Giving back to God

      I haven't posted in a really long time! I really only like to write when I feel it in my soul. When I know the words are going to flow out of me and I won't have to tear them out. I'm really excited about this post. It's about tithing. Giving back to God from what he has blessed us with. I personally feel that their are many ways to tithe and we should participate in all of them. The three main ways I try to tithe are financially, my time, and my talents. This post will mostly focus on the financial part.
     As many of you know I was laid off from my job in November. This cut our family income in half! That is really significant, especially when you have two growing boys. I was worried, yet somehow calm. There were days when I really did not know how we were going to make it. According to our budget we would be short $400. I wasn't going to get a job where I had to leave the house and put the boys in daycare. Nick could not possibly get another full time job because then we would never see him. For us time together is more important then the extra money in our bank account. We were left with trusting God to provide. That was scary, yet exciting.
      I have tithed for much of my life. Partially because my mom taught me to and partially because God says in Malachi 3:10-12 to test Him in this area."Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty. God has always proven Himself to me through tithes. I can think of one specific instance that pops right into my mind that I will share with you. Before I do that though let me say; I've heard of people receiving checks randomly and anonymously in the mail for say $47.51 which just happens to be their exact heating bill that month. God has never worked in that way in my life. He always gives back in ways that could be attributed to anything or anyone but Him. I think He works this way in my life so that I look for Him. Anyway my story. Nick had just moved to Great Falls to be with my pregnant self. I would tithe every month and Nick would not (he was not close to God at this point in time). One day we took a trip to the mall. I parked in the lot and when I came out there was some commotion around my car. Turns out and old man did not see my car parked there and thought it was an open space and pulled right in, obviously hitting my car. My car was pushed forward into the car in front of me. My car had very little visible damage and I was still able to drive it. I got it checked out and the mechanic said it was totaled. I was disappointed because my car was not worth what it was when I bought it so I wasn't going to get enough money to replace it with an equal or greater value car. I was pregnant, very pregnant, I didn't have time  for this. I need a reliable car. Like the one I drove to the mall in that day. Well insurance eventually paid me $3000. And a local guy was able to fix all the damage for less then $1000. My car was basically back to perfect and I got to pocket $2000. God proved Himself to me and especially to Nick.
       Now since I've lost my job God has been at work again. Here are the "random" ways we have made or been given extra money since I have lost my job: 1.) We received a bonus check of nearly $900 from Nick's work 3 days after I found out I lost my job. 2.) For Christmas someone anonymously sent us an Albertson's gift card. 3.) My dad gave us a Visa gift card. 4.) My family works at a local business in town and they were having meetings all day so they hired me for the day to watch the front desk. 5.) I was asked to babysit a good friend's kids twice a week. 6.) We were unexpectedly reimbursed a couple hundred dollars from health insurance. 7.) My babysitting gig ends in April and I have one photo shoot and a wedding booked for May. All these examples COULD be attributed to other things besides God but I KNOW that God has sent all these to us. For me there is no other explanation. God IS among us. He is listening and He does care.
         Please understand that I am not writing this to toot my own horn. I am giving all glory to God. Yes, I tithe financially every month. But I fail at tithing my time and my talents. I rarely, if ever, give God back my talents. And time is definitely not as much as it should be. Time in prayer, time in the Word, time helping others. I need improvement. But I do want this to be an encouragement to everyone that God is true to what He says. Test Him in this. You wont' be disappointed. You WILL see Him.
        HAPPY TITHING!