The Hopeful Homestead

God Math, Part 2

09:25, Saturday, June 14, 2008 .. Posted in My Thoughts .. 2 comments .. Link

So... After This story the other day, and This One I posted a while ago... Here's another for you. The other day I mentioned that I'd been blessed by someone who paid it forward to me & the girls while we were at Goodwill. Here's the whole story...

We were shopping and headed towards the kids dept. to look for shorts for Meg when a well dressed man walks up to me with cash in his had and tells me, "don't get the girls something here, take this over to the dollar store, and get them a whole bunch of stuff. " Stunned, and sure he was making a mistake, as there was SURELY someone more needy than I in that store that day, I asked,"No, are you sure??" and he said, "yes. It's not for you, it's for them, and I want them to have it." Unable to argue, I took it and thanked him profusely, humbled, embarrassed, and we went on our way.

Later, in the parking lot the girls prayed about it, thanking God for this man's generosity towards us, and asking that if we could be a blessing to someone else that day, that he be sure to help me know the right thing to do. After a few more errands, we were leaving K-Mart when I saw an older gentleman raising money for a Christian Drug re-hab program that his church supports as part of their outreach program. I KNEW I was meant to help this man. Now, here's the God math. The man in Goodwill had given me $10 for the girls. SO I let them each spend about $3. When I saw this man, I felt compelled to pull one of the crisp $20's I'd gotten for spending cash (for the farmer's market) out of my wallet. This is not what I'd have usually done. Usually I would have given any loose change, or honestly, not made eye contact and walked away. Not pretty, I know, but honest, I'm sure we've all been there, done that at some point. Now we're not broke, but I don't have piles of $20's laying around to be giving away, either... So when I got home, I was nervous telling Al what I'd done, but when I told him I felt this was what I was supposed to do, he quickly was OK with it. I felt being humbled by being the RECIPIENT was the lesson for me in this...

Then, this morning, one week later, Al came home with a funny look on his face, and his paystub in his hand. "how much was it you put in that man's donation box???" he asked. $20. He silently held up his paystub, and how much extra was there this week, do you think?? That's right. $20. You have to understand, he gets paid the exact same amount week after week. But it seems the bonus he got a few weeks ago had missed something, and this was the difference. The bonus I'd tithed, even though I nearly talked myself out of it. God is Good, my friends. God is good.

"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." Malachi: 3:10

I'm learning to see Christ in others. To do unto others as I'd have done unto me. To put myself in the shoes of others, and to FEEL how humbled they feel to accept the help of others. And to put away my pride. I'm finding that if I put my trust in the Lord, he will truly throw open the floodgates of heaven.

Amen.

Shari