Why the Joy of Giving is the Blessing You Need

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It was 1973. Rev was out making calls with an elder of our church as part of his seminary assignments. They were driving between visits when this older friend and mentor turned to my dear man and asked, “Do you tithe?”

Now, you have to know our income was very small even for the time. We were doing everything we could to pinch pennies and make ends meet. Things like getting 36 meals out of a canned ham or two meals out of a 99 cent frozen pizza. It wasn’t a problem though, we were newlyweds, happy, and we knew what we were signing up for when we accepted the call to ministry.

But when Harry asked his forthright question, Rev awkwardly answered, “We plan on it someday, as soon as we are able.”

Harry’s response, “No you won’t! You will never tithe if you wait to have ‘enough’ money. Tithing is not a matter of the wallet it’s a matter of the heart. You just do it and trust God will provide.”

As you might imagine, Rev was less than happy with their exchange at the moment but it stuck and by the next day we prayerfully made the decision to start tithing—setting aside our offering first rather than giving from what was left.

And it changed both our attitude and our lives.

First, it changed our attitude from “have to” to “get to” and that is huge! Giving has become one of our greatest joys in life.

Second, that short conversation and change in thinking started a passion for stewardship in our lives that added an element to Rev’s ministry career we never saw coming. You see, besides serving in congregations over the years, His primary ministry focus was helping Christian organizations connect with donors to have the funding they needed to spread the Gospel message.

Although Rev retired this year, we will continue to have a passion for stewardship and giving. Which is why I wanted to tell you about some of the things we’re doing for GIVING TUESDAY!

Why the Joy of Giving is the Blessing You Need

Oh, there’s one more family story I want to tell you…

In the Spring of 2011, I woke up to an email that said … “World Vision is looking for a blogger from our 5 Minutes for Faith Bloggers to go to Bolivia with the Bolivia Bloggers Team and write about the work they are doing there.”

Now, I am NOT an adventurer! But somehow I knew that email was God calling me to see the bigger picture … to look beyond my little world in Midwest America.

It’s so easy for you and me to get so caught up in what’s right under our noses that we fail to remember the huge world out there full of people with huge needs that we can’t even imagine until we see them with our eyes and feel them in our hearts.

I won’t share all the details here, but if you’d like to know more about the trip that gave our family the passion and joy we have in giving to our favorite global ministries, click here.

Our Favorite Ministries – Giving Tuesday and How You Can Help

We love both World Vision and Compassion International – in fact, we sponsor three children through the two ministries. And we love it because through child sponsorship your actually develop a relationship. There is great joy in actually connecting and seeing the way our small effort is making a difference in not only that child’s life but in ways that bless their family and their community. Click on the links my sidebar to sponsor a child today.

If you don’t feel you can commit to a monthly sponsorship, both ministries offer countless opportunities for one-time gifts.

World Vision Gift Catalog

Our personal favorites are:

The Clean Water Fund

Education Fund

Mother and New Baby Kit

Compassion International Gift Catalog

Our favorites are:

Emergency Food and Water

Children Waiting for a Sponsor

Bibles

And – Samaritan’s Purse

Our favorite – Operation Christmas Child

Collection week has passed,
but it’s not to late to build a shoebox online:

Build a Shoebox

Did you ever stop to think about what it takes to get all of those shoeboxes to their destinations? Well, it takes an average of $9 per box to transport a gift to it’s intended child. And the journeys are amazing.

You can adopt one or more shoeboxes and help them reach a waiting child – here.

One of the best parts of OCC is that for many children getting a shoebox is the first time they have ever received a gift. I’ve heard so many stories of how children will break down and cry because their gift contained something they have needed or wanted for a very long time. God’s personal appointment from one side of the world to another.

These are just a few ideas of ways you can enjoy the blessing of making a difference in someone’s life.

One more thing we’re doing this year is asking our children to choose a charity – and we’re making a donation in their honor. Whatever the age of your children this is a great way to include them and help them find the blessed joy of giving.

You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. 2 Corinthians 9:8–9,11 (NLT)

Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday!

Join the movement!
Help others through the gift of your time,
donations, goods or your voice.

And if you need more ideas, click on the #Giving Tuesday graphic above to find 100 Unique Fund-raising Ideas that Actually Work!

Or check out … 200+ Amazing Fund-raising Ideas Any Organization Can Try Today to find ways you can raise funds for your favorite ministry ahd have fun, too!

For more helpful tips on ways to bless others, check out – Giving back this holiday season: How to provide relief to those in need.

We’ve celebrated Thanksgiving, shopped Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Will you join me and participate for one more day and make a difference not only for someone in need but I promise you, it will make a difference for you by blessing you with joy!

Before you go … tell us your favorite place to give on Giving Tuesday or any other day of the year!

Blessings and big hugs! Deb

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5 Awesome Blessings from Bolivia

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To abide with Christ- to stay with Him and to learn from Him- is to continually receive eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to obey. ~Angela Thomas Guffey

This quote was in my in-box this morning. I love it! As we stay with Christ and learn from Him, we receive eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to obey.

