Why the Joy of Giving is the Blessing You Need

The joy of giving is a huge blessing! Join the movement! Help others through the gift of your time, donations, goods or your voice. #GivingTuesday

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 – Joy of 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)

Thank you so much for joining me today.

And a thank you to BibleGateway.com for sources.

Take a moment to subscribe to Counting My Blessings and join more than 7500 of us as we read the New Testament together. We will share short posts every Monday through Friday that you can read each day or save for the weekend. Let’s study God’s Word together!

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and stop to pray one or two of the requests listed.

I’m so excited to tell you about my new book!

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You are Making a Difference in Ways You Do Not See

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Do you ever wonder if you’re making a difference?

If your life really matters?

Somedays it feels like you’re just going through the motions . . . doing the same things again and again.

But what if…

You really were born for “such a time as this.”

Last month, I wrote that I believe we all share the same purpose. That “love” is our why!

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and love your neighbor as you love yourself. Mark 12:30–31

Created by God because of His love and created for God to love Him and love others.

It’s our why . . . to love.

But each of us has a unique why as well.

A God-given purpose to be used for Him in this time and place.

And that plan, that purpose, is as unique as our fingerprints.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10

Good to know. Right?!

But some days this plan feels so mundane. Each day filled with repetitive tasks that don’t feel very purposeful.

You know you feel it when the laundry is piled high, and the bathroom needs help, and you have no idea what you’re going to cook for dinner, and the older kids are fighting in the other room while your toddler is crying and clinging to your leg.

Yeah, then.

Stop and remember…

Nothing you do in love is ever wasted! Nothing!

Living out the life in front of you with love is your God-give purpose for today.

Because…

You are Making a Difference in Ways You Do Not See!

Much of what you do seems like it goes unnoticed and underappreciated.

But more often than you realize . . . those little things you’re doing are making a big difference.

A Surprise Letter from Kenya

The other day, Rev and I received a letter from World Vision, written for our sponsored child, Gilbert, in Kenya.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Wolf,

Gilbert is very happy for the gift you sent to him and the family. They purchased a goat, clothes, mattress and blankets. Gilbert is very happy for the goat because he will take good care of it. Gilbert has named it WOLF for your name. He is in the fourth grade and promises to work extra hard. God bless you.

There’s a goat named WOLF in Kenya!

That just makes me smile!

A small gift, given in love, will provide milk, cheese, and teach a boy important lessons about care and responsibility.

We’ve given other gifts and for whatever reason, we haven’t heard how they’ve been used. That’s okay! Because anything we do in love always makes a difference. If not for the recipient . . . for us.

Maybe we make this thing called “purpose” too complicated.

Maybe we’re just supposed to get out there and live with big love?

We do what we have to do today . . . like clean, wipe noses, cook, chauffeur, listen, teach, help, smile, hug, and anything else that falls on that long list of to-dos. Then climb into bed at the end of the day satisfied and grateful even though we know we have to get up and do it all again tomorrow.

Remembering on those days when it feels like every task is unimportant and unappreciated, you charge on with big love . . . because the truth is whether we see it or not we ARE making a difference.

Impacting lives in ways we’ll never know. By a…

A positive word shared.
A smile offered.
A student taught.
A coworker helped.
A friend encouraged.
A gift given.
LOVE OFFERED

Making a difference in ways perfectly planned for us by God, the One who has given each of us a uniquely personal purpose for “such a time as this.”

Thank you so much for joining me today.

And a thank you to BibleGateway.com for sources.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

You can also…

Leave your prayer requests…

and stop to pray one or two of the requests listed.

I’m so excited to tell you about my new book!

Check out our new Facebook Page/Group – #WWGGG – What Would Give God Glory. We’d love for you to join the movement!

And always remember – I LOVE hearing from you! So, please take a minute to say ‘hi’ by leaving a comment.

If this article blessed or helped you today — would you share it with someone? Send it to a friend, family member, coworker, or share it through the links below…

I’m asking God to bless you today!

Jeremia – A Story of Faith, Hope, and Love

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In the “love chapter” of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13 – Paul wrote, “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.“

While everyone was talking about love, Rev and I are clinging to all three . . . faith and hope and love.

The phone rang Friday morning. Caller ID read, World Vision. A Child Sponsorship Representative on the other end of the line began:

My name is Debbie, and I’m calling about your sponsored child, Jeremia. I’m so sorry to have to tell you that he was playing with friends at the river when he was caught by the current and drowned before help could arrive.

