As I prepare for the journey coming up this next year, I am in shock of how much I have accumulated over the years with moving from home to home. I have 4 couches that fill up a living room where love, tears, heartbreak and laughter have all been. I have a kitchen table that is broke down and stored under my bed. I have a washer and dryer that sit there most weeks, only being used maybe four times in the span of a month. I drive a 4 door vehicle that only one person occupies most days. I have over 10 perfumes that sit in a shoe box in the corner of my room that I stumbled upon today as I was looking for a pair of shoes. With that being said, I know I need to get rid of a lot of things.
But why it is so hard for me to let go? Why do I ask for 85% of the original price when I haven’t used these things in at least over a year? Because letting go of comfort is so hard! The thought of one day needing a pair of shoes that match only one outfit continues to swirl around in my head. But then I laugh at myself because in less than 8 months, I will be living out of a backpack with only 2 to 3 pairs of shoes! And what is even more funny about it, I need to buy a new pair of shoes for this race because Chacos are so versatile that you can hike, swim, preach, and just about anything else in them.
The World Race will be a stretching time for sure, and I am so thankful that the Lord will be shaping me in this time to be more like Him. Jesus probably had one pair of shoes, if that, and he still seemed to walk across the world with no problem. The World Race will be a time where I will begin to understand what it means to live in simplicity. It will help me understand that sometimes, less is more. And, I believe that it will be a time where I realize the true meaning and weight behind everything in my backpack because I will literally be carrying it all on my back.
This week I was reading in one of my new devotional books that my church gave me for a graduation present. It was the second day that I opened the book, and the title was “Giving Out of Excess Isn’t Equivalent to Sacrifice.” For some reason those words didn’t hit me until I read the line, “Giving out of excess isn’t sacrificial giving. Sacrifice is the act of surrendering something prized.” I had to stop reading for a second because I realized at that point, that in order for people to support me in this race, I had to be a sacrificial giver myself. Woah, that was a piercing thought for me. We always read about how the Lord is merciful, forgiving, and graceful, but in that instant, I felt that He was disappointed in me for letting my life get so big that it almost consumed me.
So, I started to clean out my apartment and get rid of clothes. Shirts that had hung in my closet for years were taken down and really evaluated for what they meant to me and I asked myself on each one, ‘When was the last time you wore this, Morgan?’ Needless to say, I got rid of shirts, shorts, and pants that took up space in my closet, and clutter all throughout my home.
I’m not saying that this is the case for everyone, but for me, it was. And with the send off of my clothes to a woman’s shelter in the area, I felt a spark of hope and grace. In my excess, I was able to bless a handful of women who struggled to have clothes at all. I was able to answer prays for women who have prayed for clothes that don’t have holes and that actually fit them. And that is what it means to give from the heart.
Giving is something that all Christians do at one point or another, so I ask you, would you consider to give towards my mission trip this next year? If your monthly payment starts this June 2018, you will support me for 11 months until my deadline in April, which means that you will support me each month while I am in another country next year. It means that all the people, women and children included, will have the chance to know Jesus by the interaction that I have with them.
Would you take this week to pray and ask the Lord what in your life is excess, and how you can turn it around to glorify Him? And in that, will you consider giving to me to partner with an incredible organization that is doing wonderful work in other countries around the world? I hope and pray that you have a wonderful week blessed by the Lord himself.
XOXO
