My Australia Day Commitment

For the last four years I’ve been living with my parents. There were a variety of unfortunate circumstances that led to me having to move back in with them, but finally I’m moving out again under very blessed circumstances.

I’ve been able to save quite a bit of money living with mum and dad and it’s enabled me to renovate my apartment. Amongst the blessings though, I have seen my heart gripped by consumerism.

I love the adrenalin zip of the credit card. I love packages arriving in the mail. I love scouring the net for home wares and never turning away from a clothing sale. I love buying books at the click of a button and finding new and wonderful shoes.

Towards the end of 2014 I read this article about a woman who decided not to buy anything new for a year, and I knew that that is something I wanted to do.

So in a couple of weeks I’m moving house. Once that’s done this is my commitment: Beyond essentials and gifts, and until December 2015, I will buy nothing new, or even second hand.

No clothes.

No shoes

No cosmetics

No books

No home wares

Today is Australia day. I live in one of the most blessed countries in the world and I want to break the hold that consumerism has on me. I want to learn to be content with what I have.

Wish me luck, and I’ll keep you posted!

When a Quadriplegic Christian Sings an Oscar-Nominated Song

When I think of one of the people who’s had the most inspiring influence on my life, I don’t think of a movie star or sports person, I think of a woman whose teenage diving accident left her as a quadriplegic.

Following her accident Joni Eareckson Tada struggled with deep depression and suicidal thoughts, but little did she know that despite a lifetime of pain and suffering, God was going to use her as one of the most inspiring and influential Christians of her time.

It reminds me of one of my favourite quotes by A.W. Tozer: “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt Him deeply.”[1] So often those most used by God, are those who, like Job, have learned to glorify Him from a place of absolute weakness.

Joni could have had no idea, that as she prayed to God asking him to give strength to her paralysed body, that he was about to use her to sing a song that was going to be nominated for an Oscar. The song Alone Yet Not Alone certainly came out of left field, with one composer saying: “You couldn’t even call it a dark horse. It was an invisible horse.”

Below is a clip of Joni singing the song, together with the prayer that God answered undoubtedly far beyond her expectation.

When we are weak, then we are strong.

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[1] Tozer, A.W. The Root of The Righteous. Ch 39