You can think of life either as self-centred or Jesus-centred. Either you yourself dominate all your actions and reactions, or He guides all the processes when you make decisions. Either life throws every ugly incident at you alone, or you're facing it with Him faithfully by your side.
I'm mentioning extremes here, and there might be some middle ground of overlap, but I'm not concerned about that because this is not a rigorous academic paper; I'm just writing my heart out. You see, I'm going through a financially difficult time right now, and I'm making the effort to really save up while spending as little as possible. I went over my phone cap and was charged $112 instead of the normal $29 a couple of months ago. Last month it was around $55. I've got a winter trip where I'm allocating $500, but I only have around $400 now (excluding rent money). I'm actually still waiting for $240 to be deposited into my account (one, I was mistakenly overcharged, and two, I paid on my friends' behalf some time ago).
So for the last few weeks, I've been surviving on $18, $15, and $13 on food for the week (I didn't realise this until I checked my diary). Now, I can either see it as
I'm mentioning extremes here, and there might be some middle ground of overlap, but I'm not concerned about that because this is not a rigorous academic paper; I'm just writing my heart out. You see, I'm going through a financially difficult time right now, and I'm making the effort to really save up while spending as little as possible. I went over my phone cap and was charged $112 instead of the normal $29 a couple of months ago. Last month it was around $55. I've got a winter trip where I'm allocating $500, but I only have around $400 now (excluding rent money). I'm actually still waiting for $240 to be deposited into my account (one, I was mistakenly overcharged, and two, I paid on my friends' behalf some time ago).
So for the last few weeks, I've been surviving on $18, $15, and $13 on food for the week (I didn't realise this until I checked my diary). Now, I can either see it as
- me suffering here in Melbourne, to the point that I need to severely restrict my spending
or
- that God has given me financial challenges to manage in order to learn deeper truths about Him. The fact that I managed to spend so little means that He has helped me with discipline, and has provided free food (Medieval party)/offers/discounts/specials.
I guess you know my choice. Just now in Safeway, I was actually thanking God for the specials (e.g. Weet Bix) this week. Just when I run out of Weet Bix, it's now about $1.20 cheaper than normal price. It may not be much, but since I always buy it when it's on offer, and considering my disposable income with which I'm working, then it becomes quite significant. It's turned from a solo $-saving journey into a walk with God.
p/s: I'm reading Robert Morris' The Blessed Life right now, and truly, there's so much to be thankful to our Creator for. There's a lot of trouble on the way, but it's a test to see how faithful we are to God. An opportunity for our faith to grow. For us to depend more and more on Him. To be joyful (and not just 'pressurised' or even 'accomplished') in giving. We give to give, not to get.
p/s: I'm reading Robert Morris' The Blessed Life right now, and truly, there's so much to be thankful to our Creator for. There's a lot of trouble on the way, but it's a test to see how faithful we are to God. An opportunity for our faith to grow. For us to depend more and more on Him. To be joyful (and not just 'pressurised' or even 'accomplished') in giving. We give to give, not to get.
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