Can you still give to others even when you're drowning in debt? In this touching episode, we share the story of a woman who found herself struggling with debt and job prospects. Through our coaching sessions, we embarked on a journey to explore the heart of giving for Christians, using the widow's offering in the Bible as a model for us to follow... all while getting her completely out of debt.
We delve deeper into the challenges of giving when burdened by debt, discussing the distinction between giving out of love and giving out of obligation. We also emphasize the importance of financial discipline and trusting in God's plan, even in the most difficult financial situations. Listen in as we uncover how to prioritize giving, both in time and money, and how God will call you to greater faith, love, and service as you draw closer to Him.
In our conversation, we also touch on the topic of tithing and explore how, in the New Testament, there is no biblical command to tithe but rather to give out of love and within your means. Join us as we navigate the complexities of giving when in debt, and learn how to trust and rely on God's guidance and provision in even the toughest of circumstances.
Book a free coaching session: https://www.saverstreet.com/free-consultation
saverstreet.com
catherine.vanderlaan@saverstreet.com
FB: @SaverStreet
IG: @saver.street
Can you still give to others even when you're drowning in debt? In this touching episode, we share the story of a woman who found herself struggling with debt and job prospects. Through our coaching sessions, we embarked on a journey to explore the heart of giving for Christians, using the widow's offering in the Bible as a model for us to follow... all while getting her completely out of debt.
We delve deeper into the challenges of giving when burdened by debt, discussing the distinction between giving out of love and giving out of obligation. We also emphasize the importance of financial discipline and trusting in God's plan, even in the most difficult financial situations. Listen in as we uncover how to prioritize giving, both in time and money, and how God will call you to greater faith, love, and service as you draw closer to Him.
In our conversation, we also touch on the topic of tithing and explore how, in the New Testament, there is no biblical command to tithe but rather to give out of love and within your means. Join us as we navigate the complexities of giving when in debt, and learn how to trust and rely on God's guidance and provision in even the toughest of circumstances.
Book a free coaching session: https://www.saverstreet.com/free-consultation
saverstreet.com
catherine.vanderlaan@saverstreet.com
FB: @SaverStreet
IG: @saver.street
Don't skimp guys. Bring the whole whole tithe into the temple and you will see that this, that I will open up the storehouses of the heavens and showered down more blessings than you have ever seen in your life. And he was talking about their heart. He was saying you're sacrificing blind animals. If you're sacrificing anything at all, you are keeping your vows, but only out of obligation, not out of love. I would rather you, i would rather you not sacrifice and not vow and just keep my commandments and love me. Welcome to the Money Ministers podcast. My name is Catherine Vanderlaan.
Speaker 2:And I'm Erica Flukis. We're the Money Ministers.
Speaker 1:And we're here to help you understand what God says about managing money.
Speaker 2:It's a tricky topic, but God says a lot about money in the Bible. Let's dive in.
Speaker 1:Hello everybody, Welcome back to the Money Ministers. I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 2:I am too. This is going to be an awesome, awesome show.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So today we get to talk about how to give when you're in debt, And I know it's such a weird and it's a controversial topic, but I think it's fun. It's fun to talk about giving and it's been on my heart for a while. It's a topic that comes up every single time I coach fellow Christians to help them get out of debt. Like how do you? God calls us to give How do I give when I'm trying to pay off all of this debt? The Bible talks a lot about giving. It talks about hiding. It talks about offerings. It talks about taking care of others widows and orphans. So let's get into it. What applies to you if you are a Christian and you're in debt? How do you give? What do you do? What applies to you? Let's get into it. Let me just tell everybody a story here.
Speaker 1:About a year ago I coached a woman who, through very little fault of her own and just trust me on that ended up with a lot of debt compared to her income and very, very few job prospects. She was not being paid well and she had been barred from working where she wanted to work. It was just really a series of unfortunate circumstances. I'm sure a lot of you have been through stuff like that before, where you think God has a plan for you, you think you're in the right place and it all falls apart. Maybe there are some bad actors, maybe something outside of your control happens, but it all fell apart. This is the woman that I was currently coaching. She was also literally a widow and she should have been retired at her age. It was hard for her to work, but someone took advantage of her decades ago and left her with basically nothing except for debt. This is part of why I do what I do, because I cannot stand seeing people getting taken advantage of. I cannot stand it, especially Christians getting taken for a ride for everything that they have and they own. We should be able to trust the people that we work with and we should be able to be educated enough to know what is a good decision, a wise decision for us, for stewarding God's wealth in this world. We should know better. And through no fault of her own, she didn't.
