Counting Our Blessings and Sharing Our Abundance

1 Thessalonians 5:18  in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

A few years ago, I was working with a young employee on my team at work.  We were complaining about something work related--I can't even remember what it was.  She was a new college graduate, and I had just given her a "real job in the real world," and I should have been setting a better example.  But, as co-workers often do, we were having one of those moments around the proverbial water cooler, complaining about some new type of company policy that was causing us some momentary stress.

As we groused, she began to smile and asked me, "Have I ever told you about my mother?"  "No," I replied, "but why don't you?"

Turns out this brave young lady has had quite the life.  Her parents married young and started their family.  Her father had worked as the manager of a fast food restaurant while her mother cleaned houses in between caring for their three children.  Devoted Christians, her parents had taught their kids that no matter the balance in their checking account, God is good all the time.  Needless to say, money was tight, and these kids learned the value of a dollar. 

My friend's mother encouraged her children to clip coupons, and she would give them the money she saved at the grocery store with their coupons for their own savings.  She also taught them to be genuinely grateful for the little things in life--a sunny day, a hot meal, a roof over their heads.

When the children were very young, their mother was diagnosed with cancer.  She maintained her strong faith in God, and she battled through her treatments to achieve remission.  Her cancer would come back, and then go into remission again.  Her life became an ongoing battle with this horrible disease.

As the children grew older, they complained as children often do.  My friend said she would call her mom from college to talk to her about the problems in her friendships, her sorority, or her classes.  She said her mom always made her feel better about whatever she was complaining about.

"What was her secret?" I asked, already feeling guilty for my sour attitude.

"She made me count my blessings," my friend said.

"Oh, that's always a good idea," I said.

"But do you really know how to do it?" asked my friend.  "I'm not sure...I think so," I replied.

"Let me tell you my mom's approach..." said my friend.

First, think about where you were born.  Were you born in Africa with no father and a mother with AIDS?  Were you born in a crack house in Memphis?  Were you born in India and literally thrown in the garbage?

If your answer is no, praise the Lord!

Just by simply thanking God for the circumstances of your birth, you begin to realize how incredibly blessed you are compared to millions of people who are less fortunate than you.

Feeling better about your problems yet?

Next, think about your body.  Do you have two legs with two feet?  Do you have both your arms?  Can you see, smell, taste and touch?  Can you eat and digest food to nourish your body?  Do you have a sound mind and the ability to maintain a somewhat "normal" mental health?

If your answers are yes, praise the Lord!  You are beautifully and wonderfully made!  Think of all the people who have lost limbs, had babies who are blind, or who battle mental illness.  Thank God you have a healthy, functioning body with which to serve the Lord!

Feeling better about your problems yet?

Now, where are you?  Are you safe?  Are you sheltered from the elements of nature?  Do you have a comfortable bed and a closet full of clean clothes?  Do you have a car and the freedom to go here or there and exercise your free will as you choose with no fear of the government or police?  Can you choose what you wear or must you veil your hair and face?

Thank God for the gifts of shelter, clothing, and freedom!  Thank God you live in America!

Feeling a little better now?

What did you have to eat today?  Did you have a conversation with your friends or family about what you would eat?  Did you have a pantry full of good, healthy food but choose to eat at a restaurant anyway?

Good for you!  Praise the Lord!

I think you get the picture.

My sweet friend's wise mother had the gift of perspective.  She knew that the Lord had been so good to her and to her family.  She also had the wisdom to help her children overcome the very real problems in their life by turning their thoughts to praise versus pouting.

I think about that conversation all the time.  I thought about it a few Sundays ago when my family left church and my kids got in a huge fight over where we would eat lunch.  My husband and I got fed up and came home to eat--hopefully they learned a small lesson about being a bit more thankful for the treat of a restaurant meal. 

I think about my friend's mom when I hear statistics like these:

80% of the people on this planet live on less than $10 per day.

According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die around the world each day due to poverty.

Around 27-28 percent of the children of the world are underweight or stunted.

Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their name.

Of the 2.2 billion children in the world, 1 billion live in poverty.

These statistics are overwhelming and make my heart hurt.  They also humble me in gratitude to the King of Glory.  My mother used to say to us all the time, "To whom much is given, much is required."  We have been so richly blessed.

As this time of year rolls around, families draw together to enjoy delicious food and give thanks to our Creator.  It is also a time of giving and sharing.  But when we hear statistics about the overwhelming vastness of need on the planet, we can begin to feel overwhelmed and feel so small. 

What difference can I make for one billion children?

Maybe I can't make a difference for a billion children, but I can make a difference for a few.

Mission Athens is hosting a night of service tonight at Central.  Please come and enjoy a Thanksgiving meal and service of psalms and songs as we praise the God of goodness who has so richly blessed us.  We also will be collecting canned and non perishable food items for the food bank at LCCI. 

A few weeks ago, I was dropping off some food at LCCI, and I met a woman there who was getting food for her young children who were also with her.  She had a hard time looking anyone in the eye, but she finally looked at me and whispered "thank you."

I immediately whispered my own prayer of thanks to my heavenly Father that I am in a position to share.  We all have so much we can share, and together we CAN make a difference for our neighbors right here in Athens, AL. 

