so now you know how much we love our house & how we truly feel blessed by God to own such a sweet home - but you also know how small it is. a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom home made up of about 1100 sq feet can seem a bit small for a family of 4 ; especially when you have to walk through one bedroom to get to the other.
at first, we really didn't think about how having another baby might make things a little tighter. we weren't looking for a new home right away until Adam drove by a run down country home with 1.5 acres for sale. we decided to look it up online to see how much they were asking - after such a low price we decided to go see it. i really liked having the space & yard for the kids to play, but the house was pretty small & needed a lot of work. it would be nice for each kid to have their own bedroom & even a play room upstairs, but i didn't get the best feeling about the house. Adam , being a man who loves to fix everything, really started to dream about how we could make this house into a home, our home. of course i was a little excited thinking how everything would be better with more room, but in the back of my mind i really didn't think it was for us.
looking at this house opened our minds up to the possibility of looking at other houses. because our house is made with connecting bedrooms, our fear is that a crying baby will wake up Adlie. of course it would be nice & comfortable to have the rooms separated a little bit - but God hasn't called us to be comfortable. as we continued to look at houses online that might be in our budget - i felt God slowly speak to my desirous heart. these were things i have heard before but have eventually forgot.
- how many people are living in poverty?
- how many people can only afford to eat one meal a day?
- how many people lack clean drinking water?
- how many children are living in orphanages?
- how many people would do anything to live the way you live?
my heart breaks when these questions come to mind. how can i be so greedy & covetous of people living in America who have nice things when there are people starving in the world living in shacks!?
when most of my American friends, maybe even most Americans, think of a nice livable home for a family of 4, we might think of a master bedroom, master bathroom, every kid has their own bedroom, there's a family bathroom, a guest room for friends or family, a big open kitchen, a fenced in back yard and definitely a designated playroom for the kids. i mean, how can our kids live without it & how will our sanity survive without it.
what if i told you our house had none of that .. i understand most people will think i am crazy for this post. i am not afraid of what people might think, but more afraid of not listening to what God is telling me. while a house like that would be nice & i'm sure most of you live in one, this is how my heart feels towards my own family. this post does not concern others, for God may be letting them enjoy such luxury. and yes it is a luxury. you are rich. if you live in America, have a home, have clothes on your back & food to eat. you are rich. i once heard a quote that i absolutely love & will never forget.
"none of us are rich ; but we all know someone who is"
how true is that where our sinful hearts don't consider us to have enough & we always want more - but we know others who have it all, when in reality they consider themselves to have less , but yet they know someone who has more & has it better. yuck - like seriously, we did a good job at screwing up our hearts.
sometimes it's easy for us to justify our sins. for example, i tithe more than 10% so i can have "such & such" - i sponsor a child through compassion, so i can allow myself "fill in the blank" while these things are not always sin, it is a sin when God is calling you to live with less & give more to the poor & that is what He is calling me to do. over the past year or two i have really been given a heart for the poor. not the poor who could get a job but choose not to, but those who are living in mud shacks, eating one meal a day, lacking clean drinking water & can only afford to send 1 out of their 5 children to school. my heart breaks to help those living in such poverty.
by staying in our home, we can save an extra $500 a month that we were paying on our mortgage. of course we will move one day & need money for that but imagine the things we can do with the money we're saving from living in a small 2 bedroom house which is still a luxury to half the world. if we live with less & save, we may be able to afford to adopt from an orphanage overseas someday! if we continue to live within our means, imagine the things we can do to for the Kingdom!!
all that being said, i am not 100% against moving. if the good Lord were to open up a door for us to upgrade for a great price, we will greatly & prayerfully consider it. but we are more concerned with being content with what we have while giving & helping the poor.
this battle in my heart has made me even more grateful for our sweet little home - to have a place of shelter to sleep safely with the luxury of air condition & heat. grateful to have food on the table, clean water, old (but working) vehicles. and most of all, i am grateful that God has given me a heart full of simplicity. He has called us to live with less in this season so we can give to the poor. He has called us to save for the day when we can use the money to glorify Him & His Kingdom.
where has God called you?
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