Tithing has never been hard from me. Maybe because I really didn't have a lot of money or just becasue I was taught it was just something I did. Well living as a college student, we all can relate that some times our budget is a little less than we need. A couple weeks ago I come across a problem. I knew I needed to pay my tithing but if I did then I wouldnt be able to pay housing, get gas, or even groceries. My fridge was just about as empty as possible and my tank was pretty much empty. As sunday approached I began a fast that if I paid my tithing that I would be taken care of. I wrote out the check which emptied my account and went on believing that I would be ok. Well days turned into weeks and still nothing. I had 2 dollars in my account, no gas, and no food. I was really starting to wonder how could I have been so stupid to pay my tithing. I was starving, had no way of getting to work and still owed my housing for the month but I gave money to the church. Well another week went by, and Mom and Dad, Tessha and Alisha come down for Easter. I finally mustered up the courage to ask if mom could buy me just a few groceries. To my suprise Tessha chimed in that she wanted to do it. This was it. This was the blessing I had been waiting for. She took my shopping and gladly gave me $80 for groceries. I was in shock! I knew that I had been blessed. But it doesn't end there. That night as I went to bed I kneeled in gratitude for the blessing that he had given me. The next morning we all met at Laura and Marks for breakfast. Immediately I was greeted by dad who took my car filled it up with gas and oil. Then of course, I was given the cutest pair of shoes for easter. It turns out that paying tithing is a good thing... who would have thought?!? :)
3 comments:
I love the shoes and I love the story. Tessha was James and I Easter bunny this year too. The Lord loves us and answers our prayers. James and I have felt his present in our lives very closely the last couple months and I hope we can stay close by him some more. Thanks for sharing. I love you!
You deserve every blessing you get and shoes, too. I'm excited that you've had a "tithing-paying" experience to add to your testimony. After we came home from our little trip south, I was also blessed with a "tithing-paying" experience of my own. Don't you just love the Lord and all the angels he sends into our lives!! We're excited to have you coming home for the summer. YEAH! I've missed you :-(
Ohhhh Grace I loved your tithing story. I really believe that we receive blessings when we pay our tithing.
I didn't always have a strong testimony of tithing. It was easy to pay it when I was younger, but like you said, then you go off and live on your own and sometimes you don't have enough groceries or money to pay the bills and you stare at the tithing money like you really should use it instead.
Back when I was dating Will I was in a similar situation with my money. I was working really hard but it seemed like every single paycheck I had went to pay for bills, gas, food, rent and there was absolutely nothing left over. In fact I was way behind on some bills (car insurance for one, and some CC bills). But unlike you, I was NOT paying my tithing because I felt like I needed the money so bad. In my head I would just think 'I will pay the Lord back later.'
Well, and then there was one day where everything seemed to pile up on me - I was totally stressed out over money and didn't know what to do. Will is like a wiz at finances and I didn't want him to know that the girl he was dating was SO BAD at finances. But I finally decided I needed to tell him what was going on.
The first thing he asked me was "Have you been paying your tithing?" And I was crying and sobbing and said "Nnnnooo."
He set me up on a budget and before I paid any of my other bills, the first thing he did was have me pay my tithing. I'm not going to lie - it was SO hard for me. Because remember I did not have the best testimony of tithing and so I really felt like I was just giving money away that I could have used.
And then after that, I humbled myself and went to go see the bishop in our singles ward. I told him about my circumstance.
Well, I started seeing blessings from paying my tithing almost immediately. Heavenly Father probably blessed me to see them sooner so that my faith would be restored in this commandment.
The singles ward paid my rent for 2 months in a row, and all that was asked of me was that I volunteer and attend any and every single ward service activity, and also volunteer at Desert Industries. The bishop asked me if there was anything else (I brought my budget and he looked over it with me). He noticed that I had $400 worth of car insurance that I had not paid. He took his personal checkbook out and wrote a check out for my car insurance. I started crying and told him I couldn't take his personal money. To that he replied, "All I ask is that you help someone else in need someday when you are in a position to do so."
It didn't stop there either. I started finding extra money in my bank account that I could not figure out how it got there. Will and I both balanced my checkbook and there was an additional $60 there, the right amount to pay a bill that I needed to, that shouldn't have been there.
I gained a testimony of tithing so strongly. Will and I pay our tithing faithfully now and we have always been blessed even when times have been hard, when his company was laying off people and he was able to keep his job, when we couldn't find an apartment to rent in our price range and then something just happened to come up.
So, sorry that was so long. But I just wanted to share you my story about tithing too. :)
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