "How many times do you rob me (#3 &4 flashed before my eyes)?  How many times do you take my glory and give it to another? (#1&2 flashed before my eyes)"  Ouch.  My heart felt stabbed, like the Word of God had pierced me to the marrow.  I kept thinking about the prophecies of Malachi and Isaiah.  Those who were robbing God, those to whom God declared that He would not take His glory and give it to another.

And God continued, "How many times do you take my blessings and forget to praise me or thank me for them?  How often do you take what I have freely given to you and fail to repay me with your life?  I gave you my One and Only Son.  Your salvation was free.  Do you give me your life as a living sacrifice?  Do you think I owe you?  Everything you have I have given to you.  Do you not think that I would take care of you even if all of these things were taken?" 

Oh, how foolish of me!!  Is He not the Provider of all that I have, of all that gives me my false sense of comfort?  Is He not the One who gives me my very breath?  He owes me nothing!  I owe Him everything!  I share in His blessings and so often fail to put my whole life on the altar before Him!  I am wretch! 

At that point I went straight on my face and cried before the Lord.  Begging for His forgiveness.  Asking that He would remove the impurities in my heart.  Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me...

In almost an instant the Lord softy said, "I discipline those that I love.  I love you.  And I wanted to show you something about me and about you.  I wanted to bring you closer to Me."  That conversation with the Lord is sealed in my heart.  How gracious, and loving, and tender my Savior is.  I felt so loved and desired after feeling so ashamed of my sin.  He does not leave me to my own.  He wants me nearer and nearer to Him, and the closer I am, the sweeter He is to me, the more I hear His voice as if it is audible. 

I can honestly say that my time with the Lord that afternoon ended with me praising Him for bringing those people to our yard sale.  I felt inexpressible joy in the testing of my faith.  I knew that without those people, I would not have experienced God the way that I did.  There is no price you can put on that.

Lessons from a Yard Sale, Part 1

It still amazes me to see what God will use to stretch us, teach us and mold us into the image of Christ.  Over the last few weeks He chosen tool was a yard sale of all things.  Who would have thought?

For those who may not know, we have felt God leading us to adopt another child from Ethiopia.  This time: a girl!  What?!  I asked God about this many, many times.  Let’s just say that we were perfectly content with boys and never planned to have girls.  And did I mention I was okay with that?  This has nothing to do with me “needing” a girl.  Everything to do with the way God is leading.  I am sure that once we know her, we are going to love her.  And we won’t be able to imagine our lives without her.  And I hope God prepares her for the craziness she will forever endure.

Back to the yard sale.

So we wanted to have a yard sale to raise money for our adoption.  We did this last time and were able to raise about $1,000.  We were hoping we would do the same, raising enough to send in our USCIS paperwork.  (This is an application we will send to the government, in which they will determine if we are fit to parent an orphaned child from another country). 

The idea of the yard sale sounded really good until I realized that when we moved to Alabama I gave a lot of our stuff away.  Almost everything has been purged.  Meaning we have about 0 to contribute to our own yard sale!  We put it out there that we were having a yard sale, and wow!  I wish I could have taken a picture that would capture the amount of stuff people donated to us!  We put big pieces of furniture on Craigslist and ended up making over $300 before the yard sale even began.  It has been a very humbling experience to see the generosity of people.  People unloaded truck loads (I’m talkin’ truck loads, y’all)!  Our garage, and a good portion of our friends’ garage were filled, top to bottom.  Talk about a blessing.  We felt the love of God, through people, so strongly.  To go from having nothing, to having more than we have ever had at a yard sale…

In the midst of this, I felt God leading us to do a yard sale by donation only.  Again, what?!  The inner dialogue usually goes something like this, “You need to do this by donation.”  Me, “But God.  Really?  Don’t you think people will take advantage of us and just take a bunch of stuff?  We won’t make anything!  Don’t you think it would be better to price stuff and be willing to take less?  That makes sense.”  God, “Kristy.  Have we not been through this a million times?  Do you trust me?”  Me, “Okay.  You are right.”  Sigh… God, “I have always made this work.  When have I not met all your needs according to my riches in Christ?  Watch me.”

