In The Balance

Sometimes I can get pretty confused on this Operation Christmas Child journey.  Just what is balance and how do I find it?  How do I balance the need of getting the gospel to children around the world with the demands of work and family life?  How should I spend my resources--time, money, energy?

I believe God has given me enough of all I need to do His will.

The question is--how do I know what His will is in each of the situations I face?

Our second daughter recently got engaged and is planning a wedding in October.  When my husband and I got married we had our reception in the church basement with food prepared by the ladies in the church.  That was the norm in our circle of friends and it was what we wanted.

Our daughter and her fiance have different wants, though, and are looking at a venue with prices that would pack a lot of shoeboxes.  My husband asked me if I'm willing to give up packing so many boxes to finance this.  Am I?

So I've been praying a lot about this and asking God what His will is for our shoebox journey this year.  My daughter has worked sacrificially for years for a non-profit organization that builds and repairs homes for low-income persons and she cannot afford the wedding of her dreams on her own.  Does God want to bless her through us?  

Jesus attended a wedding and made it the scene of his first miracle--a miracle where He provided something that was not a necessity of life.  You could argue that turning water into wine was an extravagance in a world where some did not even have water.  But Jesus did it.

God can provide for these shoeboxes in any way He chooses and I'm eager to see how He does it this year.  In the meantime, I'm still hanging in the balance about what He wants us to do with our checkbook balance.