Category Archives: inspiration

Freedom

inspiration, personal growth, Resources, Saving money, ,

Sell your crap

I found this quote on Pinterest, and it led me to Adam Baker’s website, Man vs. Debt, and his popular Ted Talk. What appeals to me about Baker’s quote, site, and Ted Talk is the absolute freedom of that mindset. Getting rid of debt and excess stuff allows you to be flexible, nimble, and agile. It just sounds so empowering.

I’m not a “stuff” person, meaning that I don’t have strong emotional attachments to things, and that’s weird for an historian. Most of my colleagues hold on to stuff, because physical objects are tangible pieces of our history. Items tell stories, and they connect us to the past. So it’s weird for an historian to be so anti-stuff. I blame my family’s regular moves when I was growing up; the more possessions you have the harder it is to move. Not that I live a spartan life, either. The longer I’ve lived in one place (15 years yesterday!), the more stuff has accumulated in the nooks and crannies of my life. And not just precious memorabilia, either. I have an abundance of papers, craft supplies I no longer use, and don’t even get me started on the wide variety of sizes and seasons of clothing I have stashed!

My lack of attachment to stuff, and the fact that my clothes seem to reproduce while I’m asleep leads to regular purging. My mom, sister and I have an annual garage sale, and unsold items get donated right away. But we follow the donation dropoff with an afternoon of shopping, so the cycle continues.

But I long for that freedom. I want to get to the point where my thesis no longer hangs over my head. I want to own my money instead of owing it. I want to consider possibilities and not have to say, “maybe someday.”

If you feel like I do, I challenge you to make a step in the direction of freedom. Toss some dead-weight junk, like papers and old, worn clothes. Sell some excess stuff that has value to someone else. Finish that project that’s hanging over your life (preaching to myself on that one…). Stop shopping for stuff you can live without (again, preaching to myself), and make progress on your debts. Get free. Reclaim your life. Do what you love.

I have a printable “clutter cutter challenge” for you to help you get started. And be sure to check out the Man vs. Debt website for great articles on successfully selling your stuff!

Clutter Cutter

Blessed to be a Blessing

Faith, inspiration, Karah

blessed to be a blessing

Food Shelf…Saturday?

I’ve been sidelined by illness this week (my husband went to Europe for work and brought me a terrible head cold as a souvenir. He got well relatively quickly, I’m still fighting…)

Anyway, I haven’t forgotten you. I actually sat down and wrote a book review post on Tuesday, but I want to polish that up a bit before I share it. Then on Thursday I had an experience with the Lord that I would like to share with you.

I was laying on the couch, watching a movie – a typical sick day activity, and as the credits rolled I was just overwhelmed by all the excess of this world. I felt sickened by all the stuff and all the resources, all the entitlement and all the waste. I just sat there feeling down about my perspective and the war within my flesh. I know that under normal circumstances I would have gotten off the couch and done something “productive” to satiate this overwhelming feeling that I am spoiled. I would have sorted through some things to donate, mended something to make it last, or just about anything to busy my hands and feel less like a slug who watched Die Hard on Thursday afternoon on a beautiful summer day. But this cold. I didn’t have the energy.

Then I heard a familiar voice in my head, “what does the Bible say?” (Yes, God talks to me now and then in my head. He doesn’t reveal the future or anything like that, but he sends me the gentlest reminders, right when I need them.) I grabbed a piece of scratch paper and a pen, and I started to put down what God says about my relationship with this world:

This world is not my home. Is that a scripture or a song lyric, Lord? A sad amount of my theology/biblical knowledge is actually song lyrics that sometimes aren’t even from the Bible. I’d better google that one. 1 Peter 2:11-12: Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. Foreigners and exiles: This world is not my home

If this world is not my home, I am not going to fit in or be comfortable here: I know where to find this one: Romans 12:2: Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

This kind of reminds me of Daniel and the exiles in Babylonian captivity. The food of their new world made them sick. A steady diet of what the world has to offer makes me sick. Daniel 1:8-17: But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”
Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
I like the “choice food” of this kingdom. I like comfort. I like stuff, especially nice stuff. But it makes me spiritually sick.