Speaker 1:I coach her almost for free, and I say almost because with this woman and I have two pro bono spots. I always keep, but with this woman she needed to pay for it. She needed to pay for it just a little bit, in order to keep showing up, to take it seriously and so that she felt good about using the services. Just one more thing about this woman before we move on. I love her. She had a great heart for God. She wanted to give. She was so generous, but she also needed to get out of debt. She really do. Let me also say this a lot of people have a misconception about coaching. I don't tell people what to do. Erica, you're a life coach. Do you tell people what to do?
Speaker 2:No, i try not to. I sometimes fall into that ditch, but as coaches, our goal is to walk alongside people and really facilitate them to come up with their own answers, because it's ultimately it helps them be responsible for their journey and for their goals.
Speaker 1:Right, right, as Christians, when we're coaching, we actually have a three-way conversation between coach, the coachy and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is present every single time. I ask him to come for a few minutes. I pray for everybody that I coach. I ask him to be present and I'm listening to him. If you see, i don't know if anybody who's listening has ever been in a coaching session with me, but if you see me go like this, i start bowing my head a little bit. I am listening to God as actively as I possibly can because I am at a crossroads in my mind as to what to say or do or what question to ask or any of those things. When I'm coaching, i'm relaying messages from God. I am guiding a self and God discovery process and I encourage my coachy I'm not sure if that's really the word, but I encourage whoever I'm coaching to listen to God. It always works. It always works out for their benefit, because God always shows up every single time. That is present everywhere. He is good, he is all-powerful. When you ask God to be present, oh man, of course he's going to speak to you. Can you imagine?
Speaker 1:Sorry, back to the woman. All right, she loved giving to God's people. She loved it and God loved her spirit. I could feel that. I could feel how much God loved her, which was wonderful, and I hope everybody feels that all the time. But before we get to what she heard from God, let's take a look at a similar story in the Bible. Okay, a story about a widow. Actually, erica, would you mind going into it?
Speaker 2:Sure, setting the scene in Jesus. We're talking about Mark 12, starting at 38, it goes until 44. But Jesus had basically just established himself as someone not to mess up. He knew his scriptures, had authority to teach and wasn't going to be questioned anymore. Now we get to this passage And I'm just going to read it really quick, if I can. He says beware of the scribes who like to walk in long robes and to get greetings in the marketplaces and to get the best seats in the synagogues and the best places at feast. Those who devour widows' houses and, for pretense, make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.
Speaker 2:And then in verse 41, it says scripture says that Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much. But verse 42 says there was a poor widow that came and she cast in two small brass coins. This was everything she had, which equaled a quadren's coin. He called his disciples to himself and said to them most certainly, i tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury. Verse 44 says where they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.
Speaker 2:And so I think what we see here is, first of all, giving. No matter what you have or how little you have, we always need to tie and allow God to use us as a vessel to give. And, as you can see in the passage, the widow had just the two coins. That was her last that she had, but that was more cherished by Jesus than the wealthy people and the multimillionaires.
Speaker 2:This shows us that while you are pursuing your vision of getting out of debt or any other goals that you have, you may think, oh, i don't have the exact amount to tie one. Well, give what you have because, like the word tells us, it's all about your heart. You wanna give with a cheerful heart. So maybe you're not able to give your full 10%, that's okay, but give what you had and God will still honor it. And so that's what we see here, even though she was poor and she didn't have a lot of money, but she gave out of what she had. So that also tells me that, even if you're somebody who has a goal to get out of debt, well, you shouldn't neglect the time right. You still need to be obedient, even if God says I want you to give from your debt. Maybe it's coming out of your debt payments. We have to be obedient and allow a Holy Spirit to lead us, so I think that's a very important passage to think about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I wanna balance that a little bit because I don't think Jesus is calling everybody to give every single last penny that they give.
