Revolutionary Love

This blog as been mulling over and over in my mind over the last 2 weeks. I have been hesitant about writing it because of the uncertainty of committing myself, getting out of my comfort zone, and pretty much laying my heart out there for all to see. I was confronted with the issue yet again this morning in church.

Let me backtrack about 11 years before now and tell you something about myself. Before Bryan and I even met, I decided to give up on dating and the whole marriage thought. I was prepared to embark on my own journey and wasn't quite sure where that was going to lead me but I knew it was going to involve changing the world. I had completely surrendered myself to God and was ready to be the next Mother Teresa. I think God must have known me better than that and put my path align with Bryan's path and well, here we are almost 10 years later with 2 kids, another on the way, living in Portland, Oregon. Amazing plan that God had for my life, but I don't think that it ends here. In fact, my dream of changing the world has never left me. I have visions, dreams, and ambitions to revolutionize this world, my neighborhood, my town, and my country for Christ. It is only through Him, that I know LIFE and life more abundant. I want everyone to know of this Creator of their souls.

Fast forward to today where in Aloha, Oregon I sat on the far right side of the sanctuary of Life Church while our pastor, Werner, spoke on something near and dear to my heart. The poor. He gave some statistics from a book that I have yet to read but is on my list, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell. He talked about our OVER-consumption of simple things that we take completely for granted such as clean water, food, shelter, and disposable diapers. I sat thinking, "God how can I change the world? How can me, a stay at home mom that never really gets out much, change my world for you?" Then it hit me. We support one missionary on her way to India but that isn't enough. I can't go to India, as much as I would LOVE to one day, but I can support a dear friend in her journey. But, I need to do more. Being a stay at home mom with no income of my own, I have to get creative. It was like God whispered an idea into my head and heart......going diaperless? WHAT? GOD? ARE YOU SERIOUS? We have another baby on the way and if I switch to cloth diapers how much money will that be? Well, just a quick add in my head tells me that that that is about $40 a month and add that up to approximately over the course of 2 years equals a whopping $960 and that is being very conservative. Not to mention that the usage of diapers usually lasts over 2 years and I will probably have 2 children in diapers at the same time for awhile. What would $960 do for a missionary, a family in need, a country in Africa, a child without food or clean water? That amount of money could put several students through Bible School in the Republic of Georgia where you are not only impacting that students life but whole villages for Christ! That is only the beginning of what I can do as a meager stay at home mom without any income! Sure, I'll be giving up my own convenience, but what about God's call? What about changing the world? Well, I will do it one cloth diaper at a time!!

The Thompson family has committed the next 2 years to be givers. We are canceling cable, giving up diapers, and eating at home more. All the money we would normally spend on these things will not be sitting in our bank account. It will be going into a giving fund where we will give, give, give to those in need. We believe through our commitment for the next 24 months, God is going to revolutionize our lives as revolutionize our world!