This life isn’t about my comfort; I will get no rest here. John 16:33: In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

I have too much stuff. I feel like I say this a lot. It may be my personal motto. Too. Much. Stuff. Matthew 6: 19-21: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I am NOT the hero of my own story. Ephesians 2:8-9: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

We are fully made for heaven while fully living in this world. There will always be a war in each of us between the citizen of heaven’s priorities and the citizen of earth’s priorities. Matthew 16:41: The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Keep up the good fight, everyone, we not blessed to be comfortable, we are blessed to be a blessing!

thoughts on blessing and this world

 

My Hunger “Bucket List”

inspiration, Karah, Microfinance, Ministry, personal growth, Resources, Service Projects

My Hunger Bucket List

Are you familiar with the concept of a “bucket list?” The idea is just a list of things you really want to accomplish before you “kick the bucket.” Some people have a literal checklist, but most of us just have general ideas. For example, my bucket list includes visiting Paris (I studied French in high school and college), to see the Eiffel Tower and the Mona Lisa in person. Even if you’ve never heard of a bucket list, I’ll bet you’ve dreamed about things you want to do before you die.

I have a Food Shelf Friday bucket list as well – things I want to do or experience as I advocate for the world’s hungry. So today, I’m going to share those dreams with you.

  1. Meet my Compassion child: I’ve told you before about my friend Edouard, whom we sponsor through Compassion International. One of the great things about Compassion is that they can also arrange for you to meet your sponsored child if you visit his or her area. They even plan missions trips a couple times a year and take sponsors to different parts of the world to serve and meet their kids. They just went to Burkina Faso last year, and Edouard is pretty young yet, but I would really love to do this when he’s older and we have more history together.
  2. Build and maintain a revolving portfolio of microfinance loans: Microfinance is another topic I’ve covered previously. At the time when I first shared this revolutionary tool, I also made my first loan through Kiva. Loans pay back in five years, and the money can be reinvested in another loan at that time or cashed out. My plan is to make a new loan twice a year (December and April), until I have ten loans out there. At that point the first one will pay back and will fund the 11th. My investment, built during the first five years, will become a self-feeding revolving portfolio of investments. Of course, not all loans successfully pay back, but the occasional failed loan can be replaced by a new investment on my part. Now, that may sound like a lot of business mumbo jumbo, but it’s not as elaborate and complicated as it seems. Kiva does all the work for me; I just invest about $30 at a time and pick a project that I would like to fund. So far, my first two loans have been agricultural and seem to be loans that will yield long-term opportunity for the lenders.
  3. Transition my wardrobe from “fast fashion” to fair trade: Like microfinance, fair trade is a long-term, sustainable way to provide opportunity, and thus poverty and hunger relief, for people around the world. I am determined to care for my wardrobe, making things last as long as possible, and to replace things (when needed) with items that were made with fair employment practices that empower rather than imprison the workers.
  4. Continue to develop a personal reputation for serving others: When someone has a need for volunteers, I want them to think of me. Not because I want the recognition, but because I want more opportunities to love and serve. I want my life to be an offering to God, and for Him to put me to work loving and serving others the way Jesus did.
  5. Develop Food Shelf Friday’s reputation as a resource: Bloggers try really hard not to get caught up in the numbers, especially faith-based and non-profit blogs. We’re torn between wanting God to build His kingdom as He sees fit, and peeking at the stats to see if we’re doing a good job.
    It’s really not about the numbers, anyway. I would rather have a hundred people know about Food Shelf Friday if it blesses and informs their efforts and service than to have a million followers who don’t read the blog, or only come here for a laugh.
    And yet… I feel that this blog is something God has called me to do, and that the information I offer here is valuable. It does no good if I share it with an empty room, right?
    So as you can see, it’s a back-and-forth debate. In the end, I do care if people read my blog, and I work hard to build a social media following, find opportunities to write for other publications, and provide you with well-researched and interesting content. I really want Food Shelf Friday to succeed, and I want it to be a tool that you use as you make decisions about your lifestyle and plans to serve those in need. I repeat (as I often do) that I will NEVER use guilt and sad pictures to prod you into action. Your motivation should come from your own beliefs and the spirit’s convictions. Food Shelf Friday is just a tool to help you act on those convictions. You should never have cause to fear what you’ll see on this site or on my social media feeds.

 

Obviously I have a ways to go. Hopefully I’ll have many years to reach and refine, and I’m sure I’ll come up with many more dreams as well! Leave a comment with some of your bucket list dreams (personal or service-based), and/or topics you would like to see covered here on Food Shelf Friday. I welcome your feedback!

