I’m blown away by the goodness of God. In our marriage, Michael and I have been continually faced with a principle that when we give to others and give generously, God blesses just as he promised in the Bible’s book of Luke: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Now, my reason for giving isn’t to get. However, every time we give, we have found that God blesses us in return. We’ve learned that it’s simply not possible to ‘out give’ God. PERIOD. For the sake of this story, I will mention that recently we were given the opportunity to give to some friends’ ministries. Michael and I determined an amount and sent in our support.
Not two weeks later, I picked up the kids from the church nursery and being the very OBSERVANT individual that I am, it took me 3 days to find a large envelope stuffed in the diaper bag with my name on it. Inside was a Kroger gift card from an anonymous friend with the same amount as one of our gifts! God used someone to bless our socks off!
How I used it: For the last year, we’ve been trying to get our house into move-in-ready condition. This past weekend, we invited some friends to help us for a work day. In the evening, we provided a ‘Thank You’ meal. Normally, a grocery store trip to buy ingredients for a meal like this would have brought budgeting tears. Instead, my heart was filled with gratitude for someone taking the time to be a blessing. And not only for the friend(s) who blessed us with a gift card, but also the friends who were willing to give their time to bless us with manual labor!
I was in the nursery again this week and was handed another anonymous gift card, bringing the gift card total to the exact amount we’d given away, just a few weeks before.
This little blessing demonstration has been a great challenge to me! It’s refreshed my resolve to be a blessing to others. My heart is full- And not just because of the gift cards, though I’m very appreciative! Not just for our friends who were a HUGE blessing to us also. But for the principle that God proves again and again and again and again. When we give, He gives–pressed down, shaken together and RUNNING OVER. It’s a promise–we can’t out give Him. He gives–and not just materially. He also blesses our hearts by the love of friends. And because of that, today I am rich.
