Stop Living a Dollar Store Life! You're Worth MORE!
Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE a dollar store. I buy about 80% of everything I use on a regular basis (groceries included) from the dollar store. Our little town has three of them! It is THE place to go for most of what I want. From laundry supplies, to batteries, food for us, the cats, the birds, and the fish, soaps to clean everything in the house (including us), toys to occupy everyone, things to make us pretty, the house pretty, the yard pretty...you get the idea. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the dollar store! However...sometimes you need a little more.
I was walking through the house one morning, thinking about pouring myself a cup of coffee. Minding my own little business. Mentally planning what I was going to do that day. Out of the blue, God ripped right through my thoughts, and in a quiet little whisper said, "Quit living a dollar store life." Now, I have to admit, I was completely taken aback! I never really thought about living a "dollar store life". What did that even mean? I went on into the kitchen to pour my coffee and warm up my breakfast, and had a little chat with God. I really needed Him to show me what that was about.
My eyes wandered over the things in the kitchen. What all came from the dollar store? The food on my shelves, the food in my fridge, my dishcloths, the cup I was pouring my coffee into, the canister I was getting sugar out of, the spoon I stirred my coffee with...even the rug under my feet. Yep. I told you! I have a LOT of stuff from the dollar store. "Well, God...you know the dollar store is convenient and easy on my budget!" I don't think that's quite what He meant though. There was a spiritual lesson to be learned here. I felt like God was trying to remind me not to settle.
I am very good at making do with what I have. I'm also pretty good at stretching a dollar. However, if I'm honest with myself, I think sometimes I do settle. I won't look at nicer things because I know I don't have money for them. I go straight to the inexpensive stores and make a bee line for the sales rack. There is no harm in this, believe me. However, I think the trouble comes when our mindset changes so that we settle for less because we don't think we deserve more. This really hasn't been a problem for me for most of my life, but in recent years I have become rather guilty of this behavior. I'll look at something very nice (on the sale rack) and think, "Nope. That's just too nice for me. It would look rather ostentatious in my little house." Did I like it? Oh, yes! Did I want it? Most definitely. Did I get it? No. I got something that looked a little less grand, for the same price, because it wouldn't look so out of place in my house.
As I drank my coffee out of my Dollar Store cup, I thought about what God was showing me. How did that apply to me spiritually? Well, there are times when I settle for my relationship with God and don't press for more...simply because of my own perceived limitations. "God, I have a past. I'm divorced. Twice. I'm unmarried. I'm a single mother. I'm disabled. I'm this. I'm that. I'm, I'm, I'm.... (you see the trend here?) You can use those other healthy, married ladies so much better. I can never be used in this capacity or that capacity (especially in my denomination) because of my yesterdays. This is my life now. I'll just take your little leftovers and use them as best as I can. Annnnd, there it was. THAT'S what God meant by not living a Dollar Store life.
God wants us to pursue a deeper relationship with Him BECAUSE of our yesterdays. He uses us in so many ways to reach so many people BECAUSE of our past. That enriches our gifts from Him. It stretches and strengthens us to be used in ways we can only imagine. The main thing is that we have faith in Him that He will use us. We know He can, I think the problem comes in us believing He will. So what if I have a past? So what if I can't be used in certain denominations. God owns the whole world and if He wants to use me, He will use me. I have to stop settling for His leftovers and actively seek a richer, fuller, wide open relationship with Him. I also have to stop limiting myself and believe that He will use me exactly when, where, and how He wants to!
Not long after this epiphany, I was at a high end discount store and saw these gorgeous coffee mugs. They were white with an embossed floral pattern, and the insides were a rich, turquoise and azure glaze. I wanted them! The price was fair at $2.50 a piece, but I found myself thinking, "No. Those are too nice for me. Where am I going to put them? I don't think they'll fit in the cabinet. Besides, I can get one for a dollar at the dollar store." God brought our little conversation right back to me, and I gave in and bought two of them. I know they were only coffee mugs, but I was so excited! Does my coffee taste any different? Nope. Do they match my kitchen? Actually, they do. Do they fit in the cabinet? No, they don't. Doesn't matter, though. That means I can leave them out on the counter to be my daily reminder 1. to settle for nothing less than God's best, 2. to search for God and His fresh anointing every day, 3. and to live life in His fullness!
