Simplicity

I wasn't going to post anything about this because I didn't want it to be this look at me, look at me thing. I want my attitude to remain humble and I don't want to feel as though I am telling people about this in order that they may give to me. But as I am doing this I am finding so much joy in the Lord and want to tell about it in order that others may be encouraged.
A friend and I decided to stop buying things for 40 days. This started on August 4. There are some things that I will have to pay because of YWAM and well... life. Such as:
*Rent
*Utilities
*Gas for the car (I am only going to drive when absolutely necessary or when going out of town)
*Ministry- Food for family dinner

Before I decided to do this I was thinking a lot about how independent we think we are from God. I have always wanted to trust God more in providing for me, which I believe He does for everyone even if they don't recognize it. But I am talking about completely giving everything up to follow God and then trusting Him for everything. I started reading Realities of Faith By M. Basilea Shlink. In this book It tells stories of a young group of Christian women who live by faith in the midst of war-torn Germany. It tells story after story of Gods miraculous provision for them. Reading this book made me want to put myself in the place of complete dependence on God grow my faith in Him and His provision.
So in the beginning I wanted to do this as a fast. I wanted to deny myself and what "I think I need" in order to move more into a deep dependence and trust for God.
I did want to stay away from the (seems to me) trendy attitude of going against a "corporate society" that buys out of compulsion. Our society does have a problem with this but I feel like a lot of times this attitude is very hypocritical and judgmental. I feel like I have grown up in a very anti wasteful/consumer way for pretty much all of my life so simplicity wasn't really what I had intended this to be.
Although I decided to read The Freedom of Simplicity By Richard Foster. And let me tell you I am glad I did. It is one of the best books I have read. One of the things I have learned that living simply is so that you can give more to the hungry, poor, those in need. I feel like God extends blessings so that we may extend it to others in need. Like in the old testament when God blessed Abraham so that he could be a blessing to the nations! God set up a whole economy where He told the farmers to leave the edge of their crops for the sojourners, poor and widows. He advised part of the tithe to go to the Levites whoes job was the temple. They were not able to raise animals or grow crops so in a sense the people provided for them. And every 50 years the Israelites were to release their slaves, cancel any debts,and give land and livestock they had acquired back to the original owner. This was to keep the rich form getting richer and the poor from getting poorer. Can I just read this part out of the book... it's so good!
" God's great generosity to us sets us free to model that generosity toward others. Because he gave, we are enabled to give. This celebration of the generosity of God and freedom to give in return is clearly sen in the year of Jubilee (Lev. 25). The Jubilee was a call to a divinely enabled freedom from possessions and an equitable restructuring of social arrangements. Once every fifty years, on the Day of Atonement, the loud trumpet was to sound proclaiming "liberty through out the land to all its inhabitants" (Lev. 25:10). All slaves were to be set free. All debts were to be canceled. All land was to be returned to the original owner.
Inherent in the concept of the Jubilee was a carefree spirit of joyous trust. God could be relied upon to provide what was needed. He had promised, "I will command my blessing upon you" (Lev. 25:21). It was this inner spirit of trust that gave the ability to meet the stipulations of the Jubilee.
There was an important social principle in the Jubilee. If faithfully executed (which it was not), it would have utterly eliminated the age-old problem of the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer. It was, in effect, legislative justice on behalf of the poor; an institutionalized legal mechanism for solving a social and spiritual problem. The vicious cycle of poverty could be broken. Parents who had lost everything and were forced to sell themselves into slavery to survive knew that their children need not be crushed with their economic legacy. They could have a fresh start. Conversely, the wealthy could not forever lord it over those less fortunate. Their. Their advantaged position was not perpetual.
We would do well today to take a thoughtful look at this unique approach for curbing social injustice. We live in a world in which the gulf that separates the haves and the have-nots is widening at a phenomenal rate. It is, of course the height of simplistic thinking to assume that you can take an ancient and local law and attempt to universalize it and apply it to the complex international scene. But neither is the Jubilee principle totally irrelevant to our day. In fact, it just might give us some important clues into ways we could have a saner more just world". -Freedom of Simplicity By Richard J. Foster
So yeah that is just part of the book... amazing!
Since I have bee doing this God has really been providing. I have been eating better than I have in a long time. Whether it be (better quality than normal) food bank food to the neighbor randomly cooking lunch for us. Just tonight Joe and I met with a couple to talk about going to Argentina and they brought us dinner! Just little things like that.
I am looking forward to experiencing more of God and I will write about it. But even if nothing happens this is not a test for God. I feel like (I know this is nothing near close to this) where Nebuchadnezzar was about to through the three guys in the fire and they were like our God is able to help us but if he doesn't we will still serve Him and not bow down to your gods. Paraphrased of course. So that's all for now.

Fall wedding?

Just to update all my friends and family on what I am thinking and hopefully visualize it a bit. I want to get married in Portland this fall sometime because of all the fall colors and beautiful leaves. It is probably the prettiest season I have seen here... probably the prettiest I have ever seen!
I want to have it at this rhododendron garden I found a couple of months after I
moved up to Portland. This garden has been a kind of sanctuary for me. When I found it, I felt like God showed it to me so I would have a quite place of solitude (since I was going to be living in community with tons of poeple) and also to seek and find rest in Him. I often go there when I need him the most and always walk out feeling peaceful and more rejuvenated. Any way here are some pictures of it in the fall.


I am starting to wedding dress "look around". The one time that I went was exhausting too! I am looking on ebay and what not. I am pretty sure I am just going to get a vintage dress from a thrift store and alter it. Nothing is set in stone yet but at least I am starting to think about it... right?




And if I end up having a winter snow flake wedding!