how owning a home has changed me...

it hasn't.

if i was a woman of few words, i would leave it at that.
but you all know better than that. ha!

before i begin... let me just say that i love my new home.
love it.
i am thankful for it.
i am totally aware of how blessed i am.
and i do not take it for granted.
not one bit.

however.
after spending time with a variety of people over the last several years, i was under the impression that something magical happened as soon as you signed a contract stating that you...er...the bank...now own a particular house. (please note the sarcastic tone)
i remember feeling like people looked down on me.
like they were just a little bit above me.
and was even informed that i was considered lower-class until i owned a home.

i admit that while i know absolutely that God is not a respecter of persons, and he does not ever love one person more than another based on their possessions, i still struggled.
still.
i still struggled with not only feeling like less of a person,
but i struggled with judging the people who thought they were so great because they owned a home!
it looks ugly when i type it, especially in bold black type, but it's the honest to goodness truth.
i know my Bible.
i know my God.
and i know that God doesn't care about that stuff.
so this is why it would frustrate me that other people acted as if they didn't know this part of the Bible!
i never understood it, but i honestly thought that maybe i would get it once i owned a house.
i thought that maybe i would wake up the first morning in my new home and suddenly feel different.

i didn't.
i felt the same.
because i am the same.

last fall i took a few pictures of adam and the boys playing outside and it looked like this

and then i took a few pictures of adam and the boys playing outside today.
those look like this.

weird, right? they look a lot the same!
and that is the point.
i am the same.
i am who i am because of who God made me and what He created me to do.
not what i decide to own.

i hope and pray that any person reading this right now who doesn't own a home will stop feeling like you are less of a person than anyone else!!
you. are. not.
i hope that you will ignore the looks and comments of other people around you who are thinking less of you.
let. it. go.
and i hope you will be able to hold onto the truth of where true worth comes from:
it comes from a loving Father who created you and had plans for you before you were even born.
pretty amazing.
that is who you are.
don't let other people make you feel any differently..
it just. ain't. true.

"finally brothers and sister, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."

philippians. 4:8