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".
Chew on that for a minute. Obey me in this, and you will have so many blessings you won't even have room to receive them all!!
So this prompted us, after giving simply with an obedient heart-to LOOK for the blessings God would give us. My husband and I have talked, and both of us agree that we likely would not have acknowledged them if we hadn't been looking for them! So while I am not saying you should give greedily, just to see what you can get, I am saying we wanted to acknowledge the ways that God would bless us.
After we committed our obedience to that area, we began to pray together daily and read his word together as husband and wife--yet another area where we had been lacking at the time. We also began to pray about other areas of our life where we weren't fully obeying God and what we could do to change it, how we could align our priorities more with His. Throughout this time, God has blessed us in SO many ways. We haven't seen a HUGE financial mountain of blessings, but I can tell you this, we are so grateful for the things He has provided because the blessings have abounded in every area!
He knows us intimately and knows every need. When you have a need, the best thing I can do is to read in His word about whatever that that need or struggle is, and pray that scripture. I have so many ways I have seen God's blessings but I want to share these two with you because they are very specific, and to me, they are a direct result of an answer to prayer. We pray, and God responds. Not always in the way we think, and rarely in our timing, but He responds.
1)Our car. It's got, I don't know, about 140K miles on it. We try to keep the maintenance up on it, but it always seems like there is something needing fixed-new tires, oil change, tune up, etc. Our car itself was actually another area of God's provision, as about 1 1/2 years ago, my mom downsized from her minivan to a small car, and my parents GAVE it to us because the van we had previously had said adios. (Ironically that van too, was a gift! God has been good to us!!)
.....ANYWAYS, so we had been having problems with the car not starting. It seemed like the battery was going bad, but it was really too soon to have been needing a new battery, since it was recently replaced before they gifted it to us. My husband, after having to have it jumped more than once in a week, needed it jumped AGAIN Friday before work. He had to call around to find a friend who could jump it, and then he went ahead and took it to the parts store. If you know me, you know I was crazy worried and stressed over this. I also felt guilty for being so frazzled over something "small" like this, because of all the much worse stuff going on in the world around us. Part of me felt selfish, but it was just what I was dealing with. Having a son and daughter who are believers is really precious in a time like this, especially because I have the privilege of them being home with me. So we stopped right then and there, and prayed for God to provide an answer, for it to be just a battery needing to be replaced and nothing more. (We were afraid it might be something more serious since the battery should have been good still.) He took it to the car place and they said, Yes, in fact it is the battery, but it was still under warranty from when my parents had bought it last year! Now you know, they did not have to honor that!!! But they looked it up in the system and did anyways!! I can assure you God had his hand in that one!
2) A second thing is my need of clothing. Because I have lost so much weight, I don't have much clothing that fits now. Still, I feel like I cannot justify buying new clothes when we have other needs and also because I don't know how long I will be in that size. So I prayed yesterday, just for God's provision in our lives. There is a passage I posted yesterday on my Facebook that said "Do not worry about your physical needs, because worrying won't help, and because your Father God will provide for you. Matthew 6:25-34. It talks about needing food and needing clothing, and God taking care feeding the birds and clothing the sunflowers and that He cares more for us than those things! So I prayed for God's provision (just in general, not specifically for new clothes, lol!) in our life, as we have been, since our finances have been so tight. And without even having said one word to anyone, a woman from my small group walked up to me today and asked what size I was. When I told her, she said that she had some clothes for me, someone had given her, and they looked like they would fit me! How random is that???!!! Not random at all, considering that God was using this opportunity to remind me that He cares and He provides.
He has been teaching me (and my husband) over these last couple months to trust Him. Most of you know, we are planning to go to Haiti in February. Many friends have criticized me for going right now when we don't have the money to go ourselves, and I understand that. But the truth is that everything we have is given to us by God anyways. We feel certain that He's called us to do this, and although it's not quite "logical", that's what He said. Still, I am struggling with the enemy lying on a daily basis that God isn't capable of doing what He said, or that God will just leave us hanging. I know all those things are complete lies, but when my needs aren't met in MY time, I struggle with trusting that He will provide in HIS time. We are facing hard deadlines in our own lives, as well as for our trip, and I just can't see a way. However, although God does have an order to things, He doesn't always operate according to human logic. I recall him providing manna from Heaven and water from a rock to feed his people. I remember when His people were being chased, He split the sea in to so they could run right through it! And even when we didn't deserve it, His living, breathing son sacrificed Himself for our sins AND THEN turned around 3 days later and came back to life! Sometimes I know it to be true-that He's called us so He'll provide, but I can barely grapple with living that concept out. I don't know if any of you understand where I am coming from with this, but I just felt I should share it. In the spirit of being honest and also accountable, and in faith that God can use my weakness to showcase HIS strength, I want you to know this! Maybe you are struggling with concerns of if God can provide in your life. Maybe you feel weak and doubting, even though you KNOW God's promises are true. Like the father in Mark 9:24 says, I believe! Help my unbelief!
If you are feeling that, let me tell you, I'm right there with you. But it's in God providing in all the many blessings He has that I learn to trust him to provide, and let him take the reins. Let me know specifically how I can pray for you, because I have seen the power of prayer and I know it can change your life! He can change your life. Just ask him!!
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