Unexpected Blessings

God is so good to us! He blesses us in unexpected yet specific ways, as I’m about to show you.

            First let me say, I grew up in a home where giving back to God was important. After all, everything we have comes from God, even our ability to earn a living. My father, a pastor, taught from God’s word that we are asked to give a tithe (ten percent) of our income to the ministries of the church. There is even a blessing attached to it: God says that if we do, He will pour down such a blessing that we won’t have room for it!¹ Wow! Our motive should not be to receive blessings, but to respond to God’s love for us.

My mom was also generous with special offerings for missionaries, and what she called “love offerings” for people in need, baby showers, graduations, etc. So my parents really gave more than ten percent! (See my posts, “The Unexpected Gift” and “When God Takes Care of Us.”)

            After Kelvin and I were married, we began our own journey of giving to God. When Kelvin was studying at Asbury Seminary, we lived on a small education grant from his military service, plus whatever extra carpentry jobs he could pick up. We had a tight budget, and sometimes got behind on our tithe. But I kept track of it and was determined to pay what we felt belonged to God. After all, He had taken such good care of us! (See my post, “The Cow Story.”)

            One Sunday morning, we put a check in the offering that brought us up to date. In the evening service, I decided to get ahead on next week’s offering and dropped two dollars into the offering plate.

            The next morning, the mail brought a check from Kelvin’s brother Phil, back in upstate New York. Phil had sold our old washing machine for twenty dollars. Ten percent of that was exactly two dollars, which I had put in the offering the night before. But the check had already been in the mail! I thought I was getting ahead of God, but He was ahead of me. This was a very specific example teaching us that you can’t outgive God!

            Years later, at the second church Kelvin pastored, our church was involved in raising money to build a new addition on the church. It would include a preschool room, large multipurpose room, and more office space. The leadership of the church was asked to share with the congregation how they planned to rearrange their finances to accommodate what they felt God wanted them to give.

            In meeting our three-year pledge, we let the congregation know that we had decided to postpone purchasing two things: a sofa and a newer car. Our sofa had belonged to Kelvin’s grandmother and was literally 50 years old! But it was still useable. Our car would probably last a couple more years if we took good care of it.

            Soon after, the main engine gasket in our car failed, which meant a very expensive repair, requiring many hours of shop labor. A man in our congregation volunteered to take a look at the problem and offered to fix it for only the cost of parts. This was a huge savings for us, a gift from God.

            This same friend happened to have some furniture stored in his barn and invited us to come and see if there was anything we could use. Feeling rather doubtful, we went anyway to check out what he might have. There happened to be a sofa upholstered in a blue and purple fabric. (Purple is my favorite color). Nice couch! The only problem was it sat very low to the floor because it had no legs! He said we could have for free. Oh yes, and it also had a matching loveseat and chair to go with it. Kelvin thought he might able to fix it. So we thankfully accepted the offer.

            Our friend delivered the living room set and Kelvin set to work on it. He took the legs off our old sofa and bought some additional legs for the backs of the three pieces of furniture. Presto! We had a very comfortable, nice-looking living room set to replace our 50-year-old couch – all for free. God gave us, not one, but three pieces of attractive furniture in exchange for the old one.

            So here’s what actually happened: we postponed buying a newer car and a sofa, and the Lord literally gave us both! And more! That’s a pretty specific blessing! We never expected nor dreamed that our decision to give sacrificially to God would result in such generosity.

            You can’t outgive God! He knows our heart and loves to surprise us.

 ¹Malachi 3:10.   ² “God loves a cheerful giver… You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion…resulting in thanksgiving to God” (2 Corinthians 9:7-11).