Valuable Lesson

First thing's first. I am not - by any means- asking or even hinting for money. The Lord is just teaching us valuable lessons that I am blessed to share with all of you.

A few people have asked how they can support us through this African Adventure. We've told them we need prayer most right now. Why put money into something when WE don't even know what the Lord is doing yet? So, up until this point, we haven't dealt with gifts or donations at all. Last week, a woman at church pulled me aside and literally shoved $40 into my hand. She said, "I know it isn't much, but I need to give this to you. I pray for you all the time."

A few days later, we were heading to Syracuse to visit family. We never have cash on us, but I figured we could use that $40 for the Thruway tolls rather than stopping at the ATM like we usually do. I also considered using it to help with some of the birthdays coming up. I put the money on the kitchen counter and figured I'd let Tyler decide what to do with it. (I love to pass on decision making!) Tyler grabbed the money and thought the same thing I did about using it for tolls.

As we drove down the Thruway, we both decided it was wrong. $40 truly won't make that big of a difference when considering all of the expense that goes into uprooting a family of 7 to Africa. But this woman was obedient to the Lord's voice when He told her to give us this money, and we needed to honor that as well. Tyler pulled into the rest stop to use the ATM just as we always do, and we put that other money in our Africa fund.

The woman at church had no idea how valuable the lesson would be that her $40 taught us. We need to be faithful with the little things in life. Would it have been a big deal to spend that money on tolls and then even replace it at another time? Not at all... it was a principle issue though. If we set up high standards in our lives for the sake of Christ, He will be glorified. When we skip over the little things, assuming they don't matter, we will begin to compromise in the big things without even realizing it. God is worth surrendering those little things. He wants to be involved in the details of your life. He loves you that much.