Today I’m asking you to join me in Faith, Hope, and Love action. Please don’t allow Jeremia to be just another little boy in a Kenyan village who didn’t get to grow up. His little life was so important . . . to the God who created him, to his family who loved and cared for him, to the World Vision staff who taught him and helped him, and to Rev and me who prayed for him, sent him little notes and gifts, and helped to provide for him. I’m praying his life will brome important to you too.

Jeremia – Love

His mother said in a note:

He is very active in the family and this has made every family member love him so much.

Jeremia drew this at the top of the page:

Jeremia – Faith

This was the Christmas Card Jeremia sent us this year:

I picture him sitting in a little chair at a low table getting a little help from his siblings and encouragement from a World Vision staff member. But he was a five-year old little boy who probably would have preferred playing with his friends and chasing the wind.

A little information about Kenya.

World Vision is partnering with Kenyans to help enact sustainable solutions for the future of their children, families, and communities. World Vision’s child sponsorship program plays a vital role in this partnership with donors from the United States sponsoring more than 41,300 girls and boys. In addition to sponsorship, World Vision operates other programs that benefit communities in Kenya. Their efforts include:

Providing emergency supplies to 600,000 of the most vulnerable people affected by the African drought.
Fighting malaria by distributing bed nets.
Helping children go to school by removing them from child labor situations.
Providing life-skills training to those affected by HIV and AIDS.
Increasing access to improved water supply, sanitation facilities and training on hygiene practices to benefit children’s health.
Improving the growth and development of boys and girls and the care of pregnant women.

Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day – a perfect day for us to give hope for the future to a child, and to their family and community.

Jeremia – Hope

By God’s grace:

I have a confident hope that I will give Jeremia a hug when I greet him in heaven.
I hope that you will join me in prayer for Jeremia’s family and the ministry of World Vision.

Father, please hold Jeremia’s family close to You. Comfort their hurting hearts. Give them a vision of their son and brother running, playing, and sitting at the feet of Jesus. Please meet their needs . . . physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional. Father, give them hope, fill them with faith, and surround them with Your love. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

I hope that you will look into Jeremia’s face and honor him by sponsoring a child through World Vision.

For only $35 a month you can change a child’s life . . . you can offer faith, hope, and love. You can choose a child who shares a birthday with your child or grandchild or one from a specific country. Pray and ask God to connect you with the child He wants for you.

Please visit my World Vision Page – you will learn why this ministry is so important to Rev and me and sponsor a child if you choose. If 10 children are sponsored Rev and I will add another child to our little group. It would be a blessing to add a photo to our bulletin board and name to our prayers.

If you’d like more details about my travels with the World Vision Bolivia Bloggers in 2011 click here.

One last thing . . . would you please share this with your friends and family to help me spread the word about Jeremia, a precious five little boy who touched our lives with faith, hope, and love.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

Arminda – The Kid Who Shouldn’t be Happy

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This is a photo of Arminda and her family. I met them while traveling with World Vision’s Bolivia Bloggers in August of 2011. You can read more about the trip here.

I don’t know what happened to Arminda’s birth father, he may have left their community to find work . . . something that’s very common in the small villages of Bolivia. Her birth mother abandoned her when life became too difficult.

Neighbors walked her door to door trying to find a family to care for her. Finally a couple with very little to offer her besides love and four brothers opened their hearts to her and made her part of their family. When no one had room, they made room in a one room stall they called home, next to their pigs, ducks, and chickens.

Last summer a gift made it possible for them to build a house separate from their animals. A house with solid walls, floors, a kitchen and bath. Even though they are more comfortable, I wonder if Arminda and her family are happier.

You see, they were happy before.

Every picture I’ve seen of Arminda shows her wearing a huge beautiful smile. She also has an infectious giggle that melted our hearts that August day in 2011. No one would blame her if she was sad and angry. Yet, she was and is happy. She isn’t waiting for something to make her happy. So….

What are you waiting for?

I often wonder if we don’t waste precious time waiting for our lives to look like our dreams to be happy. I wonder if we aren’t setting our children up for unhappiness when we try to prevent boredom with entertainment and stuff.

I don’t have any answers myself – but I believe God has some answers in the Bible:

When the righteous see God in action they’ll laugh, they’ll sing, they’ll laugh and sing for joy. Psalm 68:3

Day after day they went to the house of God together. In their houses they ate their food together. Their hearts were happy. Acts 25:46

My soul will be happy in the Lord. It will be full of joy because He saves. Psalm 35:9

Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob, and whose hope is in the Lord his God. Psalm 146:5

Father, Give us grace to count our blessings. Help us to find our happiness in You. Help us to joyfully care for and share with each other. Forgive us and fill us with Your presence. In Jesus name. Amen.