Speaker 2:Well, sure, yes, yeah, yeah that's I agree definitely Yeah.
Speaker 1:yeah, it's not a blanket command.
Speaker 2:No, it's not.
Speaker 1:Absolutely not. I mean, he commends her because of her spirit. He commends her because he sees her heart. He commends her because of her faith, her obedience, her trust. Right, everyone was ignoring her And in that society, in that society, she was seen as the filth of the earth, right, as the poorest of the poor, for nobody to pay attention to. And Jesus was saying was lifting her up and saying do you see her? She knows God. She knows God and gave God everything she has because she loves him.
Speaker 1:So in 1 Samuel 16,7, it says Yahweh said to Samuel don't look at his face he's talking about Saul or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him, for I don't see his man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart. It actually wasn't talking about Saul, i misspoke. That was talking about one of David's brothers. I remember Saul was looking for David When he was this brother of David, coming up and he was like oh, he's tall and ready and handsome.
Speaker 1:And our God said to Samuel don't look at his face or his height, i've rejected him. I don't see his man sees. Man looks at the outward appearance, but I look at the heart. And so when Jesus, being God as a man, was in that temple looking at all these rich people showing off and giving out of their wealth, it kind of reminds me of those people on TikTok and on Facebook who have those like GoPros that are attached to them And they're like I'm gonna give $10,000 today to somebody who gives to me, you know like, come on, really, have you seen those, erica? I have not actually You haven't.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, i guess.
Speaker 2:I don't have TikTok. I'm on TikTok, so I guess I'm a loser, i don't know. No, i don't know.
Speaker 1:That's probably a really good thing. Actually, i waste too much time looking at some of those reels every once in a while. But every once in a while one of them will come up where it's like hey man, i have no money, would you buy this milk for me? And somebody who's clearly struggling says, yes, i'd be happy to give you a little bit of money so you can buy milk for your children. And then the guy turns around and goes I don't need this. And actually here's like $10,000. I'm happy to bless you today. And they have legitimately three cameras around. The guy like who's gonna say no to you know, three cameras look into you in the face and saying can you buy me some milk? But also it's a big show off thing. It's a huge show off thing.
Speaker 1:What's even the purpose of giving somebody, of giving when it's in front of somebody else? Giving is not about you. Well, in a way it is, but you don't give to show off. You give because you love. You love God, you love the church, and that's what Jesus was pointing out here. He planted himself at the temple as a man and saw both the outward appearance and the fruit These wealthy people gave out of their abundance so that people would see them and be generous back to them. Right, they were always saying how can I give so that I can get They devoured widow's houses for their own benefit? You see Jesus talking about them And they will get everything they deserve here on earth. Okay, that's what he's talking about, and that's a huge change in heart. If your heart is giving so that you will receive back, that's a problem.
Speaker 2:Yes, i agree. I agree In that passage. The widow showed something else entirely. She didn't give to get. She wasn't trying to manipulate God or the situation, but she didn't give as a show. She just went in there to care of the business of giving. But she gave because she truly wanted to help the temple And believe that God will take care of her.
Speaker 2:So it goes in the same way when we're in debt and we feel like we don't have enough to tithe and to give as God directs us. For some of us we can't afford not to tithe. I mean, you know it's like you know I and I don't know how I'm going to be honest, i don't know how biblically sound this is, but I feel like and I can speak my own experiences Again not that you are giving to get, but I just think it's more important when you are your back is up against the wall financially, yeah, you cannot afford not to give. Because I just feel like it's in that time where you have the pressure that you really need to walk in faith and trust God, and I think it's in those times and I'm speaking from my own experience It's where I learned how to trust God with my money. I feel like I'm still learning. I am still learning, still walking by faith. But I know for me, when I am in that financial pressure, when I release the seed and make sure I'm tithing continually, god is taking care of me. You know I can speak upon when I was unemployed, at one point I was in Arizona, living in Arizona, and I had a house.