Book Review: Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis

Book Review, Faith, inspiration,

Book_Review_template

This year for my birthday, my sister gave me an Amazon gift card. I went a little crazy… I bought 6 used books and 1 new one. I only overshot the $25 card by a few dollars (I love cheap used books…). As they began to arrive in the mail, I set up a schedule for all the books I would read this summer. I planned a month of Food Shelf Friday book reviews. But, you know, that dang thesis is still hanging over my head, so reading anything else has to wait…

One of the books I ordered was Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis. I knew very little about it, other than that some of my friends had recommended it, and that it was about an American young woman who had gone to do mission work in Africa. The day after my book arrived and was added to my growing “after thesis” stack, I got an email from the local library that per my request, they had added the audiobook of Kisses from Katie to their e-reader app. Yay! Audiobooks mean I don’t have to wait until my thesis is done; I can start listening right away while I commute! So this week, while driving, mowing, and doing dishes, I worked my way through this incredible story.

As previously mentioned, this is the autobiographical story of Katie, a young woman from the United States. Katie is a Christian, and she had a heart for people. As a senior in high school, Katie and her mom went on a short-term missions trip to Uganda, where they worked with babies and toddlers in an orphanage. Katie fell head over heels in love with the area and the people. After graduating from high school she went back to Uganda to spend a year working with kids there. Things took off in ways she never could have dreamed. By the end of the year she was foster parenting a dozen little girls, and had started a non-profit organization to provide education for kids whose parents cannot afford the fees required for school. Not bad for a teenage girl, right? As you can imagine, Katie decided to make Uganda her home.

The book covers her first two years in Uganda, and it primarily an outline of her faith journey during that time. It’s full of deep thoughts about the love and provision of God and the call to lay down our lives for His plan. Katie’s story goes by fast, and I imagine it felt that way to her too. After all, we’re talking about a teenage girl moving to another continent, adopting a huge household of children, and starting a ministry all within a year or two. The stories were sometimes hard to hear, and I shed more than a few tears.

It feels like Katie doesn’t have a plan; she just does the next thing that comes up. Maybe that’s her writing style, and maybe it’s true; she certainly seems to have the faith to just keep going through one thing and then another. For me as a planner, that was a bit stressful. I wanted to know where she got the training and supplies to do basic medical care, where and how she shopped for the tons of food she needed to feed her growing household and all the kids that came over for baths and meals.

As a reader, I wished for more detail on the practical side of things. How do they fit two women and (eventually) fourteen girls in a four-bedroom house and still have room to take in guests? How often do Katie’s friends and family members come over to Uganda to visit and help? How does the foster/adoption system work over there, because there is no way the American system would let a 19-year-old kid take in over a dozen little girls.

I also wanted an update, and more pictures. The book ends in 2010, so I was curious about the last six years. After finishing the audiobook, I picked up my paper copy and did find a 2012 mini-update in the back. I was happy to learn more about two of her girls in particular (That’s all I can say – no spoilers!), and I’m sure some digging around online will help me find even more, because I know Katie blogs. I also wished for more pictures. Obviously the audiobook had none, but the paper copy only had a few, and those were tiny. There was no one picture of Katie with all her kids.

My overall impression is that Katie is a remarkably obedient young woman with a heart for God and for people. I laughed and cried, and I really enjoyed her insights, especially about God’s heart for orphans and the poor. If I had a tween/teen daughter, I would definitely give her a copy of this book, or listen to the audio together on a trip.

In a way, I envied her position far from American consumerism and fully dedicated to God and His work. I think the juggling act of American comfort and God’s compassion is tough. Trying to live different without selling all and walking away is hard. Part of me wants to give my life to serving, but the other part of me has a job I want to be good at, a home and yard I want to maintain, etc. Finding the balance between responsible budgeting and responsible fair trade purchasing is hard. Buying local and organic while also saving enough to invest in missions and ministries is hard. I just want everything, even though some it conflicts!