5 Ways to Love Our International Neighbors

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I remember each precious face from the week I spent in Bolivia as a Blogger for World Vision.

That trip increased my awareness of the importance of loving my international neighbor.
Many governments around the world are either unable or unwilling to help the
“least of these” living among them.

For the past year and a half, I’ve made it my goal to find ministries that
change lives around the world.

Here are my 5 favorites:

World Vision

Arminda, in the top left corner, who captured our hearts with her winsome smile.
Abigail, second from right on the bottom, our sponsored child, gave me a hug I will never forget.

Many of these children live in one room huts without doors, windows or floors.
Others like the young boy holding the puppy lives in a house with those provisions,
because World Vision Staff helped his parents learn a skill to earn an income.

Click here to read more stories from our trip.
And consider joining us in sponsoring a child through . . .

World Vision – Sponsor a Child

I promise you . . . you will be blessed more than you know.

Thankful Hearts Give – My Top Five Charity Choices for 2012

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Most of you reading this post, perhaps all of you, live in a warm home with clean running water.
You enjoy healthy foods to eat, and are blessed with healthy children and grandchildren.

As you prepare to celebrate tomorrow, and praise God for all of His countless blessings . . .
please take a moment to click on the banners for these ministries and
consider gifting them before the end of the year.

These are my – Top Five Charity Choices for 2012

Thank you and God bless you!!

Read More

The Gift Guaranteed to Give Joy

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How would you like to give a Christmas gift that won’t get returned, tossed aside, or broken?

Guaranteed.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-AVlRm0r9g&feature=player_embedded

World Vision is helping children and families around the world.

In Niger, Mariama used to spend more than two hours every day fetching unsafe water located a mile from her home. Now she is able to fetch clean water at the well close to her home. For $25 you can give to the Clean Water Fund.

Sharing – The Power of We

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I’ve seen the power of “we” in action. Oh, I’ve known its truth for a long time, but seeing it played out is huge.

You know it too. You know that when individuals join together to make a difference big things happen. Look at the impact October pink has on us. Everywhere you look men and women have united to raise awareness and funds to fight breast cancer. That is the power of “we.”

Our church sends teams to New Orleans, Joplin, and other communities in crisis. There they join their efforts with people from other congregations to restore homes and rebuild lives.

Last summer while traveling to Bolivia with the World Vision Blogger Team, I saw need like I had never seen it before. My heart melted.

This is Arminda. She was the face on our banner. The moment we met her we fell in love as we discovered she is even more engaging and delightful in person, than she appears in her photo.

Last week my dear friend Lindsey wrote a post titled – The Power of We. It would bless me if you took a few moments to read how our families have united in sharing our love for Arminda and her family.

Would you please join us and make a life changing impact on a family and community through Child Sponsorship with World Vision? For less than the cost of a cup of coffee or soda a day, you can provide:

clean water
nutritious food
education
health care
and more
Read More

Why I Love to Knit for Kids

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I am so excited! I finished my first sweater for Knit for Kids.

Knit for Kids is a program started in 1996 through Guideposts magazine. Through
this program more than half a million children have been blessed with a new
sweater. Many of them this is the first new item of clothing they have ever received.

My mother-in-love would share with us her joy in helping people in need. Although
she was unable to donate large gifts, like the widow who gave her last mite, my dear mil
was also thankful to be able to give whatever she could.

I love to knit! It keeps my hands busy while I’m watching television.
I can’t begin to tell you how many scarves I’ve knit all because I am
a straight line knitter. I don’t like to shape, increase/decrease, count stitches, etc.

This sweater pattern is so easy. Seriously, if I can make it anyone can make it!

Go over and visit Knit for Kids on the World Vision website.
Download the pattern and start knitting.
Don’t knit? That’s okay, there’s a crochet pattern as well.

So, check it out.
It’s easy.
Download the pattern.
Knit or crochet a sweater.
Mail it to Knit for Kids.

You can make a difference in a child’s life by wrapping them in the
hug of a warm hand-made sweater.

You can make a difference in the lives of children, their families, and
their community by sponsoring a child today.

But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them!
For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”
And He placed his hands on their heads and blessed them. Matthew 19:14-15

Justino and Silveria – Their Story Should be Made into a Movie

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In a small community where the people had next to nothing, they shared with us what they had . . . boiled potatoes, lacoto (spicy cabbage), and a bit of fruit. This is the place my mind revisits when I think about our week in Bolivia.