Speaker 2:I had a mortgage. It was a house that I owned. The different houses on the neighborhood A few of them actually my neighbor went into foreclosure and I just remember, when I think back to that time, i remember more money was going out, i was paying more bills and money coming in and God sustained me. That was a miracle and I kept my house. And so I really believe that by me being obedient, even though I had a little, very little income, i was tithing off of what I did have and I was giving, and so I really believe that God will really honor, just like what he did with the widow, he'll honor your heart and your obedience.
Speaker 1:I do agree. I do agree because God says in I think it's in Malachi that you can look that up if you want In Malachi, i think, chapter three. But he says bring the whole tithe in the storehouses. Don't skimp guys. Bring the whole tithe into the temple And you will see that I will open up the storehouses of the heavens and shower down more blessings than you have ever seen in your life.
Speaker 1:And he was talking about their heart. He was saying you're sacrificing blind animals. If you're sacrificing anything at all, you are keeping your vows, but only out of obligation, not out of love. I would rather you not sacrifice and not vow and just keep my commandments and love me. That's what he's saying in Malachi. And then, after going on about obedience, he says bring the whole tithe into the temple. I please, obey guys, please, and you will see how much I want to love you. You will see I own everything. You will see how much I want to love you. And that's our God. Doesn't change. He doesn't change. He doesn't change his mind, he doesn't change his heart. He doesn't change what he wants from us. He gives us different directions every now and then, and so you have to be sensitive to the voice of your shepherd, your savior, jesus Christ. He doesn't change. So, erica, if you're a Christian, what do you do?
Speaker 2:If you are a Christian, you probably want to give. Well, you always want to give. Not, probably, you want to give. You want to give to people, back to God and to the church or wherever God may lead you maybe a nonprofit, but you also probably want financial freedom. So, to get out of debt, right, you're divided here. Right, you don't know what to do with your money And when we get that. That's a valid concern. And we have all these choices and decisions to make in life in general, but especially with money. Do I buy life insurance, do I get this medical insurance or not? Or do I pay off, set aside this amount of money to pay off debt and have money for my utilities? It's all valid concerns. It really is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i agree, i agree, And when I have said this before and I actually got roasted on TikTok because I didn't follow up And I probably I took the video down but I should have put a little bit more to it At one point I said if you are a Christian and you're not giving, it is not a budget problem, it's a heart problem.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And it is true It is. And I got roasted there. Look how much are you giving. I'd love to see your receipts for giving And, like it was just, i ended up just taking the video down because I was like I don't have time for this.
Speaker 1:But, guys, if you're a Christian, prioritize. Prioritize, like a budget is all about prioritization, and you have to make decisions. Nobody can afford everything they want, and you know why. Not even Jeff Bezos can afford everything he wants. He just he's currently cruising on his $500 million super yacht. You know what? He's going to start building something bigger and better because he doesn't know Jesus, because he keeps trying to fill that hole in his heart with all of this crap that he can create and build with all the money that he made. So, if you are a Christian, prioritize. Prioritize in your budget. You're not going to be able to fit everything in. And give, give your time, give your creativity, give your work to the church.
Speaker 1:I'm giving you some direction and some permission now. Volunteer Cook, be a greeter, help in Children's Church. If you can Use your AV skills, everybody needs those to work their projector and whatnot. Yeah, yeah, come on. Volunteer your graphic skills for the message. Be in the worship band, lead a Bible study, go out and reach the community. Your heart will explode with love as you give your time.
Speaker 1:So focus on getting out of debt. Prioritize Diving Yes, okay And tithing. It doesn't need to start at 10% Okay, i am going to give you permission there. It doesn't need to start at 10%, but it should be something And you should prioritize growing it. Just 10%. Even as you're getting out of debt, god will call you to deeper and deeper faith and love and giving and service. God will call you to that if you're trying to get closer to him. And if you are trying to get closer to God, you should be prepared to be a disciple, which means change. It means changing your heart. It means changing your priorities. It means loving your life because, guys, anything God calls you to you end up just loving. He wants your heart. Give it to him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, i love that, catherine. One of the things I was thinking about as you were talking is I looked up 2nd Corinthians 9. And we talked about not having enough to give. You know, in that passage it talks about giving generously and how God will always give seed to the sower. And I wanted to read in verse 6 says whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
Speaker 2:And we know what 7 says each of you should give what you've already decided in your heart to give. God loves your cheerful giver. But verse 8 says and God is able to bless you abundantly. So then, all things, at all times that you need, you abound to every good work.
