“Bring 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.” (Mal 3:10 NIV)
Visit The 160 Acre Woods and let Amydeanne and the other bloggers uplift you with their timely Word-filled posts.Reflection: How to Weather the Economic Storm
by Michelle Wilson
by Michelle Wilson
Bill DeLoach has never been afraid of hard work or working with his hands. In fact, he can take an old junker and restore it to its classic beauty. Bill loved working with cars so much that he turned his hobby into a business...
But when the economy went into recession, profits from their car repair business dropped rapidly. ..
"When you see your character tarnished by not being able to pay your bills and not being able to feed your family the way you’re supposed to, it hurts," says Bill.
Bill and Karen prayed to God for a way out of their troubles. Even though they struggled to make ends meet, they continued to tithe.
Karen recalls, "There were times when we said, 'Where are You? Why aren’t You showing up?' But you just have to stand on the Word. You just have to keep standing on the Word, knowing that He can’t deny Himself and that He is faithful..."
As she explains, "No matter how bad you think you may be, there is somebody that’s always worse off than you are. I just felt like God impressed on me that we should make a pledge to The 700 Club..."
So Bill and Karen gave, and God blessed their obedience. Immediately, things began to change for the better.
"Before I even got the forms back to send the money in, everything started breaking loose," says Karen.
No matter how bad you think you may be, there is somebody that's always worse off than you are.
The Deloaches quickly sold three cars, and in the next few months, business started picking up.
"We were able to pay that 10-months-worth of rent that we were behind on," Karen says. "We were able to catch our house up and even pay that next payment before it was even due. [It was a] miracle."
Perhaps the best result was that Bill got a job as a mechanic working 40 hours a week and at just the right pay. His job even included health insurance.
"My first paycheck was probably more than I had made in the last several months," notes Bill. "It has been very prosperous."
Bill and Karen are now almost completely out of debt. They believe it happened because of their willingness to obey by giving.
"All He required was that small pledge. The obedience to that was the catalyst," Karen says.
"I’m the one who is getting the golden opportunity by giving to something, but God used that to bless us back abundantly."
You can read the complete article here.
Do you tithe and give offerings?
Photos: WheatbeltPhotos & ScottButner (Flickr)
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17 Comments:
Well said.
Hi E-mom!!
Great article. Right on time.
Not giving God what is His is called "robbing"!!
God has been faithful to bless and provide for our family.
I can NOT afford not to tithe♥
It's all His anyhow...
Amen Sister!
90% Blessed goes alot further than 100% Cursed
Thanks for Sharing… Happy Word-Filled Wednesday!
Just as there is order in that lovely reminder of the grain growing from the seed, so good is the reminder that we must sow and sow of time, talents and finances.
It is hard to see those grains and to remember how many are starving in third world countries.
Pray the Lord of the harvest that He will visit many of these places with abundance of rain that crops may be sown.
So much drought in this world...let us seek God's mercy that He send safe steady rain to those places at just the right time. May they be able to learn to store water ....and to know of the water of life.
God is faithful & my husband always says you cannot out give God. He seems to bless at the right time - His time.
we owe Him so much..
Yes we tithe and above the tithe sacrifically! There have been times when I wondered where the money will come from, but God always took care of us, and still does.
Excellent article. We definitely tithe and that is one thing I love about my husband. He makes sure we always tithe PLUS give to either a local missionary or other ministry within our church that needs the support. We believe in giving our "first fruits" back to God and then more if we can. God has always supplied our needs and even more than we really "need"...which we call added blessings! :)
Everything under the sun belongs to Him. The purpose of the tithe is to see if we are faithful in a little so God can bless us with much.
Great post.
Happy WFW
Beautiful!
Happy WFW!
Groovewoman
yes! we tithe, and I give time when we can.. we're teaching our kids it's all God's and he's just letting us the 90%! lol
This is a GREAT post! I am going to read it again when I have the time to really let it sink in. Thanks for posting!
Absolutely. I am LDS and my husband and I give 10% in tithes. We also fast once a month and give what we would have spent on those meals, or more, as an offering. I have seen the windows of heaven open to us, and I trust in that promise, especially when times are difficult financially and when they are not. The windows of heaven open in a multitude of ways--not just financial, and I try to look for the spiritual blessings of obedience, as much as the temporal ones.
Denise, Susan, Karen, Bogie, Ozjane, Tammy, Transparent Tulip, Kim, Faith, Joan, Groovewoman, Amydeanne, Alexis, & TjHirst: Thank you all for stopping by. Happy WFW. I just love this meme! :~D
As always! this was another great post.
Lori!: So nice to hear from you. Are you still blogging? ((Hugs))
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