Give, and it will be given to you: A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be poured into your lap. For the measure you use will be the measure you receive.
Luke 6:38
I have a few stories for today on the giving lifestyle. In life the same energy we put out comes back to us, pressed down, and shaken together in good measure. This principle includes finances! I'd like to honor my parents for exposing me to the giving lifestyle back when I was a child. I have memories of watching them give to the offering plate every Sunday when they took us seven kids to church. My parents are hard working generous people and we never went without anything growing up.
The Ten Dollars
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 9:7
I was fourteen years old and I had just finished babysitting. I was excited to have earned some money and was planning to buy a CD and snacks from the school vending machine on Monday. I remember feeling insulted when I was paid $12 for four hours of my time on a Saturday night. Minimum wage at that time was $10/hour and I had just been paid $3/hour. Ouch.
The next morning I was at church sitting by myself on a balcony. An usher was passing an offering plate around gathering people's offerings to the church. I had a ten dollar bill and a twoonie in my pocket. I took out the money and pondered if I should give any of it to God as an offering. I decided to give the $10 bill and keep the twoonie. That way I could at least afford a drink from the school vending machine the next day. I couldn't buy a CD for $12 so I reasoned that God could probably do more with the ten dollars then I could.
The next Sunday I was at my Grandparents house watching TV in the upstairs room. My Grandmother came up the stairs holding something in her hands and approached me. "Ryan, I feel like God is telling me to give you this money." She said. It was a twenty dollar bill! I was shocked that she was offering me any money since I hadn't earned it through work. We were raised to earn our money and not to accept hand outs so this was very strange to me. "No Granny thanks though, I didn't do anything to earn this money." I said. "God told me to give you this money so you're taking it and that's settled!" She said back to me. I accepted the twenty dollars and sat up on the edge of the bed feeling puzzled. Then I remembered how I had given God ten dollars exactly a week earlier. He gave me back double the amount and now I could afford to buy a CD the next day! I was very grateful and also extremely surprised that this really just happened.
All Or Nothing
For they all gave out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty, put in what she had to live on, everything she had.
Mark 12:44
I was seventeen years old sitting with some friends on the front row in a church. The pastor was preaching about generosity and how it can lead to financial miracles in our lives. He had a coffee mug in front of him for people to put their offerings into. I happened to have all of the money I owned in my pocket at that time. This was the left over money from my summer job and I was an unemployed high school student. Part of me was afraid of giving anything because no one else was stepping forward to the offering mug. I didn't want to stand out and feel embarrassed. Another part of me felt excited to give again since I remembered how God gave me double a few years prior. After going back and forth in my mind for what seemed like an eternity, I stepped to the front and put all of the money into the mug. I stepped back to my seat and felt an immense sense of serenity. I knew in my heart I had made the right decision for my life.
Nothing supernatural happened financially in the weeks following that day. I never regretted that decision though, and within two years I was given the opportunity to work in the oil and gas industry. I was able to work every day and began to have financial independence for the first time in my life. I believe that giving all I had to God that day set up my financial future in the years to come. As of writing this blog I am still in the oil and gas industry.
The Over Flow
...Test me in this...and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
Malachi 3:10
I was thirty two years old and had spoken to Kali about making an offering. We were believing for God to do big things in our life financially so we wanted to trust him with eighty percent of our savings account. The day I gave the money I stumbled across this verse: "I am giving you a promise now while the seed is still in the barn. You have not yet harvested your grain, and your grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, and olive trees have not yet produced their crops. But from this day onward I will bless you." Haggai 2:19.
A year later nothing had happened for us, and in fact I was about to lose my job of thirteen years due to budget cuts. I apologized to Kali for seemingly making a financial mistake and giving away our savings. But we discussed it and decided to keep our faith alive and press forward. I didn't feel anxious about being unemployed with a family depending on me. I was still depending on God and I told him that this was his problem as much as it was mine.
The idea came to me to ask for a job transfer. Suddenly people stepped up to help us transfer and sell our home. The house we bought was off the market with a deal pending to go through but God made a way for us and it became ours. Everything we had been waiting for for years was poured into our life and over flowed. Our house was now double the size so I thought it would take a few years to fill up the space with furniture etc.. Kali found amazing deals on everything she needed to fill up the house to make it a home within months.
I hope these experiences that I've had with the giving lifestyle encourage you in your own giving journey. It doesn't always feel like you're making a wise decision to be generous but remain in faith until the generosity fills up and over flows your life! Cheers friends.