Speaker 2:And so what that tells me is that if you are giving, if you are being obedient to the scripture, if you are being generous with your giving, with a grateful heart, and, like Catherine said, if you don't have any money I believe if you are in that place where you do not have it in the budget then give up your time, your talent, your gifts, your resources, whatever that may be, and watch God just increase you. So, even if you say, ok, i have $200 for my debt reduction plan or whatever, but that's part of my tide. well, maybe I need to say OK. maybe for now it's going to be only $50 towards the debt, but if you may remain faithful to giving the way God has laid it out for us, then he, i believe, is going to give you more. He's going to increase you in some other capacity to pay down debt, because God wants us to be debt free. In Romans it talks about do not owe a man, not one thing, but love right. So definitely.
Speaker 1:Love that. Yeah, Sorry to interrupt, but I love that verse. I love that verse. I need to say keep it up.
Speaker 2:No, that was it, but I just want to make that point because I think sometimes out of fear we think, oh, i don't have enough, so I have to kind of still from over here to do this, or I can't do everything that I really should be doing and want to do. But just know God will honor your obedience and your heart for doing what he's commanded us to do in the scripture. I love you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i agree. And can we talk about just for a moment how the Bible says to tithe? Because we've mentioned a lot of things in the Old Testament and we've about tithing and we've mentioned nothing in the New Testament about tithing. Just about giving with a cheerful heart and giving out of your means and giving out of this seed and trusting God and some people giving above their means and whatnot, and all of that is beautiful And people will say, hey, but God says nothing about tithing in the New Testament. Yeah, that is the truth. That is the truth.
Speaker 1:There is no biblical command in the New Testament to tithe. Tithing is something from the law that was supposed to support the Levites and the priests, the widows and the orphans and sometimes also the aliens and the foreigners. So all the poor people and all of the priests who end up in our day and age end up being usually poor people too, and basically the people who served God and the poor people. Ok, that's who the tithe was supposed to support. And when Jesus died and rose again, he fulfilled the law. So a lot of people will say that that means it doesn't apply to us anymore. But wait, everybody, hold on, because all of that is true, and a lot is said about giving in the New Testament.
Speaker 1:A lot I personally I give to my church. We give our whole tithe. We give more than 10% of our income every year that we've been out of consumer debt, more after our mortgage was fully paid off. In the New Testament, as we have said, as Erica has said, we are instructed to give generously, in proportion with our incomes, with a cheerful heart. We're told not to owe anything to anyone.
Speaker 1:Just like Erica said, and I coach Christians on both sides of the spectrum Christians who make less than $2,000 a month, who have a lot of consumer debt. I coach Christians who are multi-multi-millionaires and are trying to decide how to give properly, how to give with that cheerful heart, who are trying to get closer to God, closer to Jesus, and are struggling a little bit with that spiritual aspect or maybe not struggling and just want somebody to look at their finances, making sure that they're honoring God with their whole lives And every single one of them. It comes down to your heart. I think that all of the scriptures in the New Testament actually mean that we should be giving more than 10%. That's my personal opinion on this, and so it comes down to where's your heart. Are you trusting God or are you trusting in your money? When you feel anxious or stressed, do you turn to Jesus or do you go shopping?
Speaker 2:That's good. It might be an ouch there for a lot of people, and that's a good point, because I forget where it's at, but it talks about manning. If you're worshiping the spirit of manning, like if you're looking at your money more than God, then it's an idol, because anything in our lives can be an idol our spouses, our children, our jobs and even money. Guess what? Even money. But that's a good point, because when you are so focused on preserving the little that you have, then yeah, you're worshiping that little, however amount it is, even if it's a lot. If you're more focused about keeping it and not giving it, then, yeah, at that point money is the priority and it's your God. Lord Jesus, god.
