Transform Your Life Through Gratitude and PrayerSample

I’m Grateful to Be Able to Give

I’ve always been a giver, but I’m not so sure about being a cheerful giver. When I first started giving, I mostly gave out of obligation, you know…it’s the right thing to do! Or I found myself giving because I desperately needed a tax write-off. I'm just keepin’ it real with you! I remember driving on the highway one day while listening to a Tony Evans sermon on the radio. He was preaching about attachments and how we can become so attached to “stuff. He said something about imagining what God could do in our lives if we weren’t so attached to THINGS, and more attached to Him. Ok ok! Got it! God said, LET IT ALL GO. So, I decided to give away everything in my storage, including my dream couch (Listen, some people have a dream house, I had a dream couch!) I had 3 bedrooms of furniture that had been in storage for a year as I was staying with a friend temporarily. I called up a good friend and said, “If you know anyone who needs furniture and clothes, have them meet me at my storage on Saturday at 10 AM." About 4 people showed up, one was a woman with an 8 year old daughter. Standing in my storage teary-eyed, she shared that she had just left her physically abusive husband and because she needed to go secretly, she had nothing and had to start over fresh. That day she left with everything she needed to start again. God is so faithful and His timing is divine. We don’t often see the benefits of our giving, but we have to trust God and continue to be obedient because our obedience could literally change someone else’s life!

Today, be grateful not only for what has been given to you but be grateful for being a vessel to help others through giving.

For your writing today, share a time when someone has given to you, and it has changed your life or share a time when you gave to someone else, and how it made you feel to be able to do that.

Prayer: God you have been the ultimate example of giving when you gave your son to die for us on the cross. Thank you modeling what it is to give selflessly to others. We give not to receive but to bless others as you have blessed us. Lord show us the areas that we can do better as givers, show us the people who need our help and continue to provide us with the resources to be able give generously. Remind us to give joyfully with a pure heart. AMEN.