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The other morning as I was listening to the radio, the D J’s asked an interesting question, “What would you pay $500 to have a lifetime supply of?” My first thought was Starbucks of course! Several people called in with their answers: one lady said she would pay that to have her hair done for the rest of her life; another caller said meals at his favorite restaurant. There are so many things we could come up with that would be worth a $500 upfront investment.

One of the things this question made me think of though, was the Samaritan woman at the well whom Jesus spoke with. She was somewhat of an outcast among outcasts. Not only was she a Samaritan, which Jews like Jesus usually looked down on, but she was also looked down on by her own community because of her personal history. In fact, the whole reason she was at the well in the middle of the day was probably to avoid the other women who usually came later.

If anyone could wish for a lifetime supply of something it was her, wishing to have all the water she needed right at home. Jesus knew all about it of course and engaged her in what turned out to be a life changing conversation. They discussed the physical water for a minute and then Jesus told her about the living water He could offer her. She was immediately interested, “Sir, give me this water…” The awesome and amazing thing that most of us still struggle with today, is that this living water that Jesus was offering her and us, is absolutely free. No need for a $500 investment or repayment of any kind. All Jesus asks is that we believe in Him.

That is the choice the woman at the well made. She knew the Messiah was coming and when Jesus declared to her that He Himself was that Messiah, she instantly believed and ran to tell everyone in her town. How exciting that Jesus is still offering this living water of eternal life! We can accept it and tell others too. There is no shortage, there is plenty for all.

So while it might be nice to have a lifetime supply of coffee, it is far better to have a lifetime of peace, forgiveness and joy in Jesus. In fact, it is more than a lifetime, it is eternal!

“Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'” John 4:13-14

(You can find the entire account of Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4 in the Bible.)

All I can say is, you better have rock-solid self esteem before you start to work with kids. I have taught piano for over 27 years now and have been a mother for almost 18. In that space of time I have been asked all sorts of questions that could have caused me to crawl under the nearest rock if I hadn’t had a healthy self image!

“Why is your nose that shape?”

“Why does your tummy stick out?” (This question was asked each of my 8 pregnancies.)

“Why do you wear glasses?”

And on and on the questions go. Children are not trying to be mean, they really are curious and extremely visual. I try to just let the questions roll off and give answers that gently close the subject!

I know that our appearances can be very sensitive subjects. Most women, and my understanding is even most men, are very aware of how they look. And most of us would like to change something about our looks.

It seems to hold true that people with straight hair wish they had curly, and people with curly hair wish theirs was straight. Tall people want to be shorter and the shorter of us wish we were taller. We dye our hair, go to the gym and buy new clothes. The truth is however, God does not make junk!

God designed each one of us. He decided before each of us was born exactly what we would look like. He sees each of us as beautiful, His creation. The world with all its advertising and social media tries to make us think we have to look a certain way to be loved and accepted. This is such a lie. You are most beautiful when you are being yourself, when you radiate the joy you have inside and when you share the love God has given you with others.

So if you also work with curious children, the next time you are asked a question about your appearance, I hope you can joyfully answer, “Because God made me this way, and He made you beautiful too!”

“I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14

Do you ever feel like you are not much more important than a rock? Just an unglamorous, maybe even uncelebrated rock.

Sometimes just the day-in, day-out mundaneness of life can get us down. God doesn’t call us to one fabulous mountain top moment after another. Most of the time it is one step in front of another obedience, mostly in small things.

However, even rocks will cry out to God if nobody else does. In the book of Joshua in the Bible, Joshua set up a stone as a witness to his people that it had heard all the words God had spoken to them. Joshua said that it would be a witness against them if they were untrue to God. (Joshua 24:27) Also in Luke when Jesus’ followers were proclaiming that He was the king come in the name of the Lord and the Pharisees tried to quiet them, Jesus said that if the disciples stopped, the stones themselves would cry out the truth.

I think one of the hardest disciplines of all in life is to learn to just be, no matter where God might have us at the moment, even if we feel like a rock. Oswald Chambers asserts that, “So often we mar God’s designed influence through us by our self-conscious effort to be consistent and useful. Jesus says that there is only one way to develop spiritually, and that is by concentration on God.” This is so hard for me to believe. I am always fascinated by nature: rocks, trees and animals freely living out their God designed plan without worrying about if they are useful or not. I have such a difficult time relaxing into God’s plans for me and just learning to be.

The amazing thing is, that it is actually God’s plan for us to be living stones in His spiritual house. I Peter 2:4-5 says, “As you come to Him, the living Stone- rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him- you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.” I love this term, “living stone”, because it means that even if I feel like gravel or a diamond, God is using me in His kingdom, it is just in His way and in His time. The other thing I like about this verse is that it was written by Peter who knew all about going from feeling outcast and useless to actually having his name changed to “Rock” by Jesus Himself and becoming a part of His kingdom.

So even if today doesn’t feel that exciting, know that God is doing a great work in you. Lean into Jesus even if circumstances aren’t what you wish they were. Obey even when it seems boring. As Oswald Chambers also said, “if we keep concentrated on Him we will grow spiritually as the lilies.”–or rocks!

“‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’ ‘I tell you,’ He replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.'” Luke 19:38-40

As you might guess from the title, this blog is about our money. It is really amazing how hard it is to trust God in this area. I almost feel as though I can more easily trust Him with my eternal salvation and destination, than I can trust Him to provide for my needs today! Since the founding fathers of our country chose to inscribe our currency with the term, “In God we trust,” I am guessing I am not the only one with this hang up.

I think money is especially difficult for followers of Jesus. We have all kinds of differing beliefs about wealth, from people deliberately living in poverty, to the prosperity gospel believers. I think the bottom line comes down to trust. Are we trusting that our God is a good God, able to supply all we need and to give us wisdom and discernment in how to use our resources?

As I mentioned, this is very hard to do. My personal goal is to get to a place of faith and trust where I don’t worry anymore about whether or not God will provide for me. I want to have unshakable faith that of course my heavenly Father is going to take care of me. Despite the fact that God has never let me down, I still doubt!

As many of you know, I really love “My Utmost For His Highest,” by Oswald Chambers. I recently read that he says that trusting God to provide for us is actually a habit and one of the first that we need to establish in our spiritual lives. The reason for this is that it is not just about our material provision, but the provision of His grace and power in our lives. If we say we are following Jesus, but are still just scraping by each day in our own strength, it doesn’t say much about the redemptive power of the cross!

My prayer for us as Jesus’ followers is that we will make it a habit to trust more and more in God’s abundant provision in every area of our lives. That we wouldn’t fall into bed at night with a feeling of having barely made it through the day, but with a sense of confidence and peace. That we would be able to look back through each day and see God providing over and over and to also look forward with expectancy to tomorrow when we know that He will do it all over again.

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; You are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from You; You are the ruler of all things. In Your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.” I Chronicles 29:11-12

(For any of you that would like more information about a Godly perspective on finances or how to get out of debt or manage money better, I would highly recommend Dave Ramsey. He has written many books on the subject, has a radio show and a very helpful website. You can find more at www.DaveRamsey.com)