133!

133!

That’s how many have taken the 90-day tithe challenge so far! I am absolutely wowed by that and I can’t wait to hear the stories that will come out of this over the next 90 days! Get ready!

Along those lines, I thought you might like to hear a tithe story from someone who took the challenge. It’s a little lengthy for a blog post, but I think it’s worth it. Enjoy!

In 1996 I separated from my abusive husband.  I was just coming out of the fog he had kept me in for 17 years.  I had not been allowed to attend church during my marriage and did not have a personal relationship with Jesus.  In 1997 I began attending New Horizon Church in the gymnasium of Hillandale Elementary School.  I now know that the comfort I felt the first time I attended New Horizon was the hand of Jesus beckoning me to follow him.

My daughters were 10 and 12 years old.  I did not have a job and my husband cut off all financial support.  I am an accountant by profession and I found a part time job quickly, but, it was not enough to make ends meet.  At the same time I blindly put my faith in God to bring me to the path he had planned for me and my daughters.  I say blindly, because though I had been raised in a Lutheran church, I had never understood the personal and individual nature of God’s love for me. 

Then in 1998 all the court dealings started with my husband to finalize the divorce and all the mess that comes with it.  I was terrified, broke and confused.  I could not make my mortgage payment and I was having trouble feeding my children. 

Then I went to church one Sunday and heard Dave teach about tithing.  As Dave began I squirmed in my seat as I had heard this message in my younger church life, but what I had heard previously was not a message of help and hope.  As I listened I kept thinking, “How could I give 10 percent of my meager income to God when I could not feed my own children?”  Dave explained that this is the only time in the Bible that God challenges us to test Him on something (Malachi 3:10).  Dave said, “Try it for 90 days, if it doesn’t work, stop.”

I was so desperate at the time, I was willing to try anything, even gamble on God.  That was my lost and naïve attitude at the time.  From that Sunday on, for the next 90 days, I tithed.  Each Saturday I would calculate how much I had earned that week and determine how much I had to write the check for.  I felt like I had to use one hand to force the other hand to write the check, all the while thinking that I could buy groceries with that money.  I quite honestly was not happy about it and I did not like it, but I did it.  I did it but I worried that I was not giving with a joyful heart and that might be a deal breaker.  I asked God to help me through this. 

So while I was busy with life 90 days flew by.  When I realized the 90 days had passed I sat down to review with God.  This was what I now refer to as a GOD moment in my life.  I felt as if I was sitting down with someone who had just saved my life.  I could physically feel His presence in the room. The peace, calm and joy that I felt was so overwhelming it brought me to tears.  It’s not that anything about my finances or needs had changed so dramatically, but it had changed.  Things were a little easier.  I had started my own accounting practice and landed a couple of good clients.

Being an accountant I keep all my personal finances in an accounting system.  At the end of my first year of tithing I ran a profit and loss statement on my finances.  As usual, by bottom line showed a loss.  The difference this time was that I had not borrowed any money from anyone and I had actually paid back some previous loans I had gotten from family members.  The biggest difference though was that I had been tithing.  I have looked at this many times since.  I cannot make it add up, as many times as I review it.  From the numbers I did not earn enough money to cover all my expenses, but in reality I did cover everything and even managed to save a small amount.  People are always looking for physical evidence that God exists.  I have it.  It is my profit and loss statement.

Now, ten years later I look back at this journey and I am amazed by the faithfulness of God.   I do not earn a tremendous amount of money, but I have everything I need and much more.  There is only one thing in my life that I cannot afford.  I cannot afford NOT to tithe.  It is now with a joyous heart that I look forward to giving my tithe.  It is and always has been the best financial plan there is.  And to think that God only asks for 10 percent of what is already His and lets us keep 90 percent.  What a deal!