Tithes - testimony

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I have a testimony to share regarding tithing/offerings.

As many of you know, my husband and I were married two years ago (anniv. is
Oct. 19).  Then we combined the bills we owed (some were those infamous
"pre-approved" credit cards they just *love* to send to ignorant teenagers).
It turns out, that if we only paid the minimum payments (much more than we
could afford anyhow) it would have taken us 11 years to pay all of them off.

So, we tried a credit counseling service (good idea, it helped through some
rough spots).  After the end of the projected pay-off period (18 months), we
still owed about $3500.00.  Still a monumental sum to two college students,
but being in better financial condition (so we thought) we paid some of the
bills down so we only owed about $3000.000.
"Tithing" or (more in line w/ NT) "offering" what we could, when we could
(we had to eat).

Some of you may recall about a couple of years ago when the Lord blessed us
(by way of a $300.00 tip from a group I catered for a year at work).  I
promptly tithed the 10% (=$30.00).

Then I got in my car accident (which some of you may remember).  I was out
of work for over a week.  I was still working part time, so did not qualify
for benefits regarding "sick" time, etc.  I did eventually go back to work,
but when my attorney filed my claim, my job estimated I'd lost about $580.00
over the course of 2 1/2 weeks due to lifting restrictions, etc.  To top it
all off, I got laid off immediately following the end of the school year.
When I went to file for unemployment (to get through the summer), the
$580.00 I had lost was just enough to put me *under* the minimum income
requirement to file.

Still, we gave what we could, when we could to the Lord.

Apparently, the Lord was more concerned with the *heart* behind the giving,
rather than the actual amount.  He knew that there would come a time when we
would be able to give more, and be Spiritually blessed as a result.

When my car accident case settled, my part of the settlement equalled
EXACTLY $2900.00!!!  Page up if you've forgotten!  That was just the amount
Carl and I needed to pay off ALL of our debts!  BUT, we still gave a 10%
offering of that amount.  God has not stopped giving!  We now have money in
the savings, and, since our debts are paid, are considering buying a house!
But remember, he promised to give us "100 fold"?  The $30.00 I gave from the
tip (when I could have kept it all, we could've used it) X 100 fold (God's
promise) = $3000.00!  $2900 is close enough for me to see the connection!

God is awesome!
Offer from the heart, not the law!  This is the message of Jesus Christ that
I was trying to teach my Jewish friend.  If we obey because we *have* to,
there is no love in it (Phariseeism).  Jesus came to teach us to love each
other and to love God.  I give because God has blessed us and I want to
thank him out of love, not because of the Law.  That is the whole point.


Anneliese