The honest truth about a big fat lie

I don't want this to sound like a lecture, bragging, or self praise. It's not meant to be. It is just me being honest. 

I could usually buy almost anything I wanted. I owned multiple Coach purses, Ugg boots, Silver jeans, and other name brand clothes. I spent $80 on jeans, my hair, and shoes more then once. It is very normal to do that back home. My kids had nice clothes. We did DisneyWorld for Christmas. We owned a house, three flat screen televisions and three vehicles. (Our vehicles were not nice but still we had three.)  We had a camper in Wisconsin Dells and even got season passes to a theme park one summer. A few years ago we had jet skis, a boat and a nice house by the lake. We have a nice retirement started and investments. 

Fast forward to today. We still have a house that is being rented until we come home this summer. We still have the retirement and investments. I still have some of those clothes. We sold our vehicles, camper, televisions and lots of other items. We will need to purchase a vehicle, and a few other things upon our return. The rest will come as we need them. 

I just didn't appreciate much of what I had. I always wanted more. I had to be skinnier, have better clothes, change my hair, have a better marriage, be a better mom, daughter, friend etc. I was never good enough. My house needed new floors, air-conditioning, and a big garage.  I wanted a nice vehicle and I deserved it right?  I deserved to be happy. I tried everything to feed this longing for acceptance in a materialistic world. Guess what friends?  It is a never ending battle that we will never win. We can't possibly keep up with this lie that is changing right before our eyes. 

I am going to share briefly what my eyes have seen in these two months here in Kenya. I see parents busting their backs for longer than 12 hour days to put any amount of food on the table. They eat the same foods every day. I see kids wear the same clothes with holes in them for days in a row. Kenyan parents take out loans for their kids to go to school. School is the only chance these kids have to better their future. When a friend of ours was offered a soda, he asked to save the money so he could buy a back pack for school. This same sweet boy asked to take a small piece of cake home after the birthday party yesterday. Of course he can. He looked at me with a big smile and said, "This was so much fun. I can't wait to share this cake with my brothers and sisters!" Yep. Tears in my eyes. 

I am not asking you to change anything you are doing. I am just hoping I can share with you how much God wanted me to see here and I pray I will be able to fight that beast of a lie that we need more stuff to make us complete. There is only earthly value on our possessions. Matthew 19:21 Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have your treasure in heaven. Then come follow me."