Living the Gospel Right Where You Are

I know I have shared once or twice over the past year or so that this has been a tough year for our family, in more ways than one. After being diagnosed with various health problems, including auto immune diseases, I have struggled to adjust to my limitations and still continue being a wife and mother to eight {soon to be nine} amazing children.

And with Trever now medically retired from the military, he has run into some unexpected challenges trying to secure a decent job.

No one likes talking about struggling, maybe most especially financially. I'm not sure about all the underlying reasons for this, but certainly part of it is pride. It is difficult to admit that you are struggling in this manner.

Maybe in some ways it is even harder for those with larger families, because this is when some people tend to judge your decision to have had a larger family a bit more vocally.

We make do, we get by. God has taken care of us. I have had family come out and help me with my house, doing things I could not have physically have done by myself. Once, a friend sent us gift cards to the grocery store without even knowing we were struggling- I consider that a God thing. My mother bought us a grocery gift card once as well. And recently, a couple of my dearest friends as well as my mother and aunt have picked up, bought or made some adorable baby girl things for this new baby. I am so grateful for all of that.

Still, things have been hard. Sometimes I get stressed out because of my limitations and the lack of help I regularly have when I am so fatigued or in a considerable amount of pain. I wish I could do more.

I wonder what I am going to do if labor comes on quickly and we can't get someone over here to watch our children. {Living in a military community, we have had most of our friends move away as they got new assignments.} I wonder how much help I will need right after this baby is born, and whether my illnesses will make recovery harder than usual.

I am thankful we have been able to pay our monthly bills every month, but I stress about any other thing that comes up- when one or two of our kiddos need new shoes or a pair of jeans or when a medical bill comes up unexpectedly or the fact that we don't have dental insurance and we have child with a cavity that needs to be filled or when we need to take our children to different church activities but don't really have the money for gas. Things like that.

I have said it before, but these are not easy things to share. In fact, sometimes it makes you feel like a real loser. {Just being honest here.} Sometimes, even in a faith community, you get the underlying feeling that if you are talking about these kind of things, you are not really a very faith-filled person, or you would not be struggling and worrying. I have been told many times, in relation to my declining health or struggling finances, that I would be prayed for. But I have rarely- almost never- been offered any practical help.

I'm not bitter, I'm not angry. But I do think it is a huge problem. Especially in the body of Christ.

It makes me think of James 2:14-17.

" What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."

I have a friend who was struggling financially recently, and was asked by some fellow Christians to let them know if there was anything they could do to help. She reluctantly admitted that she didn't have enough gas to get her husband {who has cancer} to his doctor appointments, and that she didn't have money to buy any. They replied by telling her they would pray for her, that God would provide, and then proceeded to walk into a nice restaurant to buy themselves dinner.

I have felt a bit out of sorts at times when I have read blogs about traveling to foreign countries to aid people groups in need, because while I certainly think this is a worthy cause and I am glad there are people doing it, I find it strange that sometimes those same people ignore the needs of their own neighbors, friends and church members. It seems a lot of people are more excited at the thought of taking care of people they have never seen rather than reaching out to those in our communities who are struggling right in front of our eyes....

And in the middle of all this, in the midst of these struggles, my friends have written blog posts that have really resonated with me. I would love for you to read them, and to hear your thoughts/ideas on them as well. More than anything, I ask you to truly consider what is being said....

Tonia's post- This post addresses the fact that it sometimes seems more glamorous to us to aid struggling people far away than our own neighbors, and questions whether we could perhaps challenge this tendency by living the gospel right where we are. For those who have been called to *stay* rather than *go*.

Amy's post- This one hit me hard. I could almost have written it myself. Almost. It certainly gives perspective to this issue, and describes what it can be like to be the one who is struggling- in church- here.

And if you've read this far, thank you. It's not often I write about things like this, but I think this is such an important issue, friends.

What about you? What do you think? I'd really like to know...
{Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments box below.}


~amy danielle