I was walking through the house one morning, thinking about pouring myself a cup of coffee. Minding my own little business. Mentally planning what I was going to do that day. Out of the blue, God ripped right through my thoughts, and in a quiet little whisper said, "Quit living a dollar store life." Now, I have to admit, I was completely taken aback! I never really thought about living a "dollar store life". What did that even mean? I went on into the kitchen to pour my coffee and warm up my breakfast, and had a little chat with God. I really needed Him to show me what that was about.
My eyes wandered over the things in the kitchen. What all came from the dollar store? The food on my shelves, the food in my fridge, my dishcloths, the cup I was pouring my coffee into, the canister I was getting sugar out of, the spoon I stirred my coffee with...even the rug under my feet. Yep. I told you! I have a LOT of stuff from the dollar store. "Well, God...you know the dollar store is convenient and easy on my budget!" I don't think that's quite what He meant though. There was a spiritual lesson to be learned here. I felt like God was trying to remind me not to settle.
I am very good at making do with what I have. I'm also pretty good at stretching a dollar. However, if I'm honest with myself, I think sometimes I do settle. I won't look at nicer things because I know I don't have money for them. I go straight to the inexpensive stores and make a bee line for the sales rack. There is no harm in this, believe me. However, I think the trouble comes when our mindset changes so that we settle for less because we don't think we deserve more. This really hasn't been a problem for me for most of my life, but in recent years I have become rather guilty of this behavior. I'll look at something very nice (on the sale rack) and think, "Nope. That's just too nice for me. It would look rather ostentatious in my little house." Did I like it? Oh, yes! Did I want it? Most definitely. Did I get it? No. I got something that looked a little less grand, for the same price, because it wouldn't look so out of place in my house.
As I drank my coffee out of my Dollar Store cup, I thought about what God was showing me. How did that apply to me spiritually? Well, there are times when I settle for my relationship with God and don't press for more...simply because of my own perceived limitations. "God, I have a past. I'm divorced. Twice. I'm unmarried. I'm a single mother. I'm disabled. I'm this. I'm that. I'm, I'm, I'm.... (you see the trend here?) You can use those other healthy, married ladies so much better. I can never be used in this capacity or that capacity (especially in my denomination) because of my yesterdays. This is my life now. I'll just take your little leftovers and use them as best as I can. Annnnd, there it was. THAT'S what God meant by not living a Dollar Store life.
God wants us to pursue a deeper relationship with Him BECAUSE of our yesterdays. He uses us in so many ways to reach so many people BECAUSE of our past. That enriches our gifts from Him. It stretches and strengthens us to be used in ways we can only imagine. The main thing is that we have faith in Him that He will use us. We know He can, I think the problem comes in us believing He will. So what if I have a past? So what if I can't be used in certain denominations. God owns the whole world and if He wants to use me, He will use me. I have to stop settling for His leftovers and actively seek a richer, fuller, wide open relationship with Him. I also have to stop limiting myself and believe that He will use me exactly when, where, and how He wants to!
Not long after this epiphany, I was at a high end discount store and saw these gorgeous coffee mugs. They were white with an embossed floral pattern, and the insides were a rich, turquoise and azure glaze. I wanted them! The price was fair at $2.50 a piece, but I found myself thinking, "No. Those are too nice for me. Where am I going to put them? I don't think they'll fit in the cabinet. Besides, I can get one for a dollar at the dollar store." God brought our little conversation right back to me, and I gave in and bought two of them. I know they were only coffee mugs, but I was so excited! Does my coffee taste any different? Nope. Do they match my kitchen? Actually, they do. Do they fit in the cabinet? No, they don't. Doesn't matter, though. That means I can leave them out on the counter to be my daily reminder 1. to settle for nothing less than God's best, 2. to search for God and His fresh anointing every day, 3. and to live life in His fullness!
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
Ephesians 3:16-21 NIV
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