It was an emotional day for me.

Day 2 was the day:

I met our sponsored child, Abigail.
We were introduced to the special needs center where we fell in love with child after child.
We traveled on a single lane dirt road up the side of the mountain until we had to transfer vehicles because of rescue efforts to get a truck back onto the road after it had slipped off into a cluster of trees. (At least it cured me of my fear of mountain driving.)
We visited a village and learned that the children there finished with school at sixth grade if they were fortunate enough to attend at all.
We visited several families whose homes were one room structures with a dirt floor.

It was the day we met Justino and Silveria.

Silveria is a beautiful eleven year old girl with dark hair and eyes. We visited her home where her brother, Justino, 24, shared their story:

As a child, Justino, lived south of Colomi higher up in the Andes mountain range where the weather was cold and food was scarce. He spent the first thirteen years of his life as an only child to two caring parents and he shared their happiness at the birth of his baby sister, Silveria.

Life changed in a moment however, when just a year later their parents died suddenly and they were left alone and afraid with no one to care for them.

Justino knew that he could not care for his sister in the high country, so he packed them up and moved from one side of the mountain to the other where the temperatures were milder and the ground fertile. He built a small simple structure that they called home and he began planting potatoes and lacoto on a small patch of ground. Remember, he was fourteen and she was a baby at the time.

Because Silveria was so young during those days when they had very little to eat and their survival was questionable, she suffered from malnutrition which has caused her some learning disabilities. However, she does attend school and also helps her family at home.

They still need so much. Justino is a strong and determined young man who has worked hard to provide for Silveria, and now for his wife, and two little girls, too. He said that he hopes to enlarge the area of his farm and that he wants to grow more produce to sell and make a better life for them all. His greatest desire for Silveria and his little girls is that they will have an opportunity to study and learn.

As I heard the story of Justino and Silveria, I couldn’t help but think that it had the making of a major motion picture. A story of hope and determination. A story of survival and overcoming.

There is even more hope ahead . . .

The wonderful part of their story is that it is not over. I saw the improvements World Vision is currently making in this community in a very short period of time and I am excited about their future prospects, because I also saw what can happen when World Vision has 12-15 years to work with community leaders helping residents become healthy, educated, and self-sufficient.

We can help . . .

My husband and I are excited to be sponsoring several children through World Vision. It’s true that we have had to rethink some of our spending habits. We’ll brew our coffee at home instead of going to Starbucks. We’ll shop in our closets instead of on-line. We may have to skip eating out once or twice a month . . . but it is completely worth any small sacrifice we have to make.

The joy of making a difference in the life of a child like Silveria – that’s a joy that no new outfit or dinner out could ever provide.

When you sponsor a child through World Vision you will know exactly what I mean.

The Lesson I Learned in South America that I Never Want to Forget

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I’ve been carrying a lesson around with me since returning from South America. It’s a lesson that I hope to use often to take captive my streaming thoughts of self-deprecation.

Those thoughts that continuously tell me that I’m not pretty enough, thin enough, and I’m can no longer be considered “young.” The thoughts that end every compliment I hear with a qualifier.

For eight days in Bolivia, I did not see one fashion magazine. I didn’t compare my appearance to some air-brushed, photo-shopped model who represents some unrealistic idea of beauty.

For an entire week, I visited women who didn’t have time to worry about designer fashions and accessories. Women who were just thankful to have a roof over their heads and a bit of food for their family to eat.

Not once during that week did I feel like the “chic-ness” of my outfit was in question, or that the price of my handbag determined my value.

We were viewed as representatives of World Vision. People who valued kindness and compassion. People who valued character over commercialism.

Now that I have been home for a week, I keep thinking about how desperately I want that to be true. I don’t want my worth to have a price tag, in my mind or in anyone else’s. I want my worth to to be found in my character . . . in those qualities that God says are beautiful:

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:12-13 (NIV)

I wonder, do you share my struggle. Do you long for your daughters to be free of their battle with the mirror? Do you desperately want to be free yourself?

I don’t have all of the answers yet, but I am making some changes in my life that I believe will help.

I am giving up fashion magazines.
I am using my DVR and fast-forwarding over television commercials.
I am going through my closet and giving away every item I haven’t worn in the last year or two.
I am going to pray more and ask God to make me who He wants me to be, and by His grace that He will help me to stop making comparisons.

Mother Teresa is quoted as saying:

“Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.”

That is the lesson I learned from the women in Bolivia.

I left Bolivia better having been touched by their kindness and their beauty and I want it to last.

Photo Credit – Amy Conner for World Vision 2011