Thursday, October 30, 2014

My Refridgerator lead me to Jesus.

I feel compelled to preface this post by saying that in no way am I desiring to elicit a response of sympathy, charity, or supposition that I resent my husband's income. Because if that is your take away, I will be highly offended and saddened that the glory due to Christ was not given. Taylor and I have willingly placed ourselves in a lifestyle of minimal income. I am not saying it is always easy, or that we both don't want things we can't often afford, but the limited funds has helped us to keep our spending priorities in place and after this past week, has helped to see our Father's loving hand more clearly.



This week has been a testing of my nerves and faith. Hubby and I were down to the last few dollars in our account, and yet we still had a week before payday. What food was in our home would be the food that would feed our family, including school lunches for Corin, for the next week. Yikes. We have done self imposed "no shopping" weeks in attempts to use up freezer and pantry foods, but this was a little different. No more, "Oh, well we really have to have milk, sugar, flour and butter... But then it can be a no shopping week. Oh and some tomatoes for that one dish I was going to make with our surplus of noodles..." nope. What we had was what we would have until it was gone. As a consumer driven society, I think we easily fall into the trap of thinking that whatever we are used to having readily or consistently available to us is a need. But I learned this week, they are not. Meal by meal, we used up the contents of our freezer, pantry, and especially the fridge. "Staples" like flour, sugar, milk, cereal, oatmeal, olive oil, butter... They all left empty containers or spaces in their stead. The experimentation began and to be honest, most of the food I made got good reviews. In utilizing bouillon, spices, legumes and rice, I was even able to vary the ethnicity of our dishes. It was incredibly satisfying to accomplish this... But more than satisfying, it was humbling. I realized my attitude of entitlement quite clearly. I had to forgo outings with friends to conserve gas, use powdered creamer in place of milk in my coffee(gasp), and actually prepare a cooked meal to put in Corin's lunchbox each morning. There was no meat in our diet, but there was an abundance of root vegetables and even fruit "slushies" from our freezer and pantry stashes. Everytime I felt like I couldn't make another complete meal with what we had, the Lord placed a creative thought in my head and I would suddenly have the curious urge to see if I could execute the experimental meal in reality. Not only did He provide inspiration, but physically provided food, through friends who came to visit. Seriously. A pizza dinner, a Mexican buffet, a pumpkin, a can of oats with dried fruit, delicious muffins and even pumpkin butter. I was in awe as I saw the Lord's hand provide day after day, meal after meal. I took a picture of the contents of our fridge and in looking at that picture, I was brought to tears. Not because of what it lacked, but because of what it still had yet to provide. There are still several meals and snacks worth in this fridge, believe it or not... In conjunction with some pantry partners, but still... Several meals and snacks. Awe, people, sheer awe was streaking down my face in salty droplets of joy, adoration, thankfulness, and renewed trust. In Matthew it talks about how God clothes the lilies of the fields and feeds the birds of the sky... How much more would he provide for us?! Oh how RICHLY He does. When we expect that we are owed more than what is truly necessary for life, when we develop a consumer mentality of entitlement, we lose sight of how truly blessed we are. Of how RICHLY AND ABUNDANTLY our Father provides and cares for us. For us, it took a week to whittle down our resources and be exposed to our entitlement issues. How long would your kitchen truly sustain you? No frills, and certainly not food pyramid friendly meals everytime, but sustain and fill you. How long would it take for Jesus to speak your heart through your empty fridge or pantry? How long... How long have I been ungrateful for His overly abundant blessings?
LL

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