Giving- yet gaining much more in return...

The whole issue of tithing was never something that was personal to me. I knew that principle existed in the Bible, and we’ve talked about it with a group of fiends before, (Vicky posted about it previously as well ) but I had never made it a commitment in my heart to follow. I gave when I felt like it, and didn’t when I didn’t. Sometimes it met that requirement, and sometimes it didn’t. I had questions about it…but it just wasn’t personal to me. This year at summer youth camp, God began to work in my heart in this specific area...my finances/ tithing. (Thank God!) My life will never be the same.
I will try not to be redundant, as Nadia has already published an entire summary of the camp’s topics (although in my opinion if you were not there then there’s just no way for you to be filled in, you missed a lot and simple words are not capable of bringing you that experience of being there…but of course God can still use those simple words to begin His work in you…)
I’ll try to make this brief (yea right…haha, gottcha there! That’s not possible!)
Well to at least try and make it brief, I will just share with you my post-camp experience and the work that God has been doing in my life for the past couple of weeks. You are about to take a little tour into my blond brain, don’t be offended in any way though, (I don’t really know if the brain is actually blonde…it might be …never mind, I won’t gross you out since you might not be a nursing major like I am…haha..and everyone else I know! (that was a lie- not everyone)) (ooops…tangent…pace yourself here, there are many more of those to come…I warned you…you are officially in my brain)
Okay…back to the serious stuff…don’t mind me, I’ve had a long day, and I’m really trying to focus on not leaving out any important part…

