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My world has been rocked by a book I’m reading for a book
club. It’s called 7: an experimental mutiny against excess by Jen Hatmaker. My
friend Ashleigh invited me to join her neighborhood book club and I jumped on
the opportunity. Her neighborhood is awesome and they do so many fun social
events. Plus, I’m secretly/not so secretly praying that God reveals to Mike
that that neighborhood is where our next house should be. Any who and most
importantly, back to the point of this post!
7, chronicles the journey of Jen and her family as they
choose 7 specific areas in their lives to simplify: food, clothes, spending,
waste, possessions, media and stress. When I first heard what this book was
about from Ashleigh, I was a little bit not impressed with the subject. A book
on simplifying your life? I think our lives are pretty simple… I mean we are on
a tight one income budget, we don’t buy a lot of things we don’t need, compared
to most of our friends and especially the Dallas norm I think we’re doing
pretty ok. Maybe I would read this book and find it to be a pat on the back! Even
when I read her first chapter on food I wasn’t too impressed. She limited
herself to only 7 foods for a month and she is a self-proclaimed foodie. I do
love food, but we eat to live not live to eat. The book club was going to do a
week long challenge for each chapter, and so I set out to find my food
challenge. The Vog house has started the 100daysofrealfood.com 14 week “Real Food Challenge” and week one was “eat 2 fruits/veggies at each meal.” Check. We’re
already doing that and more! Even though the food challenge ended today, we
will keep up with the 14 week challenges in an effort to rid/drastically reduce
our consumption of processed foods. Next week is “no beverages other than
water, milk, coffee and tea.” No diet coke??? Let’s do this!
So…then I get to book club, and that is where the Lord
wrecked my heart. I listened to women who talked about how the Lord was
revealing himself to them through their food fasts and was humbled. I wasn’t
using this fast to make my life so uncomfortable that I was being driven to the
Lord in desperation. Next week, I’m going make myself more uncomfortable, more
dependent on Him.
The other thing that the Lord used to wreck me was a discussion
on why He chooses some to have plenty and others to be in desperate want. One
woman used the quote “We live simply so other can simply live.” This is actually very biblical. Check out
these scriptures:
1 John 3:17 (NLT)17 If
someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need
but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?
Matthew
25:35-45 (NLT)35 For I
was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a
stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked,
and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison,
and you visited me.’37 “Then
these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and
feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a
stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did
we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?40 “And the
King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of
these my brothers and sisters,[a] you were doing it to me!41 “Then
the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed
ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.[b] 42 For I
was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a
drink. 43 I was a
stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t
give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’44 “Then they will reply,
‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or
sick or in prison, and not help you?’45 “And he
will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these
my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’
James
2:14-17 (NLT)14 What
good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show
it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15 Suppose
you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you
say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t
give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
Jen writes in her book: “Sometimes the best way to bring
good news to the poor is to bring actual good news to the poor… It’s almost
like Jesus meant what He said. When you’re desperate, usually the best news you
can receive is food, water, shelter. These provisions communicate God’s
presence infinitely more than a tract… They convey, “God loves you so dearly,
He sent people to your rescue.”
We have been blessed so we can be a blessing… to be the
hands and feet of Christ. Not so we can continue blessing ourselves or bless
the blessed… OUCH.
That one phrase has been causing deep pain in my heart. Do
we REALLY live simply? Are we sacrificing our comfort so that others can have
what they need? I looked around me at what I thought was a modest house with
modest possessions and was disgusted. We have SO much. We waste SO much. We
live very comfortably. We don’t want for anything. We were just having a
serious discussion about what to do with our savings and freaking out that
maybe we don’t have enough… we have enough money in the bank to feed a family
for two life times… we are worried about ourselves in 50 years when there are
moms who are worried about what to feed their babies tomorrow. This makes me
sick. Disgusted at myself, my greed.
My heart is broken for my attitude. So broken that I’ve wept
several times. Mike must think I’ve lost my mind because I can’t make it
through a conversation about what I’m learning without totally loosing it. I was
comparing myself to Dallas, my friends, American culture and have found that
the phrase “comparison is the thief of joy” to be true. I have been robbing
myself the joy of giving. Robbed myself of allowing the Lord to use me to
provide for someone. Robbed myself of
whole hearted obedience to the Lord. Robbed myself of learning what it truly means
to be content.
Where do I go from here? I’m sitting in my brokenness and
waiting on Him to show me the next steps. I’m confessing my ugly sin struggles
with materialism, discontentment, comparison, distrust.
I do know one
thing- I am continuing with the
challenges and praying that the Lord reveals his will to me. Tomorrow I am
going to do the clothing challenge. I will only wear 7 items of clothing all
week (not including underwear). A pair of shoes counts as one item, so does my
bathing suit. So I’m down to 5… should be interesting!
I’m so excited about what the Lord is doing in my heart, in
our family… I feel like we are on the verge of something big. I sense the Lord
moving like crazy. I love this!
Love,
K Vog
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