As Mother Theresa famously said, "If you can't feed one hundred people, then just feed one."

As Thanksgiving comes around this year, take a moment to think about your perspective.  Do you really count your blessings in the way my friend's mom taught her?  I know that I need to do it more often.  We also all have the opportunity to share our abundance with others, and I pray that you and your family will find some small way to help someone in need this holiday season.

What is Poverty?

Perspective

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?"  Matthew 6:25

It's been a while since I sat down and really poured my heart out in a Mission Athens blog.  I have posted a few updates about our activities this year, but I haven't sat down and really let it all out in a while.  It's not that God hasn't been moving through Mission Athens--He has.  It isn't that amazing things aren't happening in this ministry--they are.  It really has everything to do with me and my own struggles this year.

It's funny how faith works.  In the past few years, I have felt like my faith has grown exponentially through all that I have studied and learned and discovered.  Much of that discovery has come through Mission Athens and the joy we feel when we devote our lives to service.  But like a river that can one moment be smooth and calm and serene, around the next bend, that same river can turn into the most treacherous rapids and become terrifying--that's a little like life and our faith at times, isn't it?

I didn't really realize how much I had missed blogging about Mission Athens until a few weeks ago when I sat down for lunch with one of our amazing Mission Athens missionaries, and she told me a Dollar Club story that at the same time broke my heart and filled me with joy.  Here's the story.

As you know, the Dollar Club is one of the outreach ministries of Mission Athens and Central Church of Christ.  Each week, members at Central donate one dollar each that we pool together into a gift we use to bless a family in need.  We have told you stories of bus tickets, clothes and shoes for kids, utility bills paid, cars repaired, housing secured.  Each week, we pray for the families we are helping, and we pray most of all that God will use whatever this temporary storm that is happening in their lives to bring them closer to Him.  Sometimes we get to witness the power of God in these families' lives, but most of the time, we just provide assistance, and these people move on.

Well, there are those rare occasions where the opportunity to help coincides with an opportunity to witness something truly amazing.  At lunch the other day, my Mission Athens hero friend Beth told me one of these stories.

You see, last year, the Dollar Club had the opportunity to help a mother and daughter who were living in their car.  As sad as this next sentence sounds, it is painfully true.  We help people who live in their cars all the time.  Unlike some of the desperate souls we meet, this mother was trying so hard to make the right choices.  She was working.  She and her teenage daughter had gone to several agencies around town seeking help only to be turned away.  She was trying to save her money.  But, for a lot of complicated reasons, she was now living in her car.

We were blessed to help this family move into government housing.  We helped pay deposits, secure furniture, and get them started on the road to their new life.  This great family is doing so well this year.  They are trying to help others in the way we helped them.  It is truly an inspirational success story, and one that motivates us to keep on going.

A few weeks ago, this mom called Beth "just to check in."  She said, "I just want you to know we are doing great.  We couldn't have done it without Mission Athens."  Beth was happy to hear this and was encouraging this mom.  The mom interrupted her. 

"I don't think you understand what I am saying.  NOBODY CARED ABOUT ME AND MY DAUGHTER EXCEPT YOU."

Beth said as she got off the phone, that she just bowed her head at her desk and prayed.  She said, "I am just a stranger."

Sometimes, we just feel so small and insignificant when we are faced with this humbling truth--we are all just strangers.  Strangers who are trying our best to share God's love in a broken, cold and scary world.

Back to my weird, challenging year.  2013 started off with a blow--my daughter and I spent New Year's Eve in the bed with the flu.  I have never been so sick in my entire life.  We were both in the bed for a week.  I am not one of these people who gets sick and lies in bed for a week, but I literally could not stand up without feeling like I was going to faint.  Unfortunately, it was a sign of rough waters ahead.

A few weeks into January, I got the news that my company that I love was going to be going through a painful reorganization.  We were told in January to expect sweeping changes, and that we would learn more about our fate in April.  What a long, strange three months passed on the road to April. 

I can be quite obnoxious at times, and I have rather obnoxiously declared to my fellow sisters in Christ that worry is a sin women love to commit.  We worry about our husbands, we worry about our children, we worry about what we will wear, we worry about what we all think about each other, and we worry about everything under the sun.  We women are wonderful worriers.  Again, rather obnoxiously, I have often boasted that my faith in God is so strong, that I have overcome my need to worry.  On more than one occasion, I have said, "I just give it all to God in my prayers, and then I roll over and fall asleep."  HAHA

God has taught me this year that I don't need to think so highly of myself.  In the months between January and April, I worried myself to death.  I worried in the morning, I worried in the middle of the day, and I did a whole lot of worrying at night.  I worried about the people who work for me.  I worried about their kids. I worried about my boss, his wife and their kids.  I worried about my friends and coworkers.  I worried my family might have to move.  I worried that my husband was worried about me.  I worried about my mother and my grandmother worrying about me.  I worried that I might lose my job.  I worried that we wouldn't be able to pay our bills.  I worried that people would know that I was worrying.  I worried my friends would feel awkward around me because I was worrying so much.  I worried that my kids were worrying about mom's job.  I worried, and I worried, and I worried.

