I write about gratitude often on the blog. Probably not as often as I should with the name of the blog being "The Secret is Gratitude" but life also happens and I think it is important for people to understand that just because we give gratitude and are good people, we will still have trials.
Today, however, I want to share with you something I know to be true. TITHING PAYS! I belong to a church that has tithing. Many churches just pass around a basket to collect money. In my church, we believe in giving 1/10 of our income or "profit" in tithing. I personally believe that we should also tithe our time. I try to tithe time but when I am busy, that doesn't always happen. I ALWAYS pay a full tithe though as I have seen over and over how my Father in Heaven blesses those who obey that principle. It doesn't matter what religion you are, just pay 1/10 forward, give it to charity, in your heart, let God know you are tithing your income and your time and the blessings will always come!
There have been many times where I paid my tithing rather than bills and somehow, the money I needed comes. I believe it is a matter of faith.
The other day, I felt inspired or prompted to call a friend of mine. I haven't seen her in a long time but called asking how she was doing. In the conversation somehow, the subject of tithing came up and I started telling her some of the MANY stories we have in our family about tithing and how we will get a check for the exact amount we paid that was an unexpected income etc. She thanked me and told me that she didn't have money to pay both tithing and bills but felt that I was inspired to call her.
Later that day, she sent me the sweetest text thanking me for following those feelings about calling her.
I shared with her how I actually "picture my Father in heaven in my head standing in front of me." I then tell Him how I am doing and what my stresses are just like I would my earthly father. Then, I hand Him my problems and worries as I picture myself actually handing them to Him. I thank Him for taking that problem and TRUST that HE will take care of it.
This month, house taxes are due. I don't know why they make them due the month before Christmas but it makes it difficult every year. Also, Princess Five is going on a Concert Tour to Disney in a few months and the money was due this month also. This left me in the negative in my checking. I CHOOSE to pay my tithing. There is no question in my mind that HE will and would take care of us. With the parasites, I crave protein, LOTS of it! Especially at night. I eat cheese, yogurt and lately, those haven't been enough and I will eat a hand full of lunch meat. We don't eat lots of meat because it is expensive. A few weeks ago, we ate most of the rest of the meat we had in the freezer leaving a pound of hamburger. I bought some chicken and some lunch meat but hate spending that much on meat but if I don't eat it, I am so tired I can't get much done.
I have four freezers and they are full of mostly fruit and vegetables from my neighbors garden and some bread I get from the food bank when they have overages. Also, some mangos and broccoli from overages at the food bank and have posted about those in the past.
The items I had in the freezer weren't making the cut for my protein craving and the funds needed to purchase meat isn't there. I still pay my tithing and TRUST that as I handed the problem to my Father in Heaven, He would take care of it. I did worry a bit as I have all the kids home for Thanksgiving this year rather than Christmas and stressed a little about the cost of providing meals for four or five days. I am not perfect in faith but in some areas, I trust completely and others, I still need work. I thought I was doing a great deed as I am collecting items for the food bank. I bought a bin to put scarves in that my friend Julie so graciously made for homeless that come through. We are collecting hats, gloves, can openers, silverware, hygiene kits etc as the homeless come through so they can take what they need.
I took in another bin and can opener this week when they got two calls about a HUGE donation while I was there. A large company that supplies restaraunts had lots of food that is expiring and told us they would donate all we wanted. The problem being that we didn't know what a "case" of lunch meat or french toast looked like space wise and when trying to ask the donator, he didn't know exactly how many were on a pallet either so we grossly over-orded what our walk in freezer, fridge and distribution freezers could hold.
The normal places the food bank stores overflow lost his compressor and the large freezer at the woman shelter went out and they got a walk in but it didn't have much room.
I went over and helped fill up freezers, rearrange and distribute what needed to be distributed. We were able to help the woman shelter, a few others in need and I was absolutely BLESSED from my Father in Heaven to FILL my four freezers with mostly meat! i had the dehydrator going making fruit leather from much of the fruit and made it into smoothies and refroze it that way consolidating space in the freezers to fit everything. I also shared some of my fruit and other items with a friend to create room.
When I distributed some food to a family in need, she asked me if I could take some gluten free food they had to the food bank for her as they thought their sons health problems was gluten but found out it is his liver. I shared that I am gluten free and she told me she had more stuff at home that was open she would give me and told me to keep the other stuff as well. God blessed them through me but as I was helping them by giving them food, they gave me flour, pasta and some other items that were gluten free which filled up my cupboards. That same night, I went to bunko and they served me gluten free pasta and sent me home with the rest of the package. So, not only did I fill my freezers, but my kitchen cupboards are full.
I KNOW my Father LOVES me. I KNOW He does take care of those problems that I entrust with Him. I wish I were better at trusting in other areas of my life but I am constantly working on that.
I cleaned out the can shelf a few weeks ago and got rid of the bulging cans and you can see I still have no room on my shelves for more cans. I have a garage full of food storage buckets and I can't close my cupboards they are so full of food.
I will tell you that paying 1/10 of your income to God, charity, poor, needy etc is an investment! Look at all the cases of meat in my trunk! I dare you to try it!!! You can never one up God. He will always win! You think you are doing some great thing but he will win in that game!!!
I LOVE my Heavenly Father and am so grateful that I have a knowledge of Him and feel of His love in my life often. You can't read much of my blog without seeing how He blesses us! Try telling Him exactly what you need and see if He doesn't just take care of those needs. Always remember to give gratitude when He does!!! Think about other ways you get "income" as scholarships, Christmas bonuses etc. I paid out 1/10 of the meat I got and shared my portion with those I knew could use it. It is on your increase, not just income. Many times my girls have forgotten to pay on scholarship, I remind them, they pay it and receive another scholarship in the amount of the tithing check they paid. Things like that happen all the time when you pay tithing! Give it a try!
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