Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for God Blessings in my life and how He provides for me when I need him. One issue I really try not to blog about is finances and any situation relating to that, but I really must share this story in order to Praise God and give Him the glory.

Last week I was working on our budget and for various reasons I knew our expenses would be increasing this month and our income would be decreasing, which is not a joyful or fun position to be in. However, I continued to list our expenses for the month and then list our income for the month. In some ways we were coming up short. I rechecked some categories and was going to make it work. I do our budget in a spreadsheet and each bill has a category and I add or subtract money into each category as I need to. One of the categories that we pay is tithe. We believe in giving 10% of our income to our local church that we attend. When we get paid I put 10% of our income into our tithe category and keep track of it that way. Usually what happens on the weeks that we get paid, as I’m sitting in service on Sunday mornings I will write out our check. Sometimes I don’t always remember the exact amount that is in our account, but I’m usually pretty close to the figure.

Well, last week when I was working on our budget I felt like I should figure out the exact amount in our tithe account and write out the check. After figuring out our expenses and income I knew it was going to be really tight and we would be short on some bills and would have to go without some things. I didn’t have any solutions. I prayed about our financial situation as I have been for several months now.

You see, John & I are both looking for a different job that pays better and will be able to take care of our financial obligations and our needs. Therefore we are playing a wait and see game. We are sending out resumes and praying that we get interviews and then jobs, but that is as far as we are in the process. We are waiting for God to lead and open the right doors and trying to trust Him while we are waiting, which can be a challenge.

So back to the budget, I really felt like the Lord was telling me to write out the tithe check first even if that meant other bills may not get paid. To be honest, I struggled and was tempted not to pay our tithe this time. I just couldn’t see how some of our bills were going to get paid and we would make it through the month. As I was struggling with writing out that check I felt the Lord reminding me of the scripture verse

Malachi 3:10 which says:“Bing the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

The other scripture verse that the Lord brought to my mind was Matthew 6:31 – 32 which says, “So do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

And Philippians 4:19 says “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Chris Jesus.”

As hard as it was I did write out that check and told the Lord that I did not see how He was going to provide, but I would trust Him. I gave my plan to Him and told him here is what I’m going to pay and how I’m going to spend our money, if He wanted me to do something different then He would have to provide something different. At that moment I felt more of a peace and trust than I had in a loooooooooong time! When John came home I told him of my conversation with the Lord and what I was going to do and was going to leave it at that. I did not share this specific situation/ concern with anyone other than John. Can you guess what the Lord did?

Later that night I received an unexpected check that more than covered the amount we needed for the rest of bills, and some extra that we were able to go out and celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary. God knew not only what our need was, but what the desire of my heart was too. Because I trusted Him and was obedient, even when it did not make sense to me He blessed me beyond what I could imagine or have asked for. This was bigger and more than what I would have even thought to ask for. God showered His blessing on us and I felt so loved.

I don’t know how God is going to work everything out from this point on, but I know I can trust Him and I know that He will provide and come through for His children. I am so thankful for God’s love, blessings, and guidance in my life. I give Him all the glory. If you have experience similar to this or how God has blessed you at the time you needed it, I would love to hear about it. We should share how God has blessed us and this is my way to share how he is working in my life. I hope God is blessing you too.

Please check out Sing My Heart for more Thankful Thursday posts.


Until Later
~Betty~