Katie addresses this in her book, and other writers have touched on it as well. They say it just takes faith and doing the best you can now, and then doing the next right thing. For me, it’s hard to accept the imperfections of my life and the truth that I will never get it all right. But a story from Rachel’s Tears (the book about Columbine High School victim Rachel Scott) helps me understand a little better. In her diary (the main source for the book), Rachel recounts a time when she was asked for help by a woman in need, but she felt that she couldn’t. Later she was feeling guilty for not helping the woman, and she felt the Lord explain to her that SHE wasn’t His only resource. He would take care of the woman in need, but Rachel was the one who missed out. We get so caught up in “how can I fix?” when what God is saying is, “I will fix. Would you like the blessing of being the tool I use?”

This is not to say we should go on being lazy because someone else will do it. Yes, God has more than one resource and He will provide, but we miss out on the real reason we’re here when we decline the opportunity to be used. We should be jumping at the chance to know the Father better by loving, serving, and giving side-by-side. You will not have the opportunity in heaven to introduce yourself to God. You should already be quite close by then, and if you didn’t get to know Him on earth, you missed your chance. Besides, we all know enough about statistics to know that not every orphan or starving child has a Katie. There is plenty of need for you and me too!

Have you read this book? Do you follow Katie Davis’ blog? Share your insights in the comments!

Yes, you can! Strength for the Heavy Burdened

Faith, inspiration, ,

Just a reminder, if you’re looking for the perfect Mothers Day, graduation, birthday, or “just because” gift, check out the Nourish Hope necklaces at www.hannahkallio.org/nourish. Each necklace provides 150 meals starving people through Venture. They’re beautifully hand-crafted from sterling silver and other quality materials, and available in four color choices.

 

Yes You Can

I know you. I know that you’re tired, and over-scheduled, and that you have a lot of things pulling for your attention. I know that your family requires a lot of you, that your employers/teachers think they should be the most important thing in your world. I know you get sick, that you have seasons of tight finances, and that sometimes you just feel powerless. I know you have unlimited heart – but limited resources.

I know you because I am the same. I have a family, job, grad school, bills, car trouble, cold and flu season, church obligations – all of it. I get it, I really do. I know you’re not lazy or uncaring, you’re just stretched too thin. So today I just want to encourage you. I want to remind you of your value and your power. So take a deep breath, grab a cup of coffee, and let this truth sink into your weary soul.

 

God is WITH you and He is FOR you:
– Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

– Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

– Romans 8:31 “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

I remember as a small child not being able to see in a crowd, and my six-foot-four-inch dad picked me up and set me on his shoulders. I couldn’t make myself tall enough to see, but he offered me his height. All I had to do was accept his help. God offers you His strength, His comfort, His peace, His hope. You don’t have to do life on your own. He is more powerful than anything you face, and he is on your side.

You need others, and that’s a good thing:
– Psalm 68:5-6 “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, He leads out the prisoners with singing;”

– Genesis 2:8 “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’”

– Exodus 17:10-13 “So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.”

God knows we need other people. We need them to share life, and to help each other. Don’t fall for the lie that you can do life on your own and handle everything by yourself. You need people like Aaron and Hur who held up Moses’ arms when he grew too tired to do it himself. Needing others isn’t weakness, it’s humanity. We were designed this way. Even in the perfect Garden of Eden Adam needed the companionship of Eve, and God knew that. He didn’t scoff at Adam for not doing it all on his own, He understood, and He made a companion for Adam. Recognizing that you need the community and support of other people isn’t weakness or failure, it’s honesty and self-awareness. We were created for community.

You are not too old:
The popular verse Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,” was written to the elders living in exile. God wanted to remind them that He had not abandoned them. They were not too old or too far away. God still had plans for them, good plans for their future.

You are not too young:
1 Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”

In the Bible, we see story after story of God using men AND women, teenagers like Daniel, David, and Mary, older people like Moses, and Abraham and Sarah. There is no peak point where you are useful to God. If you’re breathing, you can play a part. “Let EVERYTHING that has breath praise the Lord!” (Psalm 150:6, emphasis mine)

You have the power you need:
2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

2 Timothy 1:7 “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Matthew 16:19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

You have the power and the authority you need in this life. Not because you’re super special, but because God lets you use His name and His authority to do His work.
I hope you can hear my heart today. I want so badly for you to get this. You are enough because God is more than enough. He offers you His strength, and His power. He puts you in relationships with people who can support you and whom you can support. He has plans for you no matter your age, gender, or financial status. All you need to do is let go and let God – John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”