Words which convey perfectly my feelings about my week in Bolivia last week. It was filled with the wonder of a beautiful creation and wonderful people who blessed me in countless ways.

Awesome Blessings – Numbers 61 – 65

5 Awesome Blessings from Bolivia

1. Enjoying God’s beautiful creation in the country of Bolivia. Mountains, lakes and rivers, beautiful blue skies . . . breathtaking!

2. Making friends with other writers, with children and families, and with World Vision staff. So very many individuals touched my heart this past week, and I will carry them with me forever.

When You Sponsor a Child You Raise Up A Community

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Ready! Set! Go!

We hit the ground running.

After a little over twenty four hours of travel, broken up by a three to four hour nap in La Paz, we arrived safely in Cochabamba. The “Garden City” of Bolivia. Living up to its name it boasts of mild temperatures which coax the growth of beautiful foliage, and the skyline in every direction is lined with blue heavens, fluffy white clouds, and gorgeous mountain ranges.

But we had places to go and people to see. So, we dropped our bags off in our rooms, hopped on a bus, and headed to our first day’s destination – The World Vision Area Development Program (ADP) in Tiraque.

Throughout the day we were warmly greeted by moms, children, and World Vision staff each of whom made us feel warmly welcome. More than that, they humbled us by making us fully aware of the difference their community has seen over the last thirteen years through the help of World Vision.

World Vision Sponsors have raised up their community by sponsoring their children.

These are some of the programs World Vision has been able to implement through the generosity of people like you and me:

A Working Library that benefits the entire educational system.
A Working Dam that has taken a system that provided water to a handful of small farms and now serves to water 178 larger properties, feeding families and producing small incomes. Something that is vital for a community where the average family income is $450.00 annually.

A Bakery that began with five moms and now employs twenty at a better than minimum wage hourly rate, and produces 30,000 units of bread daily to feed breakfast to school children in Tiraque as well as neighboring communities.
A program which helps families to have small cuyes (guinea pig) farms. Each beginning with a gift of ten cuyes and once that farm has grown large enough it will provide ten cuyes to another family. It turns out that guinea pigs are a very healthy low fat meat that is very easy to raise. Once again providing food and income for a family.

We visited a mom raising eight children. She generously showed us wonderful hospitality with grace and kindness.

The other group of bloggers visited:

A preschool where the children are taught lessons while the moms help each other learn skills while providing encouragement and emotional support to each other.
A mom of a handicapped child whose life was dramatically changed through heart surgery that was made possible through the help of World Vision. (Check out the World Vision Bolivia Bloggers page to read their stories.)

What did I learn today?

I was right when I believed that moms are the same everywhere. They all dearly love and want the best for their children. However, in this community their best is simple yet filled with joy through the blessings of World Vision sponsors.

Won’t you consider sponsoring and blessing a child and raising up a community in Bolivia today?

Lord, I have given up my pride and turned away from my arrogance. I am not concerned with great matters or with subjects too difficult for me. Instead, I am content and at peace. As a child lies quietly in its mother’s arms, so my heart is quiet within me. Psalm 131:1-2

Are You Generous? The First Two Steps to Generous Living

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Generosity is the habit of giving freely without expecting anything in return.~Wikipedia

I can still remember being a little girl and the first thing I did each time I was asked to share. I would look at it, whatever it was, and wonder if there was enough. There rarely was . . . at least that’s what I thought.

It’s easy to worry about whether or not there is enough. A dear friend told us once, “Generosity is not about having enough of anything but faith.”

That’s why I am going to Bolivia. I want to find out how I can make a difference in the life of a child living in an impoverished community now, not when I think I have enough. I want to share stories with you of different ways we can generously make a difference together now, not when there’s enough.

Yesterday, I asked, “Is God generous?”

That is where we have to begin if we are going to be generous ourselves. We must know that, God is generous!

Here are the first two steps to generous living:

1. Know – everything comes from God.

In the early verses of 1 Chronicles 29, David praised God for the generous contributions that had be given for the building of the temple. Then in verse 14 he said:

“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your hand.” (NIV)

When we know that it all comes from God. Everything! Then we will remember that it is only ours to use in this time and place, while we are here and as we are able. In the end it all goes back to Him.

If we know and believe that our attitudes change. We don’t look to see if there is enough, we simply want to use what God has given in ways that will bring Him glory.

2. Trust – God will provide.

Just before Jesus provided enough food for more than five thousand people, the disciples came to Him and asked if they should send them on their way to go and get food for themselves. In Matthew 14:16:

Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” (NIV)

Then Jesus took five loaves of bread and two fishes, blessed them, and gave them to the disciples to share . . .

It is so easy to worry. What if we can’t pay our bills?

Trust is taking our faith and acting on it. Trust says I believe God will provide. I’m going to share. I’m not going to wait until what I have looks like enough, I’m going to act on faith and share a portion of what I have.

God is able to provide for us, and through us He is able to provide for those in need.

My prayer is that I will be aware of each time He says to me, “You go. You give. You help.” And then like the disciples I want to quickly share all that He provides.

Come back Thursday when we’ll look at three more steps to generous living.