Speaker 1:That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2:So Elijah, yes, the prophet Elijah. This is found in 1 Kings, chapter 17. We have time to read it all, but basically God tells Elijah to pretty much leave where he is and go to where was he sent to go.
Speaker 1:Zaraphath or something like that in the region of Sodom.
Speaker 2:Looking at the very first. So starting in verse 7, i mean that's a whole another story. Elijah didn't know exactly where he was going to go. He said he was going to get fed by ravens. Then verse 8, i'm sorry, verse 9 says go at once to Zaraphath in the region of Sedon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food. So that was his next directives.
Speaker 2:So he went and he came to that town, for widow was gathering her sticks and he called her and asked would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink? And she was going to get it. He called and bring me, please a piece of bread. Now, this poor little widow, what she pretty much said was like okay, i was like she kind of had a rebuttal. She was like I have that, but it's just, this is all I have. This is the end of the supply, end of my food. This is the last end in the pantry When we and my son were going to take this eating. we're going to die because she didn't have much.
Speaker 1:This is not the one with all of the oil, or she had to pay for death.
Speaker 2:Okay, but basically what happens is she ends up sacrificing and sharing her for a little that she had, giving it to the prophet as was directed, and so basically what happens is there's an overflow, there's more than enough. Supernaturally, god did it. God provided she didn't die, nor did her son. And they had enough. I forget what the amount was, but I think it kind of talks about it. But they had more. They had plenty of the little.
Speaker 2:So I love that passage, which I feel like I want to review because I think there's a lot of great golden nuggets in there. But I love this passage because it speaks to how we can have the last. It looks like the wood of the two coins, but if we are so quick to just hold on to what we think the very thing we need, then we're going to find ourselves in a worse situation. It's like she could have easily said well, no, this is all that we have. I don't know you, you're a strange man, you're coming to my house And it speaks to also how we have plans. That's the point I want to bring up too. You may have a plan, a great plan to get out of debt. We want you to get out of debt, but God wants us to give. So, even though you have your plans and God may interrupt your plans and say, yeah, you gave your 10%, that's great, but now I want you to give this amount over here or over there I mean, i even beat to your church. So what are you going to do at that moment? So it really talks about how we have to be obedient to the disruption of the Holy Spirit, because we just never know what God is prompting us to do. So it's important, even though we may have some very noble plans, we may have a lot of money actually, but you have your budget. You say, okay, i've allocated this for that And you're being wise. But even in the midst of our plans, we have to make sure we are open and receptive to however God wants to shift us. I think it's really important, especially when we think this is all I have. I only have enough to pay these bills here. I can't give this away. It's almost like we said before we're worshiping the money, but we're also worshiping the problem. You know we're putting that higher than God And really I think, in essence, what we're saying when we do that like had the widow not had given the last of the food, the water and the food it would be almost like, okay, i'm just going to sit here in my disbelief and fear and in my trauma, my rejection, whatever the situation is, and not really trusting God allowing him to help us out of it.
Speaker 2:It's like he's the God of all things and he sees where we are. So it's almost like, okay, i can sit here and remain in my lack, but God is wanting me to give. Am I going to worship and just stay in the comfort zone of the trauma and what I know? I think of the man. I forget where it was. He was a paralegic, how you say. He couldn't walk, but he was by the pool of Bethesda, i think it was. He said take your mat, get up and walk.
Speaker 2:But before he did that, the man had all these excuses about how because Jesus asked him do you want to be made whole right, do you want to be healed? And the man was like, well, i try to get up, but there's always somebody rushing me or trampling over me or I forget what it said exactly. But he had all these excuses, and so I think it's in that same vein as we can kind of just sit in gloom and doom in the circumstance that God didn't even plan for us. I mean he wants to turn it around, god can work everything out for our good And yeah, we just we have to have the faith and trust God in that situation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it almost sounds like when we prioritize giving and we are prioritizing giving back to God, we're shifting our focus from our problem And, yeah, you absolutely budget, absolutely take care of your debt, pay your bills, catch up on bills if you need to like, absolutely pay what you owe. But when we are shifting our focus from our problem that we're trying to solve to giving to the God of the universe, the one who first gave to us, who redeemed us, we are looking at our salvation and we are almost daring God to love us back. Yeah, we're saying we acknowledge your love, we love you back. We're like daring him.
