April Showers bring ... Simplicity

Here is the update in a nutshell:

God has placed such a sweet message in me and Tony's spirits. Simplify.

We have searched our hearts and in our alone time with God we have discovered something so sweet that the Lord has been telling us. Simplify.

Simplify + April = Getting rid of EVERYTHING! ... well, almost everything. Old makeup and hair stuff (TONS OF STUFF), old clothes that I never wear, shoes that I never wear ... getting rid of the clutter. Opening up my schedule to allow God to use my schedule, clearing my thoughts and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak fresh words to my mind and spirit, saving my money, etc..

Simplify + Tony = Posting old electronics on Craigslist and making money while getting rid of old stuff.

HAHA! I joke about Tony. God has called Him to simplify in his own ways.

We have found that God has specifically spoken to us in two places of our lives where we could simplify and save.

One is our phones. (Holding back the tears) ... Two HTC EVO's that have unlimited internet, messaging, 1500 shared minutes, free mobile to mobile, etc, etc... all the bells and wistles. Facebook, Twitter, Bible, Gmail, Yahoo at the click of a button... or press on the screen. We are getting rid of them. We are downgrading. No internet. No Facebook. No more checking in throughout my day and telling the world the random thoughts on my mind while sitting at a red light. We are downgrading to a more basic phone which will save us a good amount each month. Is this easy? Ummm... are you kidding me?? Do you know me? Do you know how much I love having a quick connection to the internet? It's going to be hard but it's just a phone. It has no eternal value. AND - once our priorities are straight we can have "toys" again.

The other is our apartment. Our apartment is beautiful. It's not a high rise, gated community by any means but it is very nice. Great landscaping, located in Brentwood, spacious... We are moving to another location in Franklin that will save us a lot each month. We will be losing a lot of square footage, our lush environment, and the "comfort" of our Brentwood home ... but who cares?!?! It's temporary.

The cool thing is our lease at our current apartment is not up until September but before we moved in apparently there was a floor issue (The concrete under the carpet is busted and is a liability) but it was not fixed before we moved in so now our downstairs neighbors are concerned and can hear our every foot step to the 10th power... so the management team said they can move us to another unit or let us out of our lease. This came up a couple of weeks after Tony and I had discussed that it was too bad we were in our lease until September because if we could move now we could save a lot of money. That is my God. An apartment lease is not too big for Him.

So, for those who care and are reading this blog - this is what's going on in the Poynter family right now.

In about two weeks I will be disconnected via cell phone from the world (besides texting) and April 30th we are moving to our new(small)apartment.

As I travel through A Discipleship Journey with my church family, God shows me so many cool things. I was reading yesterday about dying to self... someting I thought I had already mastered. Sheesh... God is so gentle yet puts me in my place. I don't have a clue.
I was also reading about how once you become a servant you will do things that will make the world think you are crazy (paraphrasing) ... I would say the Poynter family is on the verge of doing some CRAZY... #Score!

Why all these changes? Because God honors obedience. Because we GET to make these changes ... we don't HAVE to make these changes. God has provided for us and we are fine right where we are but we are being called to do these "weird" things and we know that God will bless us when we follow His calling and are obedient.

Does this mean you should get rid of your awesome phone and move to a box? You're asking the wrong person. I don't believe God tells everyone to do the same thing but I can say if you have an awesome phone with all the bells and wistles and you're paying a fortune for it BUT you can't afford repairs on your car, groceries, gas, lunch, family outings, copays, a Bible, ... you get my point ... maybe God is asking you to get your priorities straight.

This is not our current situation but it has been our situation before until Tony met a man by the name of Dave Ramsey. :oD

I find it so bizarre that there is no 'reason' why we need to make these changes but we are going to make them any way.

Isaiah 1:19 NIV "If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the best from the land"

Romans 5:1-5 Romans 5
Peace and Joy
"1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b] rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

Can I just tell you how thrilled I am? Strange huh? My flesh is like "WHAT THE HECK?!?!?!" but my spirit is overjoyed, excited, stoked, ecstatic!

What now? *sigh* PACKING... lots of packing. We are hosting a yard sale this Satuday, April 16th from 7:30 AM - 4:00 PM in Franklin at 106 Flintlock Court. A percentage of the funds will go towards a charity (please give me your suggestions of a charity) we are still praying over which charity to give a donation, another percentage will go towards Grace Chapel's Sacrifical Offering for the new addition to our church that is going to be AMAZING, and the rest will go towards helping us move. We would love for you to come and support us or spread the word to your yard-sale'n friends!

If anyone would like to help us move (loading/unloading) we would love your help! It has always been Tony, me, and his dad everytime we move (and we have moved A LOT) and if you could help we would not turn you down! haha! I'll even buy pizza and feed you! ... Let me see if I can find a scripture that talks about helping friends move (Kidding!).

Final request- Please just pray over us and this new chapter. Pray for a quick adjustment and little complaining, and please pray for Trinity. She knows we are moving and seems excited about the move but prayers over her are appreciated.

There it is. My update.

LOVE LOVE LOVE with a 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 LOVE,

April