Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:20
Happy Monday to all of you ladies! I'm not sure about the rest of you but Summer Mondays seem a little harder for me than the rest of the year. Schedules are crazy with summer craziness, the house is a disaster from all the in & out the hot days bring and the laundry is piled higher than usually with swim apparel and towels. Because of the craziness of the season I've neglected to share praises to my Lord for many Monday's in a row. But as our scripture for today states it is good and right for us to give thanks ALWAYS and for ALL THINGS. God has bestowed many wonderful gifts in our lives. Some in our hearts and His leading us through things. Other times those gifts are very tangible and amazing to see with our eyes.
Today I will share a story of thankfulness that shows the latter...a gift I know came from God's providing, that I can see and touch, and SMILE each time I do.
Weeks ago my husband and children attended a church service at the church my dad is attending. I don't remember one thing about the message because I was dwelling the whole service on what the Pastor said before receiving tithes and offering. It really wasn't anything new but hit me in a way like never before. A reminder that everything belongs to God and He longs to give us our needs and desires but when we chose to not cheerfully give back to Him what is already His it ties His hands that hold all we will ever need. The crazy thing is a for days before that service I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to speak to my husband on the issue. We had tithed on and off for years. We saw how God took care of everything much more smoothly when we gave but when pay was cut and things got almost impossible we chose to for-go our giving. Finally after the service I brought the subject up to my husband and he had been feeling convicted also.
We finally decided if God never chose to bless us with another thing we would still give the tithe back to God and give to others that He led us to when possible. Why? Because God had already blessed us SO much! He gave His son for us and provided forgiveness from our many sins and the gift of eternal like. Plus the MANY things He had helped us through & provided for us. When God has been SO very FAITHFUL to us how can we not be FAITHFUL to Him. So the next Sunday we gave with very joyful hearts.
About a week later I received a phone call from our Community Action. Some how our names had been on a waiting list for them to send someone to come look at our home electric use and see how energy efficient we were. At that time we were told if certain things we NOT energy efficient we may qualify for new ones. WHAT? BRAND NEW APPLIANCES? Well of course you can come check our house :) So when the man came and checked over everything we were told we would be receiving energy saving light bulbs where we didn't already have them, a new refrigerator and two new freezers. WOW GOD! He is so awesome when we least expect He shows off. The items we had were used and dated and starting to act up a little. The NEW items are not only energy efficient but will save us on our electric bill (another blessing) and have warranty. When they were delivered I was in shock of how nice they were. Bigger and better than the previous.
God is SO good to remind us of all the good things He has for us and wants to give us! He is so gracious and merciful that even when we weren't doing what we knew we should He was already planning for our good. Kinda like Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future".
Since first getting back to tithing there have been weeks where its been REALLY hard...hard to remember that we can TRUST our God...hard to see the bills that need paid...but them we remember that our God is very trustworthy and that somehow He always provides what we need, right when we need it. Our FAITH is growing and hopefully someday will be like a huge tree planted by water bearing much fruit that shows us the Greatness of our Father God and our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm so Thankful for the Holy Spirits leading and for God's special blessing through the gifts He gives.
~ RACHEL~
And here are the 3
GIFTS FROM GOD! :)
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