It has been pretty easy for me to trust God when it comes to giving money. Early on, when I was in college, I clearly remember the first time I gave in faith. I gave away my only $7 knowing that I just needed to do what was right and God would provide. Within a few days, there was a check in my mailbox from a company returning an overpayment of exactly $7. Wow! Since then, He has shown me over and over how faithful He is if I trust Him. It has not been uncommon for Him to show me His blessings in the same amount that I gave to Him. I have not gone without, and have tried to give without hesitation. God has always provided and it is a blessing to give. If I need to give a large enough amount that it could possibly worry me, I try to stop my fretting and just remember that God even takes care of His sparrows…no worries.
Recently, the Women’s Ministry asked if I would write a post on teaching generosity to our children. I gave a few ideas of what I would like to try to do myself that my children might see. One of these ideas was to always put my change from my purchases into my coat pocket so that when I walk by a bell ringer, I could deposit what I had collected. I honestly thought this would be the easiest addition in my giving. I hadn’t taken into account the few trips to the pop machine that I should do without, or the kid’s requests for quarters for the quarter machines. This was a little more of a sacrifice than I thought it would be. Nevertheless, I made it through the season being able to give my change whenever I could. This time though, God had a sense of humor in blessing me back. One of my sons needed me to pay for something for him because it required a credit card. Can you guess what legal tender I received from him for the payment? Uh huh! A large ziplock bag loaded with one hundred dollars worth of quarters!
-Amy