Speaker 2:I had a great experience. We're daring him. I love that. Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1:So it's. I really think that giving, giving is about prioritizing what's on your heart And sometimes, as adults yes, god says, go give with a cheerful heart. Sometimes, as adults, you have to do the action first, before the feeling comes.
Speaker 2:Yes, so true Yeah.
Speaker 1:I am. I am never, ever motivated to do the dishes ever, you know but but I have momentum in a clean home and an organized home and I want to keep that and I feel really good afterward, right.
Speaker 2:Well, now coming back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right. And actually when I look at the dishes, my my first thought I'm a human. I say, oh, i don't want to do these right now. And my second thought is that I love my husband and I don't want him to do these because he will. My husband's amazing. Yeah, i don't think you've met my husband, but he is. He is such a giving and generous and kind and thoughtful soul. I love him so much. And so I look at the dishes and I say, well, if I don't do them, he will, because he really will. And so I love him and I want to give to him, so I will do the dishes so that he doesn't look at it and and doesn't have to. Right?
Speaker 1:So, coming back, i actually I want to come back to that woman that I talked about before, the woman that I was coaching. She didn't have a hard issue, she wanted to give, she absolutely did, but she was having a hard time supporting herself, and a lot of Christians I've met have been there. So we prayed together, we listened to God, we prayed for provision. I cannot tell you the number of times I've prayed for provision for people, and within a few months it was actually a few sure I might have been just two. She got a part-time job and then she found a full-time job that she loved And I mean she really loved it there and they loved her, and it wasn't in the field that she thought she would be in, but she settled into this place that God called her to be in. She moved out into her own place, she found a roommate. She got totally out of debt And during that time she paused her monetary giving to her church for that couple of months until she got her full-time job. And then she and then she regained her tithe right. Little by little she got back up. It was a priority for her and her budget And she gave a lot more time during that She, and when she was out of debt she gave a whole lot more money too. It was like when she paused her tithe she gave a lot more time, but it was still front and foremost The front of her budget. She kept saying, okay, once I get a little bit more, here's how much I'm going to give to my tithe. And she could not wait to do it. And she also don't worry, guys, i know I talked about how she got basically scammed out of her retirement, but don't worry, she also had a plan for her later years. We got there. We got there.
Speaker 1:So here's the application for everybody, and I know this has gone a little bit long. I want you to take a look at your budget, look at your giving and also your heart. Pray about it, pray about your debt And then listen to what God is saying to you. Our God is a good God, he is a great God, he is a beautiful God. He is a God who wants to love you, he wants to provide for you And to some of you, he might be telling you to stop giving money and to start giving time, because he's trying to turn your heart toward him. Okay. And to some of you, he might telling you to keep giving your money the way that you have been. To some of you, he might be saying to give more because he needs to turn your heart in that way. I mean, if you read the whole Old Testament and the New Testament I know that's a tall order, but it can be done The Bible is filled with examples of God turning hearts toward him in all different ways.
Speaker 1:So that's really what he wants, and that woman that Erica mentioned someplace, but also the region of Sidon. Right, she was not Jewish, that woman was not Jewish. Then God was sent Elijah, the prophet of the time, the big guy, big, big man, and to her, and she was saying Hey, this is the last bit of food that I have for me and my son. We were going to eat it and die, but God wanted her heart, even her, even her, even you. God wants you, and so pray, be with him, listen, do what he says and pray again. Really, turn your heart toward Jesus and he will take care of you. Okay, god says not to worry. Jesus says not to worry. Don't worry, just turn your heart toward Jesus, do what you need to do, budget And go, do what God is asking you to do. That means that you need to pause and pray and listen. Okay, but you're going to be okay. You're going to be okay.
Speaker 2:Well said, that very well said. You will be okay because God is with us, wherever we may find ourselves, with our money, with our goals for money. God is with you, he's for you and he wants to see you succeed. But you have to trust him and obey.
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