Walking in God’s Dream for My Life

 

http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/book/

Living Well Spending Less Story  Secret #13 Embracing God’s Dream for our Lives

Not too long ago, I did a little fast. It was a fast from shopping for clothes, for me. Just a little spiritual exercise, purging excess from my life, prompted by Ruth Soukup’s new book, Living Well Spending Less. One of the practices was taking time off of buying clothing. Well, that’s hard for me because I like fashion. And I like trends. And I like to look cute. But, off I went on my “shopping fast.” No sooner did I get the itch to buy something new, than a friend stopped by with a dress for me (for free). She just had it and thought I’d like it and decided to drop it by. (What!!! Does this ever happen to anyone?) It was a little God-gift to me, showing me His love. He was reminding me that He is blessed by my efforts to make sacrifices in order to grow in my faith. He was happy to see me strive to get rid of the hold that materialism had on me.

When my daughter started high school, I prayed that she would meet good friends. I prayed that she would have a close friend with whom she really loved doing life. God provided this special friend. But, little did I know that my prayer was not only for my daughter, but for me too. You see, this girl’s mom just happens to be an amazing answer to prayer for me. It is a gift to have a mom in my life that has a daughter the same age as mine. It’s a blessing to share what we are going through and watch our girls blossom into godly young ladies at the same time. This mom-friendship has been the cherry on top of that prayer for my high-school daughter to find a soul friend.

I am taking God at His word and asking Him for the desires of my heart, knowing that if they are according to His will, He will bring them to pass. For example, I believe, that God is calling me to speak and teach and write in this next season of my life. So, it makes a lot of sense for me to go to the SheSpeaks conference in July. And I believe that God will provide the way for me to go, if He wants me there, so I am asking Him to do it! He has a way already, I just don’t see it or know it yet! I’m asking him to show me $699 this month, to cover registration costs. What are you asking Him to provide in order to accomplish a step toward your God-sized dream? We need to pray big prayers if we have big dreams. If God has placed a dream in our hearts that He wants to accomplish in our lives, then we need to trust Him and ask Him to bring to pass His will in our lives, no matter how amazing or outlandish it sounds. God’s ways, at times, are extravagant. His plan may be for us to do something for Him that we never thought we could do! He might want us to sell our house in the burbs and move to the inner city to share Christ’s love. He might want us to leave our Western life entirely, and travel to be a missionary in Africa. Or He might want us to adopt a child or become a foster-care family. He has God-sized dreams that require God-sized provision. Thankfully, He will provide all that we need if we ask for it.

So often I think we try to accomplish these God-sized dreams in our own strength and with our own means. I believe that God wants us to ask Him to provide, so that we can show our full dependence on Him. We can know that our calling and mission in life is from Him when it is something that we cannot attain apart from Him. We need His presence and provision to accomplish the purpose He has for us. This winter, our family has been sitting at a crossroads. We desire to put our boys in Christian school, but don’t have the money to pay for tuition. So, in faith, this month, I asked God to fully fund both of our boys to go to Christian school for the next 3 years. Once I handed Him this desire to tackle, He answered in about an hour. The Lord made a way when we saw no way. He opened doors that we didn’t know existed, changed hearts of an entire school board and staff, and got us an offer to our first choice Christian school. God will provide all of the funding through scholarships, and the school will cover the remaining costs. It is a miracle that only God could do, but it is also confirmation that He wants us to have faith like a child. If we believe that He has given us a dream or desire, we need to go for it! We need to trust Him to give us everything we need in order to see the God-given dream come to fruition. The Bible says that if we believe God and trust Him in the small things, then He will do even greater things than we have seen before! Do we trust Him? Do we believe that if we submit our will to His will, and obey Him in what He has called us to do, then, in fact, He will bless us? He promises to satisfy us with the abundant life that we were searching after. However, He will bring this life to us in His time, and in His way. When we are growing in Christian character and spiritual discipline, focusing on Jesus and honoring Him, we will discover the reason that God wants us to be wise with our spending and saving. He has dreams and plans for us that we know not of. But if we don’t submit to his call and obey Him and prepare for what He has for us, then we won’t be ready to clearly hear from Him. We might miss what He says when He is calling us to move forward. He may have a lot of enlightening to do through the Word, and the work of the Holy Spirit, but if we wait on Him, He will reveal to us the purpose He has for our lives, and the God-sized dream that He wants to realize in us!

Humanly, we always assume that if we lay our lives down, then we will lose them. But when we are laying down our lives for God’s purpose, that’s not the case. We lay down our life, He lifts us up to a better life; a life with a God-light shining on it. He gives us a life with a purpose and a passion and the perfect position to demonstrate His glorious light and goodness to the world. In our weakness, God shines strong.

Living Well, Spending Less http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/book/

shares 12 secrets for seeking–and finding–the Good Life in our day to day lives.  Ruth shares about time management, goal-setting, managing our homes and finances, and she gives practical strategies that can help us to discover a life a purpose.

Who Needs This Book?

Living Well Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life is written for every woman who currently feels overwhelmed or stressed out with a life—and budget—that seems out-of-control. It speaks to the mom who is struggling to balance all the demands of her day-to-day life with the pressure to keep up with the all her friends. It is a practical guide for those of us who long to pull ourselves together but sometimes feel unsure of how to manage all the pieces of a chaotic life. It is the step-by-step guide to creating a life of meaning and joy we’ve all been waiting for.

What is this book about?

Ruth Soukup knows all too well how scary it can feel to have a life—and budget—that seems to be spiraling out of control. Through personal stories and practical action plans, she inspires and empowers women to make real and lasting changes to their personal goals, homes, and finances. Living Well Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life is real, honest, and speaks to the heart of the matter—how can you live the life you’ve always wanted?

With brutal honesty and the wisdom of someone who has been there, in this book Ruth looks at how to:Overcome the destructive cycle of “more is never enough” by instead learning to choose contentment right where we are.

Step off the treadmill of always trying to keep up, and instead take back your time by making simple shifts in our daily habits.

Stop busting our budgets & learn how to cut our grocery bills in half by making five simple tweaks to the way we shop.

Create a practical, workable cleaning schedule that works for our own home and family situation.

Develop a concrete plan for sharing the Good Life with others in order to bring lasting joy and peace.

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