So at one point during the camp, in my heart I had finally made a strong commitment to start tithing. I really felt guilty for not giving to the Lord even the minimum of what I should have a long time ago. God has also been convicting me through the Holy Spirit lately to send a package of some of my clothes to a poor family in Russia. I just felt guilty for having too much clothes, most of which I didn’t even wear. I’m being really honest right here, and ouch! (sometimes the truth hurts…) So…to make it up to God, I had also decided that when I get back from camp, I will go through my closet and get that package ready. Let me emphasize that I had (by the Grace of God of course) firmly made those decisions and by all means, planned to stick to them.
The very first thing that I did when I got back from camp and got my check on Monday, was of course put aside that 10 percent into my brand-new-just-started-fund that belongs to the Lord. To really show you the Amazing work of God, I have to be specific here…so I will let you know the amount as well…5,000 pennies!!! Ta-da! (okay okay, that’s only 50 bux, but be nice, I’m a college student...). (One more quick tangent…silly as this may sound, I was having a battle whether to calculate using the gross or the net amount of the check…of which I am really embarrassed now, but this info will play a role in a minute here).
So in my next stage of accomplishing my goals, (and mainly to get rid of the guilt feeling- which I believe was the Holy Spirit’s gentle reminder) I had gone through my closet and gathered the things which I was going to ship to Russia. I had mentioned to my mom previously that I wanted to send a package to Russia -I think even before the camp, and I remember her saying that it usually takes $50 to ship the package. I didn’t really pay much attention to that, but now that $50 is really starting to be consistent. Over the course of my Christian walk with God, I have learned to hear God’s voice to me through consistencies.
Allow me to now introduce another aspect into this situation…throughout camp, many times this thought was stated that our money is really God’s money and that everything we have is God’s in the first place. (If you want Bible verses scroll down to Nadia’s blog and you shall see…or wait, by now I think you’ll have to click on “see previous posts” because I fear this will take the entire first page!)…I understood that concept with my mind, but it was hard for me to accept in my heart. I just didn’t really fully understand that with my heart- I was leaning more towards the “well I worked for that money, so it’s my money” –excuse. Well… God in His creative and unique ways of teaching me lessons, so kindly and generously helped me to understand this concept in reality. The next week at work…I won Bingo! Guess how much money it was…yep, $50 bux!!!...and check this out…in all of my almost two years of working there, I had never ever before won a bingo game…and it’s happened before where multiple people win, so the money was split…but here, now, totally not a coincidence, I was the only one that won!...My heart was jumping with joy when I found out, not because of the money at all, but because deep in my heart I knew God was teaching me a lesson, and GOD TRUSTED ME WITH THAT MONEY! That money was added into my next check, and of course, it was a clear and vivid example of what it means to receive from the Lord what was HIS in the first place and not mine…I guess it was because I didn’t work for that money, didn’t earn it somehow, and it wasn’t money that I had lent to someone…it was just a free gift from God up above that made me really understand that everything we have is given to us by the grace of God. To start tying up the loose ends here, I really believe that God allowed me to win that money to teach me something more valuable than any amount of money. HE knew my heart, and in my heart I had made a commitment to send a package to Russia, that idea came from Him in the first place (I believe so) and seeing that I was being obedient to His calling, HE PROVIDED the means by which I was to ship that package…go ahead, reach for that tissue…because if you’re not in tears at how Marvelous and Amazing the work of God is in our unworthy lives…then you better get your spiritual vision checked out…because it’s clearly everywhere around us. You see…I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around the truth that we are only stewards of those riches that God trusts us with here on this earth…and this little experience opened my eyes to see that…I think if in our hearts we make a firm commitment to commit to something the Lord calls us to do, HE will provide the means for it because it’s HIS in the first place…
Remember my little battle of whether to give from the gross or the net…well God was also showing me how selfish I was…I had to think twice about giving an extra $10 to God, but later on that week I was willing to spend three times as much on my own selfish wants, (notice it wasn’t even a need)…Okay, since I brought it up, let me explain…So one day I was really exhausted from work and wanted to treat myself to something I really wanted at the time, so…I had made plans that didn’t succeed, and yet I was persistent. I drove to another place in hopes of accomplishing what I wanted…only to find out that they were closing in 5 minutes so I was once again out of luck…ok. So now I was really persistent and totally ignoring God’s voice inside my head that it is silly to spend $30 like that, I drove to yet a third place…and saw the sign in the window that said “open”. Very selfishly I sighed with joy thinking, “yes! I got my way”…haha…God is Great. I park, get out of the car, hopes flying in cloud 10zillion by now, and….the door is locked! Lights are off! The place is c-l-o-s-e-d! (see what I mean by consistencies…) So I drive off home, half mad and half frustrated, and fully embarrassed at the fact that I didn’t listen to God in the first place, wanted to spend $30 wastefully, and only last week was debating weather or not to spend $10 on a good cause.
I know, I know, your poor eyes are probably exhausted by now, but hang in there; I’m coming to a close…
God’s Amazing ways of teaching me lessons never comes to an end…to further show me and help me understand with my heart that truth: that everything we have is from God, which includes the money I make at work, which includes the job that I have in the first place, etc… for the past couple of weeks, it miraculously gets supper busy at work at about the time I need to be off, so I have been staying for at least an extra half an hour if not more almost every day...where as maybe a month ago- I was going home a few hours early because it was so slow…

To sum up what I’ve been trying to express in words for the past couple of hours here, basically I’ve come to learn and understand this truth on a much deeper level. I’ve come to understand that when we make correct decisions as to how to manage our finances for God’s Glory, and with a humble heart give to God, HE gives back so much more in return…not necessarily in money, (although that is seen as well) but in the lessons that become so vivid and clear all of a sudden, and IN THE JOY THAT OVERFILLS one’s heart when they know they are doing something that is glorifying God; which is by all means priceless and not even comparable to any amount of money one could ever receive.

I am constantly being reminded of this little lesson that I was once taught back in the day when I was in Sunday school, and the teacher taught us this analogy that giving to God is like having a piece of paper with four corners…when you give to God, fold one corner…what happens in return is you now have two corners. If you fold another one, you now have 6 and so on…
It’s been years since that lesson was first introduced to me, but it is only now that I am experiencing the reality of that lesson in my life.

My prayer is that everyone who comes across this page may at one point in their life- by the grace of God, if you haven’t already; experience that joy of giving- and gaining so much more in return.

May God’s Name alone be glorified for this post.

p.s. Hope you weren’t offended in any way by my humor…and thanks for taking the tour! (l.o.l.) Blessings!