Taught in the Quiet

It’s been quiet around here the last month. :)

I’m amazed at how much the Lord has taught me in these last few weeks. Seems like many of the things I *knew* in my head have been fleshed out, brought to life before me.

It has been so full.

Scaling back (significantly) on work beyond the home has left me with so much more. More time and energy, yes, but also more awareness. More availability. More creativity for what’s in front of me.

I tend to view all things in life from a dichotomist’s perspective - either/or, this or that, black or white. All or nothing. I do things to extremes, and over the years the Lord has so graciously been helping me gain balance. Pausing the Strength & Song magazine and routine emails has been another means of Him teaching me this. In time, those things may come back to my plate - but they will be much better balanced and the season will be more suitable.

Instead of using every naptime and much of my free time for work, I am more available for my family and community. And I’ll share a humbling fact - I think I’ve done more ministry in the last four weeks than I did in two years working. (It is hard to determine this, of course, because I don’t see the fruit of my labor when I’m producing emails and magazines. But this month has been so rich; you’ll see why.)

We’ve welcomed people over for dinner. I’ve sat on my couch with ladies from church as we cried out to the Lord on behalf of a friend. The kids have helped me make dinner for a sick friend, and came with me to deliver it. We’ve sat around the fire past bedtime with family, watching stars and kids who’d had too much sugar. We’ve had new friends over to play, a family who just moved back home after 10 years away. The kids and I have been in a morning Bible study, and my husband and I have joined an evening Bible study. We welcomed a desperate mom and her baby for a night while she made some life choices. We’ve had impromptu playdates with neighbors whose yard isn’t so flat.

It’s been full.

These things haven’t all happened at once, and I don’t share them to boast. I don’t have all the things we think are necessary to be hospitable - in fact, the only bed I had to offer our guest was the couch. Yet God has convicted me of the importance of living out my faith in my community. He’s convicted me of the need to actually know my community.

I don’t need to have the answers for everyone. I used to be fearful of my neighbors, fearful that I would say something that didn’t represent Christ well and fearful that I wouldn’t remember the right Bible verse for the moment. Growing up in a Christian home and Christian school and going to church regularly (all good!), I wasn’t sure how to interact with nonbelievers. What do you even talk about, if there’s no similarity of faith? What happens when they ask a question or make a statement contrary to His Word and you don’t have an answer or response?

What a weight I haven’t needed to carry. I have learned better the meaning of Luke 12:12:

Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.

He knows what our neighbors need and when they need it. My job is to be obedient to Him. Of course, that can still spark some fear (standing for Truth with nonbelievers is still a challenge sometimes!). But being obedient to Him is to love them well.

Living alongside other humans is messy. (I know, DUH.) It means riding the rollercoasters of emotions with them. It means joy in the morning and weeping at lunch and desperation at snacktime and contentment at dinner. (And yes, it also means days are often measured in terms of meals. There’s lots of food.) I’ve been learning too that riding the rollercoasters means you need to get good at leaving things with the Lord. If you keep it all in your grip, you obsess over problems and how to fix them and make everyone happy and guess what? Only God can satisfy. We do have limits to how far we can extend. He doesn’t. Hallelujah!

I’ve been taught in the quiet. It has been hard, and it has been wonderful. We have a Savior who steps into our mess, who loves us so deeply, who knows the answers to all of our needs. He is the answer to our need. And He fills us with His joy everlasting, He is truly amazing!

I have missed the regular emails and putting together magazines, it is still bittersweet to think of the fact that I’m not doing them right now. Yet this season has been so good, and I know I’m where the Lord wants me to be. I am so looking forward to how He continues to teach me and work in our family. If you need a push to slow down, scale back, or get outside your comfort zone in community… here it is. *Nudge*

Still praying for you, friends. May the Lord lead you and fill you with His joy.

-Amy

Finances and Contentment

I have always considered myself a relatively content person…until it came to finances.

My dad is a pharmacist, which means after he got his doctorate we were financially secure. My parents were very “Larry Burkett” with their money, so it’s not like we grew up lavishly surrounded with every material possession we desired, but money wasn’t something I had to think about.

That changed when I married my beloved fuzzy mountain man. He runs his small family flooring business, and as all contractors know in summer we “feast” and in winter we “famine”.

To be honest, that has been pretty difficult for me to get used to. The first winter of our marriage it was just my husband and I, starving was no problem (not literally starving, just tightening the belts a bit). But our second year, I had a newborn to think about and all my mothering protective instincts were out in full force. God had to show me in miraculous ways (if you’ve read the second issue of 2018’s Strength and Song magazine you will remember the article I wrote about that) that He is my provider, and my security needs to lie in Him, not my material wealth.

This lesson has been hard to accept, especially when others around me seem to be flowing with financial stability and everything their heart’s desire. Being “poor” isn’t something you can openly talk about in our culture – for some reason, it has a shameful stigma that just shows how deeply Americans place value and self-worth in money and financial prosperity. For my husband and I, we are called to a path in life that will NEVER reap wealth that can be measured with a dollar sign. We see others around us invest in the perfect house, the perfect car, the perfect hair and clothes, and we know that will NEVER be us. Not because any of that is evil (it isn’t), but because God has made it clear in the greater plan He has for our life that we can’t put down roots right now.

My mom and I recently went through some Bible verses that helped to open my perspective to a biblical view of finances, and I want to share them with you.

Contentment and Material Wealth

For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

1 Timothy 6:7-10

What a convicting passage! How can I hold on to discontent after reading that?

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:11-13

We say the phrase “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” all the time, in every context. But did you realize it was written specifically in context of contentment despite your material circumstances? It carries a whole new meaning in that light.

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Hebrews 13:5

Is that promise from Jesus enough? Is the knowledge that He will never leave or forsake you enough for you, friend? It should be! What is in the way of you believing that to be true?

True Wealth

Okay, so if not monetarily, how should we determine value? What is wealth according to God’s standards?

Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

James 2:5

Receive my instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold; For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her.

Proverbs 8:10-11

By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches and honor and life.

Proverbs 22:4

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Matthew 6:19-20

I could share more, but I hope you get the point. True wealth is fearing God and placing your faith in Him. Why do we strive for all the things here on earth to the neglect of storing up treasures in heaven? May God open our eyes to an eternal perspective when it comes to our finances. May we place our budgets and paychecks before Him and seek His will on any changes that need to be made. May we rejoice in His provision, no matter the figures we make.

Originally written by Natalya Brown for Ordinary Life - in His Timing. Used with permission.