Be Blessed

          I was reading in Malachi this morning.  (*Happy Dance!* I finished reading the entire Old Testament for the first time today!)  I have always loved the promise I find in chapter three.

“‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.  I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,’ says the Lord Almighty.  ‘Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

Malachi 3:10-12

          The only way that God tells us to test Him is with “our” money.  I use quotations because it really is God’s money, but we’ve been given the privilege to manage the amount we have.  This promise concerning tithing is still true today.

          I can testify to that!

          It starts back in May 2019, when I was working as a nanny in Virginia.  I was looking at my bank account and was thinking it’d be really cool to have “this amount” of money in the account before I go home on July 2^nd.  I did some calculations and figured out that I would be off by about 20-50 dollars while I’m still giving my tithe and offering.

          The thought had crossed my mind for a split second that I could maybe not tithe… But I immediately dismissed that thought.  I was not going to NOT tithe.  So, I brought it before the Lord.  I said something like, “God, I do not NEED this money, but it would be awfully cool to have it!”  I thought maybe an extra babysitting job would get me there.

          Anyway, I didn’t think much about it, and continued working and living.

          It was June 23^rd, my second to last Sunday with my VA faith family, and I put my tithe/offering in.  Then after service, one gal, who is an acquaintance, but I liked her, came up to me with an envelope and told me to not open it until 7 o’clock that night.  She said 7:01 would be okay, but not before!  So, I waited—for what seemed forever!—and the clock finally clicked 7:00.

          So, I slowly opened the card, saw a check but didn’t look yet, read the card, and the coaster that had a poem on it—which was perfect for my season of life, then I opened the check… I couldn’t believe what I saw…  I was speechless—I had no words.  On the “for what” line of the check, she wrote “BE BLESSED.”  And blessed I was… It was a check for $500!  Four hundred fifty dollars more than what I was wanting!!

          I am so happy that my God cares about my needs as well as my wants!  So happy that my friend listened to the Holy Spirit!  I am so thankful that God loves to bless us when we give back to Him!  I believe that if I had followed my thought about not tithing, I wouldn’t have been blessed with the $500.  My belief is that because I obeyed God, and I didn’t want to rob Him of His tithe, He wanted to show me what happens when I follow Him!