Inspiration from the Duggars

As some of you already know, I was incredibly blessed to recently have a telephone interview with Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar from TLC's show "18 Kids and Counting." I was working on an article for a Christian magazine on the topic of modesty and they were the first ones that came to mind. Graciously, they accepted my request and gave me 90 minutes of their time! What a blessing it has been! Not only did I get amazing advice and tips for my article on modesty but I was given so much encouragement and inspiration.

Halfway through the conversation, I realized one thing about this couple: SELFLESS FAITH. Through all of their stories and experiences, that was the underlying principle behind everything. Selfless faith is a hard thing to understand, but I really felt like that was what God was having me investigate. So I read and prayed a lot, listened to some praise music, and researched online. Basically, it seems selfless faith comes down to sacrifice; having a belief in God that makes us put aside our own ambitions and desires. It requires us to relinquish absolute control to God through a sacrifice of our own life since that's all we can offer Him. I found a website detailing a sermon on selfless faith and found this about sacrifice:

"Sacrifice is:

1. Inconvenient: It's costly and and challenging and scary and it makes you think twice.

2. All about love: It's about loving God and surrendering completely to His agenda and His plan."

(Ah, this is where it's got me! I've found it very difficult to let go of my own agenda!)

"3. Rewarding: God blesses and rewards the sacrificial gift, service, and worship."

(Found on briandolleman.com)

Those things seem to definitely describe the Duggars. They made the decision to put aside their own agenda for their lives and let God decide it for them. In exchange, they have been rewarded with abundant blessings. It's given me so much to think and pray about lately! In the meantime, may God continue to abundantly bless the Duggars for the light they shine for Him! I've put a link to Michelle's blog page on my list of blogs. I've also changed the first song on my playlist to be "Hosanna," a song that talks about selfless faith. Hope it blesses you as much as it has blessed me!