"I will exchange your bronze for gold, your iron for silver, your wood for bronze and your stones for iron. I will make peace your leader and righteousness your ruler." Isaiah 60:17
My Beloved Lord covers all my needs and desires. I am more than grateful and surprised because by surrendering my finances at His feet I have discovered my Provider. He is behind every progress, project and provision.
Honestly, there is no other explanation for my earthly husband's salary to cover everything and even more than I can understand.
But before enjoying these benefits; I am propitious to say that there have been great lessons in this regard. It has been a process that has taken time and has broken, molded and restructured my mental, economic and family schemes.
To begin with, I thought like everyone (I think) that if I gave, the money would not be enough, but my Loving Lord has convinced me that although He wants the first portion of what He give us, the fact is that there is more to give. It was thanks to the chapter Opening the Windows of Heaven that giving the first fruits of everything became intelligible and tangible. So the first thing in my time, my energy, my thoughts, my words are for Him and this has also guided me to be more aware that I can sow encouragement, love, hope... That is why encouraging here and in all the places I go can be translated as giving. And since He is so detail-oriented, He has shown me that you don't always have to go around with verses and 'biblie-stories' but that every act of kindness (a smile, a warm look, an affectionate word) are ways of giving.
So, the patterns of my mind have been 'altered'. And He gave me two verses when the attack of "I don't have enough", "I don't have", "I can't pay for it" comes to my mind and I repeat it to myself to cast out the lies of scarcity, poverty, fear of going through need. I share them here:
"I will exchange your bronze for gold, your iron for silver, your wood for bronze and your stones for iron. I will make peace your leader and righteousness your ruler." Isaiah 60:17
This is when I have little money left... It's perfect. Imagine: my few coins for gold. Wow!! And not only that. He, being the leader and ruler of all my provision. I love it!
And the second one is:
“I know how to live in poverty, and I know how to live in prosperity. In all things and through all things I have learned the secret of being full and of being hungry, of having plenty and of suffering need.” Philippians 4:12
This portion teaches me a lot and I confess that I need it constantly.
I have been a woman who from a young age "learned" to realize pleasure and knew that by working I could buy and acquire what I wanted. My earthly father taught me the value and price of work. And although he called me to contentment, I always liked that "satisfaction" of indulging myself, spending, buying and giving.
But being a stay-at-home worker I have gone through several stages: from quitting my secular job and profession to go after His call to homeschool and hand out the money, from leaving a large income to daily allowance for household expenses, from not receiving any income to earn some money, from having a bank account with some reserve to searching in my pockets for some coins to complete a purchase.
And truly, being content with what I have has to be one of the most frequent and strongest struggles I face because 'the old me' shows up from time to time. However, I have been liberated by understanding that "I am learning" and learning involves mistakes, falls, setbacks, etc. So I continue to learn the secret💘 and for that, it has been essential to maintain and cultivate a joyful attitude and permanent thanksgiving (and without complaints or murmurings) to receive from Him the grace I need.
On the other hand, the economic schemes I knew, (until before I faithfully #tithed in my store), did not encompass the fact of 'heavenly mathematics'. My little mind could not fathom that one salary could feed 3 mouths, that without a permanent job I would be able to have enough for my needs and my "desires"... I also could not understand that giving blessed me more than receiving and I thought that if I gave less I would have more for myself.
It is that in "the mathematics of the Lord", we reap what we sow both in quantity and quality, the Owner of everything is not scarce or greedy, He provides everything WITHOUT FORGETTING any need and He gives and takes away riches to know what was in our hearts.
Since I serve Him, I have committed myself to follow Him, learn from Him and love, I have not lacked anything essential and I have received so many surprises and blessings. I praise Him with all my heart because even though I am so unfaithful in my heart with the issue of money and priorities, He has never forgotten me.
I am so thankful that He satisfies me, He satisfies me, and this is far from that old feeling of gratification that money gives, but it reaches deep into my heart and makes me cry and smile at the same time.
Being fed with so many resources and people at RMI; having a fellowship with women who have similar struggles to mine in so many areas and being able to see the Power of His transforming love; hearing, reading and being able to talk about His teachings has blessed me so much... It has changed my thought patterns and therefore my behavior.
And last but not least, incredibly tithing has transformed my home. Before, when I received my salary, I was more independent and although we have always been "one well" with my eh, I had wrong habits: I hid my "luxuries" from him, I kept money, I had a "hidden" space, I did not share with him what I spent it on, etc.
But when he took the reins, everything was transformed. First, I had to die to my ambitions and selfish desires. Second, I had to let go and let him decide without questioning or asking, take all my thoughts in this area to my Beloved Lord and trust blindly. And perhaps, struggle a little with the fact that my spouse does not tithe from his salary. So, I firmly believe that the husband is sanctified by the wife (1 Corinthians 7:14-15) and yes ladies, obedience always brings reward.
All excuses, fears, questions have been surrendered to Him. When I thought we would not make it, my Beloved Lord answered. During this time we have been able to celebrate incredible milestones:
My God blessed us with the completion of the mortgage loan on our house, which was projected to be paid in 15 years, it was paid in 10 and although there is an outstanding balance with our brother, God has been the rewarder of our faith.
God has blessed us with a year-end trip for the whole family. We will travel abroad to see our brothers for the holidays. It is incredible that with only one salary, my partner had savings for the tickets. I know it was God who did it!!
And right now, my Precious Beloved has been pleased to grant me a request of my heart with the arrival of my second baby. Not only has this been a source of great joy for me, but it has also been one more reason that shows me His support so that I can stay home.
Many more beautiful details would be needed on how obedience regarding tithing has changed me in so many ways, but I really want us to embrace His truth and become convinced that His unfailing love not only encompasses personal and marital restoration but also reaches and abounds to go beyond what we think, going through the economic area, in provision and others.
His promise ❣️
"And now, all glory to God, who can accomplish far more than we could ask or even imagine through His great power at work within us." Ephesians 3:20 NLT
“In this way you will show that you act like your Father, God in heaven. He makes the sun rise on the good and on the evil, and sends rain for good to those who obey him and to those who do not obey him.” M545
“Again Abraham said, “Please do not be angry with me, God. I will only ask you one more time. What if only ten are found?” God said to him, “For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy the city.” G1832
How joyful to see the faithfulness of our Lord that goes far beyond our reasoning, as in your case I am amazed to see His wonderful way of blessing us financially when I am the only one who tithes at home. Without a doubt, He loves us very much and wants to bless us. I am happy to receive you at home and to be able to share these festivities if it is His will!
That’s right, My Precious One…the tithe is a blessing. And when we begin to tithe, it is part of us, because we know that He blesses us and that it is an act of obedience.
And I am glad for your blessings, and how Our Beloved has brought you a beautiful change, all for His Glory.
Dear Mia, Thank you for your beautiful testimony! By giving tithes and by putting all my finances in His hands, He has already given me so many wonderful blessings. Since my marriage ended in divorce, which has nasty financial consequences for most people, my life has been overflowing with blessings. He gives us so much that I often cannot understand how it is possible, together with the children. When we leave everything to Him and trust Him, He gives blessings. I always thought that I was financially blessed when I had a large savings account, but I am so different, I experience blessings when He leads me to give something, to buy something, to book a holiday, to plan a nice trip, to fix something up in the house. I experience blessings and joy because I know it comes from Him. He provides every day and has control over my finances. I often have to learn to really let go, not to think too much about whether I can afford it, but to trust in Him.