#29 - Focusing on Bread

Date Sent: Sun, Nov 23, 2008 at 2:40 PM

As I type this email, we are in the car driving from North Carolina back home. Today is my 29th birthday, and my mother is watching our boys while Aaron and I spent a long weekend away, visiting the most beautiful house in America - the Biltmore! (www.biltmore.com) I've always been in love with architecture and beautiful landscaping, etc. So, when Aaron suggested that the two of us make the 16 hour round-trip drive to take a candlelight Christmas tour as my birthday gift, I was very excited! One thing we didn't think about was that Asheville, NC is almost 2000 ft. higher in elevation than where we live. The three things that make breathing harder for me are heat, humidity, and elevation. But, at least we brought my bottled oxygen with us. Aaron kept it in a backpack as we toured the magnificent grounds. I needed to sit, rest and use the oxygen quite frequently. But, it was well worth it to see the beautiful house decorated for Christmas!

The previous weekend was my first time going home to Wheeling, WV in over a year! I used to visit my mother there probably every 6-8 weeks - that is before my illness hit crisis mode last winter. My mother is the Missions Chair at her church, and last weekend was the 3rd or 4th Annual Missions Focus, so we thought it would be a good time to make the effort to go. By the end of the weekend I was exhausted and it took me a day or two to recuperate from the trip, but I'm so glad that we went! We stayed at a hotel rather than my mom's house so that I wouldn't have to do so many stairs, and it worked well. It was so encouraging to see people from the church family of my childhood, and to feel their continued support. There are so many people who still pray for us daily, and we are so grateful. It is in part because of their faithfulness that I'm doing so well. God is answering your (and our) prayers. I'm SO MUCH better than I was, but I still get tired very easily, and finally accept help to do things like cleaning my house so that I can focus my attention/energy on more important things like the boys.

Each year, the theme of the Missions Focus is taken from a line of the Lord's Prayer - last year was "Thy will be done." That seemed to be the theme of our life this past year. God took our family down a path that we definitely wouldn't have chosen. But last year we prayed as a couple for God's will to be done in our lives. If it hadn't been for God's grace, the hurdles we've crossed would have been insurmountable. But we both keep feeling blessed that God's giving us the strength for each new day and using our struggles to bring about good for His kingdom. This year's theme was "Give us this day our daily bread."

As we sat in the church service last Sunday at the Missions Focus, and listened to the sermon, once again Aaron and I heard God speaking to us. It feels like the focus for this coming year in our lives once again lines up with the Missions Focus theme. For the past several months we've both felt challenged by God to change how we handle our finances. When I was a child I would frequently pray for God to give me lots of money when I grew up. But, the cry of my heart is being modified. There is so much more that both of us want to do with the money that God has given to us (however much or little that is). This is part of what the sermon discussed. Here are some of the Pastor's thoughts that especially hit home for us:

We should join into a partnership with God to use what He's given us to help relieve the needs of others. After all, why should He give us more if we aren't using what He's given us already? Our prayer should be for God to meet our needs BUT ALSO to use US to meet the needs of others. We have a responsibility to share what we have (what God's given us) - spiritual, financial and physical. The same God who spoke creation into being wants to meet our needs too - that is our needs, not our greeds.

Later that afternoon, during the four hour drive home, Aaron and I discussed the weekend, the sermon, and what we feel God is asking of us. After praying about it, we've decided to make some more changes. I found it interesting that the following Tuesday morning ladies Bible study discussed a lot of the same things (though taken from the book of James instead of Matthew) - how to and how not to use your finances. It was like God was wanting to make sure that we got the point. We did. It could be tempting to wait until after the holidays are over to make these changes, but we're not. After all, delayed obedience is disobedience (anyone who's had children will attest to that!).

Well, Happy (early) Thanksgiving. We have so much to be grateful for this year! I hope you're grateful for the blessings in your life too - I'm sure there's more than you can count!

~ Julia