So that is what happened.

And can I just testify that not only did He teach me a few valuable lessons (in another post to follow) but He proved Himself ever faithful (like we could ever doubt that)!  We made more than enough to cover the cost of our USCIS fees.  We raised twice as much as I thought we would! 

And then….God began nudging Kenneth.  “I want you to tithe this.”  Kenneth, “Um.  Am I making this up?  God, I thought you wanted us to use this for the adoption.”  God, “Yes.  Bring your tithe to the local storehouse (Westwood).  Trust me.”

So that is what happened.

And once again…God proves Himself faithful.  Do you know that that Sunday morning someone handed us a check for $100 to put toward the adoption?  And another person, who had a yard sale the day before to help her pay for an upcoming mission trip, told Kenneth that she felt God leading her to tithe the money she made from her yard sale and give it to us for our adoption.  Of course, the combined amount was almost the exact amount we had tithed.

And then… On Monday I was driving to get our boys from the grandparents when I got a random call from someone at our home study agency.  She said, “Kristy, I just want to tell you that I got a phone call from some of your friends at church.  They have written a check to cover the entire cost of your home study.”  I have no idea who did such a precious thing for us (I hope they read this at some point so they know what a blessing they are, and how thankful I am for their obedience to the Lord and for their generosity).  TEARS were flowing.  And if I were not driving, I would have dropped down to my knees, face to the ground, prostrated in full surrender to the Faithful and True Lord of Hosts.  So I did that in my heart.  I could not even find the words.  The Spirit was groaning on my behalf, for sure. 

“Give and it will be given to you.  Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.”  Luke 6:38

God always gives us good things.  Always.  God is always faithful.  Always.  He is not going to ask you to give something or risk something that He will not bless a million times over.  He LAVISHES His blessing upon us. 

So often He asks us to do things because He wants to gives us something even greater than what we have.  I cannot begin to imagine the blessings we would have missed had we insisted that we keep “our” money.  If we had hoarded every cent we made, or thought we would make, I doubt that we would have experienced His blessing “running over” into our lap!  He took our small 10% and gave us back more than we made at the whole yard sale!  Isn’t that just like our loving, heavenly Father?

When I see the cost of this adoption, and the cost of raising five children, I can easily feel overwhelmed.  It makes no logical sense.  NONE.  It actually looks very foolish.  But how can I not trust the One who has called when He continually does things like this?!  O my soul, praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord, o my soul!

Summa Time!

It's officially summer around here.
For most families it means more time together, swimming at the pool, dinner off the grill, vacations, ice cream, fishing, you name it.
For us it simply means more nakedness.

Seriously.
I am pretty sure that I have had to say the following at least five times each day, to various children: "What in the world?!  Why are you naked, again?!  Put your clothes back on.  Good grief." 
Apparently my children think we are running a nudist colony.
I can assure you, we are not.

At any given point in the day I probably have at least one child totally naked, or half-way there.  I have no idea why.  Why do boys think this is so hilarious?  Why do they think everything is better naked? 

Just this past week we had a play date at a friends house.  My friends and I were trying to do a Bible study while we let the kids play in the backyard.  I looked up and saw Asa 100% naked running around the yard. 
My inner dialogue, "Good thoughts...Good thoughts...You are right in the middle of Bible study...Figures...Well, this is sorta funny...No it isn't....Kind of, yes, it is....But he can't be doing this...We can't be stripping in front of girls, or at someone else's house....or ever....Ohmiword, what am I going to do with this kid!?"

Right now I am not appreciating the whole "naked and unashamed" thing (even though it kinda makes me giggle inside because it is hysterical seeing them run around all African-bush like).  Haven't we explained the story of Adam and Eve AFTER the fall enough?!  Fig leaves, man.  Fig leaves.  Modest is hottest.

I am praying these boys limit their nudist tendencies to our household, when no one else is around.  And that they quit running out the front door naked.  And that this trend is so-not-cool by the time they get to middle school.  We will have some serious problems otherwise.

So, cheers to summer. 
And cheers to privacy fences!