His blessings.......

I am going to post this today as a reminder for me and my house that God truly is faithful. I was deleting some "drafts" that I never posted and came across this one. When I wrote it, I held back and saved it as a draft because I didn't want to come across as "holier-than-thou" because I really do NOT feel like we are better than anyone. We might be better OFF than those with nothing, but not better than anyone because of HOW we live our lives or how we spend our money. I had a conversation with a friend today about tithing and God's faithfulness. Let me share with you a little about our testimony....when it comes to "our" money. 

~Just DAYS after buying this house, I lost my job. I told Eddie I felt like we should keep on giving our 10% regardless of what bills were due. Our mortgage and car payments left little money to pay for food, gas, electric, etc. But we gave anyway, and God met our EVERY need. We were never late on the house payment, we always had food to eat, and yet the numbers didn't add up. Seriously people, it's a GOOD thing God was in control of our finances at that time because I would have lost my MIND if I were the one trying to work the numbers. (Math is NOT my strong suit.) It made no sense, but sometimes I think that's just how God likes to roll. Let 'em wonder....
A couple years ago I started giving as soon as I felt Him moving me....no audible voice, just a number in my head and a specific need for specific people or organizations. Freaked my husband out a little. Okay, a lot. He was constantly telling me, "You can't save the world Amanda." My reply? "I can't, but GOD can. And we can HELP one person at a time. So when he says "GIVE," we give." Every SINGLE need (financially speaking) from that day on has been met. Every. single. one. Last year we had a lot of big things hit at once. We needed a new roof (thank you Texas hail storm) and found out our deductible was triple what we thought it was, our daughter had to have surgery, our property taxes weren't properly escrowed and we had to come up with basically an extra house payment to keep our monthly payments from increasing....the list goes on. One thing after another worked out. Need after need was met and paid for.

This fiscal year, the department my husband works for announced that in addition to taking ONE paycheck (there are 27 pay periods this year instead of 26), they would also be taking 12 furlough days. So basically my husband's annual salary was cut by one month's pay. OUCH. We walked in the door for his mandatory benefits appointment with smiles on our faces and made it known that only God was in control of our finances. It looked a little tight for a couple months, but God IS faithful. We attended the Wait No More conference in early November and made a commitment to God right then and there that we would follow His will for our lives. Just before the conference my husband got the promotion he thought he wasn't getting, and immediately after, I made a slight career change at my hospital that was supposed to be a lateral transfer. God turned that into a more-than-enough increase. Do you see where I'm going with this? I'm not trying to say that you should give to get. It's not ours. None of it. It's HIS, and it should all be used for His glory, to further His kingdom. THAT is what we are here for. Not to be comfortable. Not to sit around and wait for someone else to do it. GO. Be. Do. I'm guilty of being "comfortable" myself. I don't think God cares for "comfortable." (What does the Bible say about being "lukewarm" Christians? He'd rather spit you out of His mouth...) He has blessed this country SO MUCH, and we all take it for granted. So much so, that there are 147,000,000 orphans in the world, yet 78.5% of Americans claim to be Christians. WHERE is Christ in that?? (Disclaimer: I say all this not to make us look good, but to show you that God IS faithful.)
.

2 Corinthians 9;7
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.