March 26, 2011

Good Gifts

"Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!" - Matthew 7:9-11

Yesterday in discipleship with my seniors we talked about finances after graduation. Of course that included a discussion about giving. I quoted the verse from above, and talked about how I love the concept of giving because God is so clearly faithful whenever you give. In my own experience and in many stories I've heard from other people, God blesses those who give cheerfully.

We had talked about this a little in staff training last week, and I realized how resistant I am to giving my own personal money. If I think of giving beyond our usual tithe, I will want to take it out of savings or some other category besides my personal spending money. I was convicted of that, so I decided to give a small amount out of my personal money to challenge my greed.

Last night Whit and I went to Best Buy, and I ran in Old Navy to see if they had the sports bra I wanted (to match my running shorts) on sale. On the way I found an adorable crocheted tank for only $10...in my favorite color! I was excited because I always see people wearing them but have yet to find a good one that I wanted to buy. Then I checked out the sports section and they had tons of sportsbras on sale - but not the color I was looking for. Bummer.

I moved to the clearance section out of habit, not expecting to find anything. The first thing I saw was this sweater - that I had wanted a month ago! When Old Navy put their spring stuff out this year I looked at some things but then waited until the end of the month to see how much money I could spend. I had really wanted this white sweater that you can throw on over anything (those are my new article of clothing). It was $30 but after a couple of weeks of thinking about it I still wanted it so I had decided to buy it. When I went to get it, sadly, it was no longer there. So last night you can imagine my excitement when I found the sweater in the right color, in my size - for only $10!!

Then I glanced at the clearance shirt rack, wondering if they would ever put sports bras up there. I wasn't going to look, but I went over and parted one section, and found the exact one I was looking for - in my size!! What the heck! And, it was cheaper than if it had been in the regular section, because it was on clearance. Yes!

It may seem like a meaningless story, but to me it shows God's gracious love, His overflowing blessings when we decide to trust Him and give back to Him. If you give joyfully, He will bless you in more ways than you could expect or imagine! Finding those items last night were in my mind put there for me by my God, who loves me and wants to bless me and show me that if I trust Him, He will provide for me - even in ways I would never expect. :)

1 comment:

  1. Great message - I love it! I used to pray all the way to Gap Kids when you and Evan were in preschool...to find good bargins...every Thursday morning they had a huge sale rack and everything was $3.99. Nearly every week I found the cutest things for you guys. God honored my desire to use our money wisely and not go into debt for things like clothes. Then, I thanked Him for the blessings! (still do!!!)

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