I know that there are a lot of folks who are feeling a push to stock up and prepare for catastrophe. A few months ago, when we started seeing how much trouble the economy was in, even my own family started changing the way they were spending and saving, just in case you know. We can really learn a lot from our forefathers in the way they were prepared just with food. For one they were living off the land, at least most of them, and knew how to survive with very little and/or make it themselves. But they stored up their harvest of food, which most of us don't do. At least I never have.
I do not feel an urgency to store up provisions. As children of the living God, I know that He is my provider, and that to worry about what I will eat or wear is sin. His Word is full of promises stating how He will care for us if we are obedient to His Word and not to worry about our needs, because He knows what we need. However it can be easy to feel fear when we see what is happening around us. That is where faith comes in. Completely walking by faith and not by sight :)
Now while I know that He is my provider, I do feel it wise to make sure I am buying good quality things that will last or can be reused. For instance, I plan to order cloth diapers for our baby. Sure we'll have the money to buy disposables, most likely, but doesn't it just seem a bit smarter to go ahead and purchase something that can be used over and over again if for some reason we needed it? I was also on the fence about whether to bottle or breastfeed, as in should I give it a try at all? Then I got to thinking, it is free, it is best for me and baby, and in this day and age I should do my best to give her the best start possible! I can eat good food and pass it to her in the same way as I do in the womb. So I am preparing to set myself up for success that way.
With the herbs, I just have personal experience knowing that herbs DO work. Quality herbs prepared in the right way are powerful and effective. Since we choose all natural options whenever possible, it makes sense to just use what knowledge I have and make our own. I am also planning to have plenty on hand to give out to others that won't listen to me and order their own herbs :) I wish I could grow my own, but that's another project altogether! There is something so satisfying and empowering about being able to provide things by making it yourself!
I would love to get back into making our soap again. It isn't really that hard, but the ingredients are toxic, so I would have to make sure no children are around at all, which is never!! I can afford to buy soap yes, but it's good to at least know how to do these things, should the need ever come up. Plus I just like making stuff :)
So, I think that if you feel a push to store up, then do it. Maybe it's not for you, maybe you will be able to help others in the future. I think as homemakers, it's important to keep learning new skills and have some knowledge of making things from scratch, because you just never know when you might need to pull that knowledge up. I don't want to be totally dependent on the store and like learning how to do what I can with what I have.
At this stage I have been relying on the store a lot more. It's just necessary at this stage of life. I don't make my own cleaners right now, I haven't made toothpaste in forever, I buy laundry soap and dishwasher soap, I buy pullups and don't compost my food scraps. I buy bread when I'm not in the mood to bake it myself. I even bought the baby crib set instead of sewing it like I had planned. But once I can get back to myself, I'll be hanging out my cloth diapers on the clothesline, making cleaners, freeze and can some foods and possibly even make some soap!
And yes, I certainly do plan on posting videos and recipes of my herbal concoctions. Fun huh?
The point of all of this is that you must listen to what the Lord is telling you, not what the media and all the 'Chicken Littles" shout out to you>
"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19
6 comments:
Amen to God supplying our needs and being our provider. For trusting Him to care for us. Nothing we can do will secure our future. Only He can do that.
Amen to breastfeeding and cloth diapering!!!!
Amen to herbs and the wonders God put here to heal us and keep us healthy.
And AMEN to seasons of life where sometimes we just can't do everything we'd like to do. Busy mom's must remain flexible and NOT judge eachother or ourselves for those seasons where we are in more need of convenience so we can spend the time with our families and give ourselves the rest we may badly need to be our best for them.
GREAT POST!
Yep, I agree.
I disagree with this 100 percent but then you probably know that! :)
Worrying about things is a sin but preparation is not. Those who prepare are not necessarily worried.
If the five virgins wouldn't have gone to the city and bought oil for their lamps ahead of time they would not have gotten into the wedding supper. They would have been turned away because, like the other five, they wouldnt have been prepared. You can read the story of the ten virgins in Matthew. Jesus says that the five virgins that prepared ahead were wise, the other five He calls foolish.
Proverbs is filled with verses about preparing for the season ahead.
Proverbs 20:4 says The sluggard does not plow after the autumn, So he begs during the harvest and has nothing.
There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man swallows it up” (Proverbs 21:20).
Go to the ant,... observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest” (Proverbs 6:6-8).
God told Joseph to put away provisons that would feed a nation for seven years!
You are right when you say that "Gods word is full of is full of promises stating how He will care for us if we are obedient to His Word" but His Word says that it is wise to store up for the future.
Its a Biblical principal that runs all through the Bible and it cannot be ignored.
What God cautions against is putting your trust and your faith in your provisions. That is wrong.
The Bible also tells us that to worry about the morrow is wrong.
Worry, putting all our treasures on earth, not trusting God, all those things are wrong. Dont confuse that with what the Bible teaches on storing food for bad times.
Hope you take this in the love it was meant. :) I am only doing what the Bible says, "the older women are to teach the younger."
You dont have to store emergency provisions if you dont want to but wisdom would tell you that it is the prudent thing to do.
I agree that there are seasons in life that all a person can do is survive the here and now but that doesnt mean that those who are not in that season and who are putting away for the future are not trusting God. Quite the contrary!
There are at least a hundred more Biblical examples and verses I can give you that state that God puts high priority on preparation for the future.
I didn't mean that I wasn't going to do anything to get prepared. I am just saying that I don't feel it's up to me to get myself through a tough time- if I lean on God and trust in what He is telling our family to do, then I should obey what He says and not worry.
If you feel led to store up loads of stuff, then do it. Obedience is what He wants.
I try to add things to the pantry as we can, I am in no hurry.
Just to clarify, Jessica are you saying that although it is not up to you to to gather food for the future, you are going to do it anyway? What is your definition of being prepared? And, prepared for what?
Here is my belief.... When I store up for winter, God IS supplying my needs. He supplys my family with food, it's up to me to make it available to my family to eat. Since we can't eat it all in one day, I have to store it somehow. When I find great deals at the gorcery store, GOD is supplying my family's needs for the future. I must do my part to make the food available to my family as they need it.
God never said he would supply our needs alittle at a time, each day. Sometimes he supplys our needs in a lump sum, so to speak. Like a harvest from a home vegetable garden, or a great grocery store deal.
I feel God IS giving us what we need in terms of emergency preparations. Some of us use it wisely, some don't.
Sorry if this isn't clear. I'm not very good with words. I'm just curious at what you feel your responsibility is, as far as the future.
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