On Giving: My Personal Testimony

I went into my first semester living at Berry comfortably well off, mainly thanks to generous gifts from friends. However, even with an awesome job, I saw my bank account slowly empty as the semester went by. College living is expensive to say the least. By the time I got to Christmas I had just enough to buy each family member a decent present. However, seeing as I didn’t want to deplete my bank account completely, I was relieved to be offered a babysitting job from a friend. I was able to buy every one in my family a great gift and come away with twenty-five bucks. Not a whole lot. I resolved to put that money away and not touch it until school started back. Then I remembered to tithe. There went five dollars. “Alright,” I thought, “twenty bucks will get me by until work starts back.” It was then that my pastor told our church about “The Gift Offering.” A challenge to match the price of the most expensive present we purchased, and give it back to God. The most expensive present I bought was twenty dollars.

No one would blame me for not putting literally all of my money into the Gift Offering. “Thou shalt match the amount of thy most expensive gift…” is not in the Bible after all. Gas prices are up, and so are text book prices. Why in the world would I throw away all my money?

Giving in church is a touchy subject for quite a large amount of people. A lot of people tune out when they hear the pastor talk about giving. “There he goes again.” “When will he shut up about giving?” “If he only knew my situation, he wouldn’t say that.” I could give you scripture about tithing and giving. I could show you that it is Biblical to give ten percent (and over) from your income. But you could look all of that up yourself. What you can’t look up yourself is my testimony. So instead of trying to tell you what you should do, I will share with you what God has done in my life through giving.

Summer of 2006: I found myself, for the first time, with money to spare. That May, the church had hired me as a childcare worker for small groups. I had been saving all summer to buy my first iPod. Those of you who know me know that I am a music freak. I die if I don’t have music playing constantly. I’m listening to the Hobbit soundtrack as I type this. So an iPod was a pretty big deal for me. No more carrying around CDs once I got my iPod. Finally, I reached my goal: $250. I had the money in cash, in my wallet, when I went to youth group on Sunday night. I had plans to buy my iPod at Target the following day. As fate would have it, that was the night they were having a special offering for a mission trip to Africa. I sat in my seat and listened to all the great work that was to be done, listened to the great need of the African people, and listened to the students who needed financial support to go. There I was with $250 in my pocket and God tugging at my heart: “Give all of it away.”

“But, my iPod…” I thought desperately.

I heard God’s voice loud and clear, “Trust Me.”

So I did what I had trained myself to do. Block God’s voice when he told me to do something hard. When the time came for us to come forward and give, I stayed in my seat. I told my leader I didn’t have any money. The next day I went out and I got my iPod. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t make myself forget where the money was meant to go. I even tried to redeem myself by using my iPod for the church. I let kids play with it, I let the youth group use it… But God doesn’t take substitutes for obedience. The iPod in question is now sitting, old and useless, in a drawer in the desk where I am writing this and I will never know what impact that $250 would have made. That is far worse than not having an iPod.

In September of that year, a young couple in our small group gave birth to a baby girl. They named her Ava: my favorite baby name of all time. Ever since I heard that name for the first time when they announced her name, I’ve been saving it for my future child. I use that name in my fiction writing a lot. However, I digress. In baby Ava’s early years she was very sick. I cannot remember the details of her illness, but I do remember our small group taking up an offering to help them pay for the medical bills. Having used all of my money on an iPod, and with work slowing down in the fall, I had nothing to give. I then remember praying that I would be able to help them in some way. That Sunday at church, my pastor was teaching on generosity. He spoke about how God entrusts us with blessings so that we can be a blessing to others. He reminded us that it’s all God’s money to begin with and one day we would have to give an account for how we chose to use it. At that point, he asked for a young volunteer so I stepped forward. He then proceeded to hand me a fifty-dollar bill out of his own pocket. He told me that he was entrusting this money to me. In one month I would have to write an email and give an account of how I chose to use it. He urged me to pray about where to invest the money. Little did he know that I had already been praying. That very Tuesday night at small group I gave the money to the couple

To this day I don’t really know if that fifty dollars helped at all. Perhaps they got it just in the nick of time. Perhaps it barely made a dent in their expenses. But that was hardly the point of my experience that day. That day I learned that giving was as much about my heart as it was about that actual act of giving. Giving was something that I can be excited about. I thank God for the opportunity he gave me to invest in that family. Even though I haven't seen them in three and a half years, whenever I see a picture of their daughter, Ava, on facebook, I can't help but be reminded of the lessen God taught me through all those years ago.
Through tithing over the years, I’ve learned that God always blesses obedience. In the times when it doesn’t make sense to give (when the world, and even some Christians, would call it foolish) God always provides for me needs. Now, if I had given that $250 to missions instead of buying an iPod, would God have provided an iPod? Maybe. I tend to think that he would have; but focusing on that would be completely missing the point. The point to give with joy and excitement for what God is going to do through your giving, even if He chooses not to replace it.

Years of obedience and trusting in God is why this year on Christmas Eve, I could, without any hesitation, drop literally all of my money into the gift offering. The next day I saw God replace that $20. “I should have known.” I remember thinking. Then He doubled it. Then he added $100. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. It just goes to show: You will never out-give God, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.

I don’t write any of this to brag. I don’t write any of this to guilt you into tithing. I write this in the hope that my story may encourage you to take a step of faith and trust that God will provide for you. I write this so that you may be inspired to obey his words even when they are difficult. And most of all, I write this in hope that you will open yourself up to the joy of knowing that you are making an impact on the kingdom of God.