365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 173

I caught a glimpse of a news story yesterday about Michael Jackson and the unbelievable amount of stuff he collected. It is sadly pathetic to think of all those things he bought just collecting dust. Not one thing went wherever he went to upon his death. I know there are people with a hoarding issue. It is almost like an obsessive hobby but where do you put all the stuff. I got up this morning with this all still on my mind and decided to really get moving on my spring cleaning project. I am clearing out stuff from my basement studio and am feeling good today about letting it all go. I am moving on to the next season of my life with my career as a Christian counselor and don’t need all the stuff I have had for the past 7 years for my scrapbooking and card making businesses. It feels good to be able to let it go. Mind you, I am not letting it all go. I won’t give up making cards or scrapbooks but it will no longer be a business venture but just a fun hobby. So, I am downsizing my space I take up in our basement so we can actually get a pool table or something fun for the whole family.

1Timothy 6:17-19 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 26

I had to take off 8 days of work for my shoulder surgery. My first thought was there goes Christmas but as I got through those days and had to start telling my daughter no can’t buy this or that because I don’t have any money, I found that this is a blessing in disguise.  Although our Christmas may be with less stuff, it will still be filled with family and our time together. Christmas gift giving should be done with love but tempered with some self-control. So, this Christmas God has given me the blessing of forcing me to have self-control in shopping for stuff for my family. Christmas is about God’s love and I am thankful to God for helping me keep that focus. God’s love is all we need and everything else is just icing on the cake that he blesses us with.

Matthew 6:24-25  ”No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?