“You are never, ever going to need it.”
“Well, I am getting rid of my coconut oil!”
“You are doing good, but you still need to get rid of something else.”
“So, how many shirts do you have?”
“Four”
“Get rid of two, you need WAY less than that.”
You think you need ten pairs of underwear, cut it down to five. You think you need that hair product for yourself, you don’t. Four shirts work just as much as eight shirts when you realize how little people all over the world have. You think that straightening your hair is more important that spending time with people you are ministering to? You will not think that in a week. People in third world countries don’t need you to look beautiful to present the gospel. Jesus will shine through your appearance.
These are the conversations I am hearing in my hotel room tonight. There are at least six different packs that have exploded all over the room. Panties are on the pillows, toiletries are arranged on the counter like a vanity, and clothes are strewn on our beds like confetti. Girls are asking for confirmation to discard small grocery bags full of “unnecessary” items in the midst of scattered belongings – downsizing has never looked so extreme.
This is the cost of the World Race; this is my cost of spending a year following the Great Commission; this is a small amount of “carrying my cross” for Christ. And it’s worth it.
The moment finally came to lean and, here I am, sitting in the corner of my hotel room, surrounded by a group of amazing, Godly women who have chosen to give up fashion and worldly beauty in order to carry His cross around the world, just hoping and praying that God will use them for something more than what they are giving up.
And that is my prayer. I hope that God will reveal Himself as more than everything I am giving up. In my mind I am confident that He will; it is my heart that needs the convincing now. This downsizing is more than I have ever done in the past, but I believe He has only just begun to show me how much more I will give up for Him in the next eleven months.
