God is awesome! Y'all I just have to say this, and some of you will chalk it up to "luck" (of which there is no such thing) or mere coincidence (also doesn't exist), and that's fine... but that will be on you. I believe that God reveals himself through works even still today giving us the opportunity to accept Him and His love, but we have become so jaded and cynical that we REFUSE to acknowledge his hand in them. He never stops trying, He never gives up on you, but always is working and moving in the big and small things.
So, I would like to take this opportunity to give credit where credit is due.
Since my husband and I started being obedient in our finances and giving from our first fruits (fancy way of saying that we give God back 10% of the money He gives to us in the first place. We acknowledge that every thing we have comes from Him, and because He asks for us to give of our money to keep the lights on in His house, we do. We didn't always obey him in this, but that is a story for another day. (Just ask me some time!) In Malachi 3:8-10, God's word challenges us to give in obedience 1/10 of what we have. It may not seem like much (or it might seem like a lot, depending on where you are financially) but that's what He asks for. His house has people who serve US and the community for a living, electric and water bills to pay just like we do, a building to pay for, and yet many of us are guilty of turning to the church for all it provides to US, without ever giving back. I would even go as far to say we need to stop being greedy with our money AND our time-actually, our whole selves should belong to God. This verse even calls us out-those of who aren't giving-and says that we have robbed God and therefore are cursed. Wow! That's harsh!!
So my husband and I took a hard look at our lives and the things in it that were keeping us from being obedient to Christ. Tithing was a big one. So we give. And it hurts sometimes, because honestly, we are very close to that line and were paycheck to paycheck even before we started tithing! It occurred to us, that we had been greedy with what God himself had given to us, and perhaps He was now withholding his financial blessings from us because of our disobedience. That is not easy for me to say. I'm actually a very private person, a very shy person, (again, that's a story for another day because I have learned I let that cause me to be disobedient too!) and sharing my private life is hard.
But if you read that whole section, there's a promise in there too. It is something we are only beginning to understand, but God promises that if we give Him what is owed Him, He in turn will pour out blessings "beyond our wildest dreams." Another translation says: "if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it".
