God, possessions, & kiddos

I find it interesting that possessions month happened to fall on the weeks that I went back to work, where I had the honor to go on home visits to visit with the families of the children enrolled in my Pre-K class. Many of the students attending my school are below the poverty line and some are even homeless.

Walking in to those homes was an experience I will always remember. Contrary to what one might assume, the state of the homes is not what stood out the most. What stood out were the families. Families who exude happiness and pride. They were just downright sweet. Their attention was completely given to their children, not to their circumstances.

They focused on the things that matter.

These are families trying to do the best by their children, just as my parents once did and as I hope to do when the time comes for me to have little ones. I think it is fair to say that those families did not choose to be in poverty. They all did not choose to live in unsafe homes with little to no furniture, broken windows, and wrecked kitchens. They did not choose to live a life where they would have to choose between paying bills and paying for food.

In our society, I’m more likely to be considered poor than wealthy. I basically live in an apartment. My car is over 15 years old. I don’t own any pets. I don’t have traveling funds set aside. I don’t own an ipad, tablet, or any smart technology for that matter. But all of those things don’t matter. Well, okay someday I do want a house and precious pup, but my point remains. I don’t want to look through this world’s eyes any longer. I’ve done that for far too long.

I have all that I need. I have an amazing husband. C and I have all the space and things we need. And to be frank, I’m tired of people telling me, or just saying in general, that if I obey God and follow Him, everything will fall into place and life will be okay.

Ten years from now my life might not be okay. Five years from now my life might not be okay. Tomorrow my life might be far from okay, but I need to accept that and rest knowing that, no matter what, I will be okay in Christ. I need to find peace in Christ and in him alone. Not in my circumstances, my possessions, my gifts, or even in potential prosperity. I don’t want my faith and trust in Christ to be wrapped up in false promises of a secure life or in comfortable living (if they were, I'd NEVER have kids!).

Do those families in poverty, the ones struggling to clothe and feed their precious little ones, are they responsible for their living conditions because they didn’t follow and trust God? Or are they obeying and following God, yet he fails to provide for them?

It doesn’t have to be one of those, right?

He didn’t promise security here on earth nor did he promise an easy life. Yes, God does provide, but not to the standard that many of us may desire or imagine. God provides peace, love, and eternal life and that is f-a-r more than enough for me.

That love fills me up and it is my deepest desire that it overflows into the lives of those around me, especially to the children in my classroom and their sweet families. They may not know my God, but they can know his love and he can use me to touch their lives as they have touched mine already.