Coffee and Metaphors.

    A few weeks ago, I decided that on a Saturday morning, I wanted to enjoy a cup of coffee while having my quiet time with God. I wanted to see if I would still have a reaction. I have IBS, and coffee is a trigger item for me. I guess some part of me thought it was a good idea. I don't recall why I thought it would work, or why I thought it was a good idea, but I did. I decided to have the coffee really early in the morning while I read my Bible, in case it didn't work and I got a stomachache. That way, I could work through the stomachache early and not allow it to take over my day. So I made a cup and enjoyed the smell and flavour as I read my Bible.

    Within an hr my stomach was mad. My digestive track did its thing, and we moved on a little while later.

The cool part, and the reason why I am sharing this, is because of what God taught me that morning. While I was drinking the coffee, I was thinking of how nice it tasted and that I had doctored it just right, but how later on I would regret it. God showed me that that's what sin is like. We justify the action in the moment and enjoy the thing in the moment, but down the road and around the corner are where the consequences lie and wait for you.

    We think it’s all fun and games until the consequences hit us. Sin looks like freedom until you try to stop the thing. The enemy wants you to think that you are free to “enjoy” whatever sin that you are getting involved in. But in reality, it's just a trap. Because the enemy only comes to steal, kill and destroy. “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they may have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10 KJV. I thought, wow, I wasn't expecting that metaphor to come out of this 'experiment,' but cool.

    The Bible tells us in Romans 6:23 KJV. “For the wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. Not necessarily physical death, although it can result in that, but mainly spiritual death. Sin separates us from God. Isaiah 59: 2 KJV But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

    Anyway, I haven't written coffee off completely. I enjoy a few ice caps through the summer, and if I'm driving somewhere and am tired, I would rather have a stomachache while driving instead of fighting to stay awake. But otherwise I will continue to maintain minimal consumption like I have been doing for quiet a while. Looking back, I wonder if God put it on my heart to have coffee that morning in order to teach me and to encourage others.

I pray this encourages you with a fresh perspective on sin.

God Bless

~Hannah

No Rest For The Wicked.

    The other day, I was in our buffing department, buffing big, annoying parts that tend to take a lot of time. A coworker finished his in record time. He has also been buffing for years and, therefore, is much faster than I am. I commented on his speed. His reply was, 'No rest for the wicked.'

   I thought to myself, but I'm not wicked. I'm righteous in God's eyes. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf. Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 NIV. He didn't mean anything by it, of course. But the Holy Spirit used it to teach me a lesson that I think I am finally ready to hear. A lesson that I have been trying to learn for a long time. My worth is not attached to my work. Yes, I will always be a hard worker, but I'm done with striving and 'earning' my worth. Isaiah 57:20-21 NIV “But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

    I told hubby about it after work, and he confirmed that I was walking away from finding my identity in my work and instead finding it in Christ. I hadn't realized that that was what I was doing. I was simply walking away from striving.

    In fact, that evening after supper, instead of puttering around and doing things for the sake of doing things, I curled up on the couch with a tea that hubby had surprised me with after work, some chocolate and my book. I relaxed for an hr and a half. Hubby was on one end of the couch, with Blessing, and I had the other end. It was beautiful.

    I am still struggling with finding my identity in Christ vs my work. But I'm working on it. No, that was not intended to be a pun or anything else. I'm working on accepting my worth in Christ and focusing on that instead of working for my worth. Work is a good thing, a gift even, given to us by God. But He never intended for us to get our worth from it.

    So, if you struggle in this area too, join me in meditating on the Word of God and what He says about our worth and about work.

I pray this encourages, challenges and blesses you in whatever way you need today, friend.

God Bless

~Hannah

Value Village Haul

    Last Saturday, hubby and I went shopping as part of our date. We ended up at Value Village. I was in the market for a new hair dryer and straightener, and we wanted a Keurig coffee maker.

    We went in and browsed wall art for a minute. We found the Keurig coffee maker, didn't love it, but thought it would do the trick. We quickly realized we needed a cart. I went and got it while hubby held the Keurig. Upon my return, I saw another display of coffee makers, including a nicer Keurig. We put the first one back and got the second one. I looked at hubby and said how good God is. He agreed. We walked through the bed and bath department on our way to hair dryers and straighteners. On our way through the bed and bath department, I saw a beautiful, pink, lace tablecloth. I quickly picked it up. It will look beautiful as a top layer of a skirt. Over a navy blue or maybe a red one. I quickly moved on in order not to spend more money. I love sourcing fabric, bed sheets in particular, from Value Village and sewing them into new items. We found hair tools and found a nice blow dryer and hair straightener. Fabric is expensive, but a bed sheet from a second-hand store is less than $10, and it’s about two meters. Which is what I need for a dress.

    I looked at hubby and said, 'Okay, we've got to go before I spend more money.' he made a comment about being blessed to have a frugal wife. I replied, 'at least it's second-hand and thus cheaper.' We got to the cash register and used a coupon for 20% off that we received when giving them a bag of donations. Our bill came to $30.70 for 4 items. The hair dryer and straightener would have been $30 each brand new, and the Keurig is $80. God is so good.

    I know that not everyone loves Value Village as I do. I also know that they are not the cheapest or best second-hand store. But, I spent my childhood shopping there and then I worked for them for a few years, so I know the good and the bad, and I will still die on a hill for them.