I practiced saying sentences like, "I am declaring my faith!  I know that God will see me through this!"  I said sentences like that out loud when I was riding in my car.  I would scream, "I lift my eyes unto the hills!  Where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord!"

After I was done screaming, I would worry some more.  I worried I would get sick and that we wouldn't have health insurance.  I worried my marriage would buckle under the strain of it all.  I worried about my husband's job security.  Turns out I was right to worry about that, because the week before I was set to go to the meeting in April to find out my fate at work, my husband, a government employee, was told he would be furloughed throughout the summer.

Now, with both of our jobs seemingly in jeopardy, I got really good a worrying.  I started worrying about missing house payments, losing our security.  I started reading Matthew 6 every morning and every night.  I tried to say my worries out loud in prayer form so that it wasn't really worrying as much as it was casting my cares upon the Lord.

God sustained me through this time of worry.  I really did feel His peace throughout this very stressful time.  One night, I sat with my husband and read Matthew 6 out loud.  We talked about how very far away we are from living in our car.

"What if I lose my job?"  "You will find another one."
"What if I can't?" "Our parents will help us."
"What if we can't pay our mortgage?"  "We can live in smaller house."
"What if we can't buy groceries?"  "Our friends and church family will feed us."
"What if we get sick and don't have health insurance?" "We will still get health care.  People will take care of us."

You see, when we broke it down like that, we realized God's ABUNDANCE is all around us.  We are so far from living in our car, not because we are wealthy or because we are well educated.  We are so far from living in our car because GOD HAS BLESSED US WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

When you have family and friends, nothing can happen to you that you can't handle.  Our family and friends will be there for us.  They will help us through ANY circumstance.  Turns out my biggest problem wasn't whether or not my husband or I would have a job.  My biggest problem was ME.

I am addicted to self-reliance.  I am addicted to solving problems.  It's what I do for a living.  People call me with a problem--I can solve it.  I can make a phone call, do some research, ask for help, go to the mattresses, fight for what is right, and I can get it done.  Sick kid?  No problem--I can find the best doctor.  Nothing in the pantry for supper?  No worries--we can have a picnic in the car.  I can send a text, make a call, write a check, ask somebody, call somebody, and just plain get it done.  I am a doer and proud of it.  I wake up in the morning and make things happen.  I love it, I live it, and sometimes God just yells:

STOP THE MADNESS!!!!!

LOOK AT ME!!!!

I AM ALL YOU NEED!

Ironically, I have often told people that I thought it was so amazing that at two different churches, 12 years apart, my husband and I both came to the cross and walked down the aisle to the baptistry to the same "invitation song."  That song was...."I SURRENDER ALL."

Perhaps God is trying to tell the Swints something.

It is very easy for me to give God the glory for all the good times and blessings in my life.  I praise Him, I am in awe of Him, and I am humbled by His goodness.  But my struggle is letting go and letting God with the really big things in my life. 

You see, even though I made that all too important realization that God has blessed me with family and friends, I don't know if I really could graciously accept their help should my family ever truly need it.  I am no good at surrendering all.

God has taught me a whole lot of lessons this year, and I am still trying to work through them all.  It's funny, I don't know if I will every fully develop into the Godly woman that I so desperately want to be.  I yearn to feel the power of that sweet surrender.  I pray that God will help me overcome my self-reliance so that I can feel His grace wash over me.  I am thankful for His instruction, and I know that He is faithful to His children.

Happily, I am still employed.  My job changed in every possible way.  We didn't have to move, but my travel did increase.  I am now working in a completely new field, and I have had to work very hard to learn SO MUCH NEW STUFF.  Thankfully, my husband is still employed.  He did get furloughed, but we survived.  We are both praying that we won't have to use words like "sequester, furlough, reallocation, reorganization, or downsizing" in 2014.  But, if we do, I know that God will see us through.

What does this whole long story have to do with Mission Athens, you may be asking yourself?  I have often said that Mission Athens is not just about helping people living in poverty.  Mission Athens is helping ME, and all of us who are blessed to work in this ministry.  I know that God is using Mission Athens to change my life and the lives of all of us who work for Him in our community.

Just when I think I have a lot of problems, I will forever remember the story about the mom and daughter living in their car.  I will think about how far away I am from that situation.  And I will bow my head and hit my knees in gratitude for the God who has blessed me so richly.  I will pray for wisdom so that I might be able to share in words how eternally grateful I am to Him and that my light my shine so brightly to bring others to Him.  But, most of all, I will just pray that He will use my feeble hands and feet to help some weary traveler make it a little further down the road.

We all may just be strangers.  But we are strangers who have been saved by a mighty God, despite our flaws, despite our sin, He loves us and has chosen us to be His peculiar people.  What an incredible blessing and awesome responsibility!

If it has been a while since you have helped out with a Mission Athens project, there are so many ways you can jump right back in this time of year.  We need volunteers at The Haven.  We are kicking off our food drive for LCCI.  In a few weeks, we will be preparing our Christmas food boxes.  There are plenty of strangers out there we can bless--won't you join us?