I am really in trouble.....

So we haven't been to church for quite a while I won't try to justify with reasons although they were good reasons.. :) Last night I went to bed at midnight but thought before I drifted off to sleep that I really want to go to church in the morning. Since I've had mono, I have a really hard time waking up in the morning, but this morning, no problem. I woke up energetic got the family ready and walked over to our neighborhood church. The series that Pastor Paul has been talking about is called "Death By Suburb" AKA, The comfortable materialistic life we surround ourselves with. I have been struggling a lot lately with "stuffitis" I have a sickness that drives me to buy unnecessary things such as perennials, annuals, clothes for the kids and myself, shoes, JUST STUFF!!! I am clearly ashamed of myself and feel extremely guilty. God knew that I was struggling and really needed his help which means I'm really in trouble if he knows, but he sent me to church this morning. Anyway, I walked away with many scriptures and this reading from "How Much Is Enough"? by Arthur Simon that I would like to share:

"The way we live matters. It matters to God and it matters to others whose lives are affected. The point is not that a simpler style of life would eliminate hunger and poverty (it would not), but that a life given to God becomes focused on what God wills. Because God desires love and justice for the poor, we must desire the same. Because a life given to material excess violates God and those who lack the barest necessities, surrendering that life to God and, by grace, living a new way in Christ, is also what God desires. For most of us that means, among other things, spending less time and money on ourselves and becoming far more generous to those who are impoverished...let me add that God wants us to enjoy life, to have good times, and to spread the table well on special occasions. Jesus' attendance at a wedding feast..His eating and drinking with sinners, and his acceptance of the woman's gift of costly ointment tells us something about this. But these things find their proper place only if we are opening our hearts with great generosity to others and not allowing personal gratification to rob them of opportunities for life and livelihood."

Thanks for letting me share....