    They are not simply a second-hand store that is rolling in profit. Has their quality gone down and their prices gone up? Unfortunately yes. But here's the truth about Value Village that the public doesn't know. Value Village works alongside non-profits. They are a for-profit business who work along side non profit organizations. Each location has a different non-profit partner. When you donate to Value Village, they collect the goods. Put it on a big cart, the size of your couch, weigh it on a big scale, pay the non-profit for the goods, then they sort the product accordingly and decide if it can be sold or not. Lots cannot be sold. Including household garbage. Yes, people have tried to donate garbage. Of which we threw ourselves out after paying our non-profit for it. Then it is hung on a hanger or put on a cart to be rolled to the floor and put in its respective department. If that item does not sell, we take it back off the floor and recycle it further. We make a bail out of it if it's clothing and other fabric, or in a box, of its a kitchen appliance. It is then shipped off and sent to another wearhouse to be processed again and then donated to third world countries to help them with their own economies.

    So, the next time you start thinking negatively about Value Village or any other thrift store, please do your research. Before writing the rant portion of this post, I went to their website to confirm that the information is there, mainly so I don't get in trouble for giving out information that they may not want the public to know.

As I finished writing this post, I started wondering why they don't make this knowledge more publicly known. The Holy Spirit then reminded me that, like us believers, they don't need to defend themselves. And neither do we. God knows the ins and outs of that business just like He knows the ins and outs of our hearts, and in the end, it doesn't matter if anyone else knows.

So, moral of the story, I love Value Village, and God has blessed me with many amazing shopping experiences via that store since I was a little girl.

Don’t Take, Wait For God To Bless You.

    A few months ago, I got back into listening to podcasts. I turned on “She Reads Truth,” a favourite of mine. The second episode I listened to that week was about Genesis 14-16 and how God told Abram and Sarai that He would give them a son. But Sarai didn’t trust or believe God could do it; she took matters into her own hands and took the blessing that God wanted to give them. I then spent a few days meditating on it. I decided that it would be used as a “bonus” or “filler” post if I ever needed it. Meaning that it was’t a really big personal lesson that I needed to learn like the rest of my posts.  I wasn’t able to post last week due to time and energy. So I’m sharing it with you now to “make up” for last week, and either later today or tomorrow, I will be writing about what God taught me this past week.

    In Genesis 15&16 we read about how Abram and Sarai, later known as Abraham and Sarah, were old and childless, but God told Abram that He would give him a child from his own body. “And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, this shall not be thine air; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine hair.” Genesis 15:4 KJV. Despite the fact that both Abram and his wife were well past childbearing years. Abram believed and credited it to God. “And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” 15:6. Unfortunately, Sarai was a little more synical, skyptical and doubted. Can you blame her? Haven’t we all doubted God at one time or another? We have a very finite point of view, which is how God made us. It brings a little chuckle to my heart because God did it on purpose. He deliberatly made us with a much smaller view of everything so that way He can blow our minds and “show” off as it were and show us that His ideas, plans and perspectives are so much bigger and better than ours.

    Because Sarai doubted God and His abilities, she took matters into her own hands. Again, if we are honest, we have likely all done this at some point in our lives. Sarai took her slave Hagar and gave her to Abram to build a family through her. “Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold how the Lord has restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go into my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.” Genesis 16:1-2 KJV. She was thinking logically and solving a problem. What she didn’t take into account was how this would affect her marriage, her own emotions and ultimately, God’s ability to bless her with her own children. Instead of waiting on God, she took from God. Again, we are all likely guilty of doing this in our own lives at some time or other. I’m not saying it’s right or that I agree with her. I’m just saying that we all fall short of God’s glory.

    The result of this disobedience was that she had now broken her one-flesh union with her husband Abram. Who also has a role to play in this ordeal. He believed God would give him and his wife a child of their own naturally. But when Sarai suggested they do it their own way and not God’s way, he should have stood up as the leader of his home and told Sarai that they would wait on God. That being said, I’m not throwing all the blame on him either. They both had their part to play in the matter.

    The point in all this is that instead of waiting on God to bless them. Sarai simply took control, took matters into her own hands and took away God’s blessing. As hard as it is sometimes, and it is. We need to wait on the Lord when He tells us that He is going to bless us and do something for us.

    Funny thing is that this happened in our home this week. Hubby had eaten a couple of pieces of pizza and was saving the crust for Blessing. In her defense the plate was on her level, but she doesn’t usually steal food. But the temptation overtook her. She was mid lick on the crust when hubby noticed what she was doing and put her in time out. Yes, we believe she knows what that means. Anyways, I walk in the door from doing groceries, and hubby fills me in on what just happened. We agreed that after her time out, she could have one of the crusts, but not both. Does she fully understand that part? I don’t know. But it reminded me of the passage of scripture I had listened to earlier in the week about Abram and Sari and how we should wait on God to bless us instead of just taking things for ourselves. Obviously, Blessing’s disobedience doesn’t have the same consequences that Sarai and Abram’s actions did. But it gave me a chuckle and solidified the lesson in my heart. Don’t take, wait for God to bless you.

I pray this blesses and encourages you today, friend.

God Bless

~Hannah