7 project: more spending

The hardest part about this week was no dining out.  I realized just how much my social activities revolve around food.  So....I just had people over to my house for meals.  It was a little bit of a challenge to stay within a small budget for the week and yet continue to give and serve others.  It was definitely doable though and so worth it.  I was able to have some really fun times and meaningful conversations with different friends in my home throughout the week.

 

 

 

 

Another area I want to be stretched in is giving.  I wanted to focus this week not just on how to spend less, but how I can give more financially.  I'm currently looking into several options.  These are just several that stick out to me because of the things that I'm passionate about.  Check them out and see if you would be interested in supporting any, but the possibilities are endless.

 

Kiva: A non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Kiva is a microfinance organization.  Microfinance involves the idea that low-income individuals are capable of lifting themselves out of poverty if given access to financial services.  Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.  You can search by type of loan or country and select a specific person or group that you want to give toward.  You then get updates along the way as the loan is paid back and their business grows.

 

Rahab's Rope:  A ministry that is fighting against human trafficking in India and seeking to bring life and hope to its many victims. They are a faith based non-profit organization desiring to see lives that are transformed by God's love in action.  They focus on both prevention and aftercare, including counseling, basic education, and vocational training.

 

Various sponsorship programs to provide vocational training for women in order to empower them and create sustainable jobs for them.  There are a lot of these popping up around the world right now, which is AWESOME.  Amazima, Noonday's collaboration in Rwanda, and Imani are a few that I know of.

 

International Justice Mission:   A human rights agency that brings rescue to victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to secure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to ensure that public justice systems - police, courts and laws - effectively protect the poor.

 

 

 

 

Ironically, I made a big committment during spending week.  One that involves spending.  I didn't plan to make my final committment that week.  It's something I've actually been looking into for about a year now.  I'm embarking into the world of small-businessISH (that's another post for another day).  It just so happened that my final committment actually fell in that week.  The night I gave my verbal committment to the founder of the company I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep.  I thought,  "wow, I'm not supposed to be spending money this week, and I just made a decision that will cost me a chunk of money.  Here I am spending when I'm not supposed to be spending."  That got me thinking about the word "spending".  A few weeks earlier we had discussed a verse in Bible study that talked about "spending" yourself in behalf of others.  A lot of us were convicted by that word.  We talked about how we may give of our time, talents, and resources occasionally, but when it comes down to it are we really "spending" ourselves?  Are we sacrificing?  Are we pouring ourselves out?  That conversation popped into my mind as I was trying to fall asleep.  Then it started to drive me crazy.  Just what did that verse say word-for-word.  I couldn't remember.  I couldn't even remember where in the Bible it was.  Spend yourself in behalf of.....the poor?  the oppressed?  the needy?  What was it???  I just had to know, so I got up and opened my Bible.  I searched for a while, using the concordance in the back, before I finally found it.  It was in Isaiah 58 and it said........."if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday."   I was floored!!!!!!  Not only did I find the answer I was looking for in the first half of that verse, but I found it in the exact same verse that is the theme verse for the company I had just committed to partner with.  Wow!  Definitely a confirmation for me. 

 

 

 

7: an experimental mutiny against excess


"Jesus, may there be less of me and my junk and more of You and Your Kingdom"
~Jen Hatmaker