Monday, March 30, 2015

The Joy of Sacrifice

At first I was going to title this The Joy of Giving but then I thought about sacrifice instead. Giving can be easy. It means you are gifting to someone else. Most of the time it means you are either buying them something new or giving them something you don't want and/or need anymore. But sacrifice, now that's another issue altogether. Sacrifice means giving up something you don't want to give up. Sacrifice is hard. It cuts right to our soul. It means dealing with our own selfishness. Putting someone elses wants or needs ahead of ours. It's tough!

Today I have a difficult challenge both for you and for me. I want you (and me) to go through your collection and find something that you absolutely love. Something that you know someone else would love but cannot get, for whatever reason. And then I want you to give it to them! Don't think, oh I'll just go buy them one, or I'll just give them this one and go buy me another. No! Just give it away. Cry if you must, mourn your loss, but give it away. And then I want you to think about this:

Hebrews 13:15-16New International Version (NIV)
 
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
 
 
 
All God asks from us is a sacrifice of praise to Him and to share with others. How easy that should be. He sacrificed everything for us and He did it with joy.
 
 
 
Hebrews 12:1-3New International Version (NIV)
 
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
 
 
Now please understand me, I'm not here to say wearing and/or buying makeup is a sin. I'm not here judging anyone. I'm here saying we get too caught up in having more and more and more. So caught up in it that it takes away our joy in what we have. So please, for your own sake, take up this challenge. Pick one thing. One thing you truly love and you know someone else would love also, and give it away. Watch their joy when they receive and you will be truly blessed.
 
I challenge you and I challenge myself. It's not going to be easy. Let me know if you are able and how it worked out for you and I will do the same.

10 comments:

  1. Hi Danielle. As Cherise said you have a gift for writing. Just 2 days ago I went through my collection and I set aside my Naked palette, my LORAC pro, my Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette, and my Revealed 3 palette. I am giving them to a good frIend. I have so much and every now and then I go through my makeup and do this. To read what,you wrote today,makes me smile :)

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  2. Hi Danielle. As Cherise said you have a gift for writing. Just 2 days ago I went through my collection and I set aside my Naked palette, my LORAC pro, my Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette, and my Revealed 3 palette. I am giving them to a good frIend. I have so much and every now and then I go through my makeup and do this. To read what,you wrote today,makes me smile :)

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    1. Margaret that is amazing!! And so generous. I know your friend will be so excited. What truly blesses me in this is that it sounds like it wasn't even hard for you to do which means you have such a generous heart! You make me smile!!

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  3. We are on the same page! I've been putting together a pkg for a lovely lady that is overseas that can't get a certain brand of makeup where she lives. It's going out in a week and I cannot wait for her to get it! It is hard to give up the things your really love to someone else rather than buying just another one. But as hard as it might feel at that moment, the feeling of seeing them receive and appreciate it is far worth more and then you forget that it was even hard to give up in the first place. Thanks for yet another beautiful post and rewarding challenge! xoxoxo
    BrownEyedGirlCherise

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    1. Cherise as I was writing this I was thinking, oh God are you really going to have me give away makeup? I just knew it was going to be painful. Then I started thinking of what I wanted to give away, and to who, and I started getting excited. I came home and made the giveaway bags and now I can't wait to give them to the ladies I chose.

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    2. It's always the things near and dear to you or that mean the most that He puts on your heart to give away. Then at first it's like "God you know what that means to mean, why that? I'll give them this!" lol And he again shows me in another way that no, this is what I want you to give away. Then I do and like you said, start to get so excited about doing it! The thing that amazes more than anything is that I think He just does that to test us to see if we can part with these materialistic items. I know for me when I do, He comes right behind that somewhere down the road and blesses me with more than what I was giving up to begin with. I think it's just the initial part of giving up that's the tough but once we get over it, it's not even a second thought! So I went for my walk and was listening to my tunes...I don't know about you but music is a big tool that the Lord uses to speak to me. Music to me is very powerful and touches me in a way that I can't even describe. I can listen to the same song over and over again and know what the song means but come back to it in a week and get another little "nugget" from it. I love that! I will be sharing this particular song in an upcoming video. I've been really wanting to do a "Motivational Monday" on my channel with just chit chatting, a scripture, encouraging word, or a song for the week. Just making sure it's something He wants me to do...so we shall c!!! xoxoxo
      BrownEyedGirlCherise

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    3. I would love to see a Motivational Monday!!! that would be so awesome. When I first started this blog my idea was that it was going to be just about makeup with a different item each day, reviews, swatches, etc...well obviously He has a different plan because that hasn't happened yet!

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  4. Wow I did this exact thing about two weeks ago but with my purses. I gave 6 to my girlfriend who also loves purses and she was so happy. When I saw her at bowling the next week she was using one and it made my heart smile. Great idea!!!

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    1. Tracy thank you so much for reading my blog and for confirming the joy we can receive by sacrificing something of ourselves to benefit someone else. Just the fact that you took some of your time to read and comment blesses my heart.

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