Lent: Day 8 // Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

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{Lent} Day 8:

40 acts // O.T.T. // Alright, time to step it up a notch - we're headed into the deep-end of generous living. Today’s challenge is to get right out of your comfort zone and do something a little bit wild for someone else. For some, this might be a really extravagant treat or gift for someone who needs cheering up. You might offer free hugs in the high street or buy flowers and give them out to everyone you meet. The point of this one is uncomfortable, over the top generosity. Go for it!

{photo credit:http://thingsweforget.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/1123-kind-word-can-change-someones.html}

This is a challenge I have been setting myself a lot recently anyway, for example, doing things like buying hot drinks, food and gift cards for homeless people; offering a tissue, kind word and help to a crying stranger;  asking people on the bus how their day has been; buying things for people that I know they need/want but can't afford; and just generally randomly talking to strangers (which doesn't seem like a big deal, but if you really think about it, it is!).

Today, I had the opportunity to speak to a coworker whose best friend died abruptly last week. She needed to be encouraged that she had done all that she could and that God had used her (and continues to use her) in a powerful way in this friend's family. I had chance to say the words that God had laid on my heart to say to her and to just give her a hug and say that I would continue to pray for her in this time. It was a sensitive moment and a difficult one to gauge and I am very grateful that God gave me the words and the moment to say what He wanted her to hear.

Live Free // Be content with your identity and don’t wear any of your brand clothes for a week. Break away from consumerism #BeFree #LiveFree.

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Hope your Lent efforts are still going strong!

Blessings!

Ronell x

"Kind words are like honey—
    sweet to the soul and healthy for the body."

{Proverbs 16:24}

Lent: Day 6 // Extend Your Reach

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{Lent} Day 6:

40 acts // Reach // Whether you’re the pastor of a church, a single parent, a Twitter superstar or a self-confessed technophobe, the fact is that to someone, somewhere, YOU are an important voice and what you say and do matters. Consider your 'reach' today, and write a list of the spheres of influence you have in your journal. Pick one sphere (it might be your church, your child’s school, or an online community) and choose a positive message of generosity, love or kindness to share with them today. You might pick a YouTube video, or a story that inspired you. If you share it online, share with us too using #40acts.

Live Free // Read Philippians 4:11-13. Think about everything you own; pray you will be satisfied with what you have and not craving what you don’t have #LiveFree.

{photo credit: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/how-to-live-generously-in-a-fearful-world-tickets-10190842083}

I chose my online sphere of friends and followers to share this message with (both on here and sharing this post, and on http://mandelaproject.com/ronell1984) and luckily my 40acts challenge links nicely with my Live Free challenge! Result! :)  

Philippians 4:11-13 challenges us about the differences between need and want and greed and generosity and refocussing the balance of these things firmly on God, rather than ourselves and our own insecurities.

Here are some ways in which you could choose today to live generously, rather than living selfishly:

- Check out this blog for hard hitting views on our new 
'normal' consumerist culture: http://rth.ms/14drQf5

- Buy Samaritan’s Purse gifts to give that will literally help change 

the world, rather than just filling it with more 'stuff': 

http://www.givingcatalogue.org.uk/

- Or buy Oxfam Unwrapped gifts to give that will also help change 

the world, rather than just filling it with more 'stuff':  

https://www.nectar.com/spend/oxfam-unwrapped.points 

- Set yourself a new year's resolution (any time of the year!) to

be more active in your generosity. Choose a charity (I have chosen

Operation Christmas Child and The A21 Campaign), 

set yourself goals, and get fundraising, 

volunteering or donating!

- Reach out to a neighbour, friend, co worker, etc who you 

know is struggling or has a specific need and be

generous! 

- Start a generosity jar for a specific person or cause and save up

money you would have spent on something frivolous or unnecessary.

Living generously does not have to be a big financial commitment. Generosity can simply be reaching out when you see someone in need or despair, and giving of what you have: time, money,  food, clothing, belongings. 

Don't cling to things, for they have no eternal value! Start seeing all your belongings, including yourself and your time, as being at God's disposal for doing  with as He pleases. The reality is, they are: He has given  each of them to you in the first place! 

So be a faithful and grateful steward, and give them back.. you'll be surprised at the challenges and blessings you will encounter along the way! :)

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Hope your Lent efforts are still going strong!

Blessings!

Ronell x

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives

    and release from darkness for the prisoners"

{Isaiah 61v1}

Always Be Generous

Following on from my post about finances and generosity yesterday, I read the following passage from the Bible In One Year program entitled ‘Always Be Generous’ by Nicky Gumbel from HTB. I thought I would share it on here.

Blessings!

Ronell x

Always Be Generous

Generosity is a beautiful characteristic in people.  We love and admire generosity.  My mother used to urge us as children: ‘Always be generous.’

How do we think of God?  Do we think of him as a little bit mean or tight-fisted?  Or do we think of him as extraordinarily generous? 

God’s generosity is seen in the natural world.  For example, there are 25,000 varieties of orchids.  The orchid is just one of 270,000 species of flowers.  God does not do things by halves.  In our galaxy there are 100,000 million stars, like our sun.  Our galaxy is one of 100,000 million galaxies.  In a throw-away line in Genesis, the writer tells us, ‘He also made the stars’ (Genesis 1:16).

God is extraordinarily generous.  He ‘gives generously to all’ (James 1:5).  If God is so generous to us we also should ‘always be generous’.

1.  Drink from his generous river of delights

Psalm 36:1-12…

2.  Receive a generous outpouring of his Holy Spirit

Luke 4:14-37…

3.  Enjoy God’s generous provision

Numbers 13:26-14:45…

To read the full post, go to: http://acs.alpha.org/bioy/commentary/455

Generosity

I read this post from HTB / Nicky Gumble’s Bible In One Year program and thought I would share. It talks about why we are called to be generous. If you are reading this and you think that you have no extra money to give to others because of your own financial need, that may well be the case, but it also may not. You never know what/how much people need and what seems insignificant to you might mean the whole world to them! There are also other ways of giving generously like giving away possessions or giving of your own time (possibly the most important form of generosity).

I hope this challenges you and provokes you to thinking about how you can show generosity to others.

Blessings!

Ronell x

Generosity

Mother Teresa once gave an interview to Hello! magazine.  She was asked the question, ‘Is it only the affluent who give?’

She replied, ‘No, even the poorest of the poor give.  The other day a very poor beggar came up to me and said, “Everyone gives to you and I also want to give you twenty paisa” – which is about two pence.  I thought to myself, what do I do?  If I take it he won’t have anything to eat, but if I don’t take it I would hurt him so much.  So I took, and he was so happy because he had given to Mother Teresa of Calcutta to help the poor.  Giving cleans the heart and helps you get closer to God.  You get so much back in return.’

Generosity is not just a nice character trait that people have.  It is right at the heart of what our faith is all about.  C.S. Lewis defined Christianity as ‘a kind of giving’.  God has poured out his generosity to us in Jesus (John 3:16), and we are called to respond in faith and generosity to others.  Each of the passages today is about blessings and curses.  The key to blessing is generosity. 

1.  Always be generous (read more)

Psalm 37:21-31

2.  Be generous to everyone (read more)

Luke 6:12-36

3.  Be generous – like God (read more)

Numbers 21:4-22:20

To read the detailed post, which expands on the three points above, go to http://acs.alpha.org/bioy/commentary/460 .