Giving to the Lord…

Happy Monday Everyone!

Another week has come and gone, and Christmas is easing ever so close…Have you got your shopping done yet? Not I. We haven’t even started our Christmas shopping. I have a few ideas for things but seeing as how my husband is being stubborn and won’t tell me what he wants this year, I’m having to kind of wing it. Normally, I would tell you what I was thinking about purchasing, but since hubby tends to read my blog every day or two, I can’t exactly do that either. What are you getting your husbands?

In case you don’t keep up with football, The University of Alabama Crimson Tide knocked off the Florida Gators in Saturday’s SEC Championship Game…meaning they are headed out to Pasadena, California on January 7 to battle the Texas Longhorns in the BCS National Title Game. That, in itself, is enough of a Christmas Present for my beloved, football addicted, crimson bleeding husband. {Love you babe!}

Like I said in one of my last posts, Christmas time is frustrating to me sometimes. I love to buy for people, especially my family. My husband takes such good care of my son and me and I would love to be able to get him all of the tiny little material things that he wants. But, I can’t. And when the paycheck arrives and I sit down to do the budget for the month, I try to cut as many corners as I can to save every single penny. Using coupons, searching for cheap deals, and around this time of year, taking advantage of the payment arrangement setup a few places here have.

Then I get to the part of our budget that should come first. The part that should never even be questioned. The part of our budgetting and planning that should be automatic. Our tithes. Yeah…you know what I’m talking about. The 10% of our check every pay period that is supposed to be set aside and given to GOD and his works. The 10%, that for whatever reason, is generally the hardest to give and the easiest to “forger” to give. We’ve all been there. And if you are honest with yourself, you’ve probably skipped out on giving God is money a few times. I know we have. I’m not too proud to admit that. There have been times where I just didn’t see any way that we could give GOD his 10%. The numbers weren’t adding up, the money just wasn’t there to give. So, we didn’t give it. And ironically, even though we kept that money so we would “have extra cash in case something happened” we were still just as tight with our finances as we would have been if we’d given GOD his.

Then, there are the times when we just suck it up, do without some things and tithe our 10%. It’s during those times that things always fall into place. A bill is less than we anticipated it would be. Something works out and we don’t have to spend money on something we were planning to. Extra money just seems to show up out of nowhere. Don’t you love that feeling? Don’t you love to sit down and look at your budget and the numbers are higher than you anticipated they would be? It amazes me. And it humbles me to see God taking care of things in our life.

Hubby and I haven’t given our Christmas offering yet this month. We usually give on the 15th when there are less bills coming out of his check. I have been stressing about how much to give. I want to give as much as we can. I really do. But we are wanting to go to Alabama and visit family over the holidays. And we want to buy one another a few presents. And we are having car trouble that I’m not sure how we are going to pay for. {Car trouble that is possibly going to keep us from going to Alabama depending on how much it costs to repair…} It’s stressful. It’s the little things that seem to get in the way when you try your hardest to give the way that you should.

Yesterday during church, one of the ladies in the choir sang “Thank you for Giving to the Lord” after we took up the offering. God, once again, seemed to be sitting right beside me tapping me on the shoulder saying, “This is the impact your money has when it’s given to me.” Have you ever heard the song? I included the youtube video in the post so you could listen to it, in case you’ve never heard it. {Warning: I cry almost every single time I hear it!}

That’s the kind of thing that makes me want to give as much as I possibly can. To know that our money, our sacrifice, is spreading the word of God across the world. That by not buying a bunch of new clothes every month [not that we do that anyway] or by giving what we would normally spend on going out to eat to a missons fund, someone is able to hear the word of God. Think about that. I mean really listen to the words of the song and picture that. And it’s not just your funding. It’s your time, your energy, your emotions, your sacrifices…those are the things that build up the kingdom of God.

I get frustrated sometimes because I feel like I volunteer and do a lot, where you see some people who never do anything at church. And volunteering is something that tends to go unnoticed, unapprecited and completely overlooked by a lot of people. But this song, reminds me that the time that I am putting in, whether it be by volunteering in the nursery on Sunday mornings, or helping coach Upward Cheerleading or simply by trying to be a friend to someone who needs it, that I am exemplifying what God wants for our lives. I am giving of myself, to HIM and to HIS glory.

I encourage you to listen to this song and let God speak to you through the words. Think about what you are giving, and how it is impacting lives around you-whether it gets appreciated or not. Or, if you are like me, think about all of the ways that you could continue to give to the Lord and allow him to show you how to make it possible.

As for our Christmas tithes? We will be giving as much as we possibly can to the Lord.

What can you give today?