I Don't Want to be Normal Anymore!

I have been deceived.  Not just today, but for my entire life!  I have been fed the lies in an insidiuous manner; small lies, spoon-fed, one picture at a time, one notion planted only to grow into this massive burden that now encompasses my life. 

It started in my childhood, this desire to have pretty shoes, pretty clothes, that "can't live without toy".  It grew with every advertisement, every shopping trip, every paycheck, until I believed that I had to have that perfect, life-changing item.  As Americans, we fervently believe that happiness comes with "having it all", but having it all comes with a price--the price of our freedom and the price of our happiness.

We buy our houses on a thirty-year payment play; we buy our cars (now easily the price of a home twenty-five years ago) on an extended payment plan that lasts from four to six years; we buy our clothes, our food, our entertainment on an extended payment plan that goes on and on and on.  The burden grows right along with the interest.  The chains get heavier and heavier.  It never ends. 

This is normal.  Right?  It must be because the majority of Americans live paycheck to paycheck,  trapped in debt, weighted down with the commitment of paying for this lifestyle we must have, surviving, but not really living.  And isn't that what we long for, real life--to be free from this burden, to live as we were meant to live, to have that abundant life?  How did we get here, and how can we get out?

I have spent too many years dealing with this demon.  The enemy convinced me that I needed those things...to be happy, to fit in, to be normal.   Finally, the Truth has been revealed.  I am not called to be normal.  I am called to be a "peculiar" person, walking a different path, living a life that has more purpose than just "getting by".

Today, I begin to downsize--my belongings, my clutter, my chains, my debt.  Today, I begin to really weigh the cost of the item, the pleasure, the experience.  No longer will I serve money and the things it can buy.  Today, the money will become a tool for fulfilling my purpose. Today, I commit to serve the only Master who offers freedom from the lies.  Today, I begin the climb out of the dark crevass of debt and into the Light of Truth.  Today, I begin changing those very behaviors that created this prison.  Today, I begin building the legacy for my children and my children's children--a life free from debt. 

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For more information on how to become "debt-free", check out Dave Ramsey, financial counselor, at http://www.daveramsey.com/.  He is an awesome man of God who has been there and gotten out, and now counsels using Godly principles for finance.