Giving is one of those things that either exhilarates people or terrifies them. Funny enough, I’ve been on both sides of the fence. Let me explain.
Growing up, my mom always found a way to give my sister and me the world. Looking back on it, I realize she had to sacrifice a lot to do that, but she made sure we never felt it. We attended the best schools and had virtually everything we wanted. Somehow she managed (and still does!) to juggle a crazy schedule as a flight attendant and be there for us at every important moment. I don’t remember her missing a game, a performance, or an event that we had. I do remember her driving us all across DC dropping one at soccer, traversing the city to drop the other at ballet, going back to get the one at soccer ready for swimming and then back again to get the one at ballet to her soccer game on time. How she did it, I’ll never know.
And as if she didn’t have enough on her plate, she always, ALWAYS gives to people. Whether it’s a ride to church, help paying bills (even when she probably could have used some herself), a nice piece of clothing she saw in the store that she thought you’d love, she is ALWAYS giving to others. It’s almost become a family joke because it was HER idea to do Secret Santa (since there are WAY too many of us to not break the bank buying gifts for everyone), yet every year she buy something for everyone. We can’t stop it.
My mother is the quintessential example of selflessness. You don’t have to ask. And she doesn’t have to think twice. It’s just who she is. And you know what? People pour into her life in return as a result. It’s a beautiful thing to witness.
Mom’s the one who taught me the power of giving. I remember one Sunday night service at church when I was probably 7 or 8 years old. They were taking up an offering for a special need. The interesting thing was, around this same time, we were having to move. I remember we’d looked at a bunch of options, but I guess nothing had worked out. At any rate, there we sat in service listening to Pastor explain the gravity of this anonymous need. Then I looked at my mom to see what she would do. She took out the rest of the cash she had in her wallet and then turned to my sister and me and explained that God has, and will always, take care of us; so we should honor Him and help now, as much as we can. I remember my sister and me emptying the change from our little wallets and skipping up to the offering baskets. We weren’t even thinking about how little of a monetary impact our change would add up to. We were just so thrilled to participate in the act of helping someone else. The feeling was exhilarating.
Unfortunately as I got older, I forgot what that felt like. I developed a bit of a tense relationship with money. Now seeing and understanding some of the sacrifices my mom made to provide for us, somewhere in there I developed a fear of not having enough. God had always provided for our family, and we never lacked ANYTHING, but when I got old enough to start making my own money, my first reaction was to hold on to it as tightly as I could. Sure, I paid my tithes and gave offering, but after that it was save, save, save. I was probably the least generous person I know. It’s horrible to think about now, but I guess I was just determined to achieve financial security, and at 17 and 18 years old, that was the only way I knew how.
It wasn’t until the summer after my freshman year of college that things started to change. My church launched the campaign for our new building fund, and suddenly in that service I remembered that 8 year old little girl digging for change to give what she could. But I had a whole lot of logic and rationalization to fight against this time. I was in college (a super expensive one at that) and was trying my best to make enough money that summer to take care of myself so I didn’t have to ask my mom for help. She had enough to worry about already.
It took quite awhile-and a ton of prayer-to work through all that. I honestly had to sit myself down and pray that God would change my heart. I prayed that He would restore me to a place where I could give freely. I prayed that He would help me to trust Him and depend on His proven ability and willingness to take care of me. I prayed I would never again be a person that would hold back and miss an opportunity to give, no matter what the need.
Thank God for His grace that has done a work on my heart over the last several years. And thank God for blessing me with a husband who has a generous heart. Now, we look forward to opportunities to give, no matter the sacrifice. I’ll never forget the first sacrificial offering we gave together. We were just a few months out from our wedding and decided to give a significant amount of what was supposed to be part of our wedding budget. It was a little nerve-wracking at first, but I can vividly remember the rush of emotion and excitement that I felt as I bolted out to the parking lot to get my checkbook. I had never felt so good about giving in my life! And I was even more excited that Anthony and I were in this together.
Not once have we given and God hasn’t made up for it. We’ve had money show up in accounts we didn’t know we had, mysterious extra money in our account after all the bills were paid (to the point we’ve questioned our ability to do math)… But we know one thing for sure: God is faithful and His Word is true! When you give, it is given back immeasurably. We are living testaments to that fact!
As Mom always says, “You can’t out-give God.”
When you give, you get in the flow of God’s blessing. We are blessed to be a blessing. When we choose to be a conduit instead of a container, we open up our lives for God to pour more blessings in. This comes in so many ways, from open doors to problems solved to breakthroughs in our faith, and more. Opening our hearts and hands to giving puts us right in the middle of God’s giving cycle. Generosity begets generosity. And there’s no feeling quite like it.
I encourage you to experience the exhilaration of giving. Be prayerful and ask God to soften your heart to get in the flow of His blessing. Remember there are more ways to give than just financially. Give your time, give encouragement, give of your expertise or your resources- like help on a project or a ride to church. We are all blessed beyond what we deserve, and God is entrusting us to steward those blessings in a way that shows His love to others around us. Open your hand to give and see what God puts back in it!
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