3 Flat Screen Tv's...and...faith?

We have four televisions in our house.  We have a 42 inch LCD in the living room.  It's hanging, like a picture, over the fireplace.  That's the one where we will watch movies together.  The kids get it all day and mommy and daddy can use it after the kids go to bed.  We have a 32 inch LCD in the master bedroom.  That is where Mindy can watch TV at times throughout the day and it's the TV that Mindy and I get to watch mostly.  There is a TV upstairs in the kids room that doesn't have cable, just a DVD player connected to it.  That brings us to the dining room.

We had an old 13 inch TV in there and the sound has finally gone out.  There is just a cable box sitting there.  On Monday I had Eden(2) and Will(4) with me and we headed to the doctor.  Before we got there we stopped at Walmart and I decided to look at TV's.  There are so many TV's there.  I looked at the smaller ones because I wanted to replace the broken TV.  I picked out a Vizio 19inch and put it in my cart. We then went to look at toys.  I could not quit thinking that I needed to just put the TV back and get rid of the cable box.  So we would then go from 4 TV's to just 3.  From 3 cable boxes to just 2.  I decided to put the TV back and I instantly felt great.  I felt a bit of freedom.  I had decided to buy something and then decided that I didn't need or want it.  I was able to control my decision making.  I didn't need that TV.

I got home and told Mindy what I did and she said, "Good, we don't need a TV there."  Grace got home from school and asked where the TV was.  I told it didn't work so I threw it away.  She didn't care.  No one has complained about the lack of TV in the dining room.  No one.  So why was it even there?

As I was putting the TV back on the shelf I thought to myself that it would be ridiculous to buy that TV when we have been asking people to send us money to help fund our international adoption.  I am acting in a way contrary to what I believe - I am being a hypocrite.  So I stopped.  By God's grace and strength, I stopped.

The two days after that event things started going with the adoption process.  We got lots of encouragement from God through various friends, new and old.

So, am I saying that saying no to the TV was saying yes to God's direction with the adoption?  Yes.  I absolutely am saying that.  What follows faith and obedience?  Blessing.

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