CANDID VULNERABILITY

& Practicing What We Preach

Written by Victoria Aspinall – September 17th, 2021

We’ve just wrapped up our first week of Faith & Finances which has grounded a thought (read: frustration?) that I have been struggling with these past several months.  Let me start at the beginning, or rather the middle…

“Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”

We are in the midst of huge God-sized developments at MayBell.  When I was given a vision in October 2015 of reaching the homeless and at-risk through Tiny housing I wasn’t given a price tag or a sack of money to make it happen.  Had I seen the price tag at that time I likely would have turned and run. “Nope… No way God… That’s impossible… I have like 5 friends how do you expect me to possibly raise THAT!”  

BUT I have faith that God will do this work.  This is clearly not my work.  I have not dreamt up this plan on my own and put faith in my own willpower to accomplish it. Nor would I have ever begun MayBell if I had thought I was on my own in it.  This plan, dream, vision, work, or whatever you want to call it is all God, beginning to end.

So we are standing here, our board and loyal supporters, on the edge of what feels like a cliff.  Seeing only one step in front of our feet at any given moment, grasping tightly to God and holding loosely all of our earthly belongings as we follow His lead.  He has BIG plans.  I can see glimpses at times: a village, tightly woven relationships, a thriving community, multiple denominations coming together to love the vulnerable.  It’s a beautiful sight, I wish you could see it.  Maybe one day you can.  You could come down to our humble piece of property near downtown Regina and experience God’s children from all walks of life genuinely loving one another.

Right now it’s a parking lot and a mostly empty building.  We long to see it filled with people but just don’t have the following or funding to have it happen right now. And this is where I become frustrated with God… “Look at this wonderful vision you’ve created, look at the people that have so loyally supported YOUR work so far…. How can you turn your back on this and not bring it to fruition? How am I supposed to find THAT much money?  I KNOW you have people you want to be involved in this… where are they? How do I reach them?” 

The Struggle is Real

Everyone has something they struggle with.  Maybe you are struggling with finding a job, patience with your kids, grieving a loss, mental health.  There is an exponential amount of struggle in our world and I’m not about to tell you that by believing in God and accepting Jesus as your Saviour all your struggles will POOF disappear.  They do change though. Your mindset begins to focus less on yourself and more on those around you, suddenly it’s not just you struggling on your own but God is there saying “you can do this, I’ve got you, I see the end and it is good” (even if you can’t see the end yourself!) And so this is what I do,  I trust God daily, I seek Him and His Will for every minute of my day and allow Him to lead me into the relationships that MayBell so desperately needs.  

Today, the day after our first Faith & Finances class for Fall 2021, as I reach out to local churches for their support, God has put this message on my heart: “Does your spending reflect your top priorities?”  My top two priorities are:

1. My relationship with God/sharing Jesus’ love with others through serving
2. Family – both my own and the families of others

I feel as though we spend accordingly.  There are times when I know we spend greedily on ourselves but I try to keep giving to God’s ministries as our number one priority. In fact, it’s the very first column on the spreadsheet I use to track our spending.  

Now I ask you: “Does YOUR spending reflect your top priorities?”

Take that one step further.  Are you also walking the talk? Or are you saying to others, “what a great idea!” “That is truly God’s work!” “There is no doubt in my mind that God will make this happen!” but then turning aside and spending in a way that doesn’t reflect your talk?

What do you value? Write it down, talk about it to your friends, and support it with your finances.  

If you value God’s Kingdom vision as He’s doing through MayBell and Lilium Village then I invite you to click the donate button below and commit to reflecting that each month.  Even $10/month shows that you value this work and that you are willing to “put your money where your mouth is”. Though, maybe God isn’t leading you to support Maybell but is asking your help with restoring broken youth in your city or supporting locally owned small business start-ups overseas. Whatever God has laid on your heart, I invite you to get involved, to give generously.

One last bit of knowledge from our Faith & FInances.  

“God wants us to use our money to advance His Kingdom work.” 

How will you use the money God’s entrusted to you?