I grew up in a Christian household I always believed there is a God but I never read the bible until my sister went threw some hard times an I started wondering why this was happening to her she was so into her faith in God an just really leaned into God an it amazed me so I got more an more interested in really finding out who God is
I grew up amish an don’t plan on being amish and it’s very hard on my parents an I didn’t understand why we couldn’t find common ground . And threw God we are working on our relationship .. last summer my only sister passed away and really made me fight with God a little but it also made me dive deeper into the bible! I wanted answers!
Earlier in the pregnancy, we decided to bring prayer, worship, and words of affirmation into our birth plan. Little did we know, this was a direction from God, as what came after the birth was devastating. Instead of an attitude of panic, we quickly turned to what we had been practicing for the past three months. This not only pulled us through the toughest journey in our lives, but also brought a trust of the Lord into our hearts.
Fourteen days later, we were able to bring our baby girl home. Still confused, grateful, and a heap full of other emotions, we began our “God will honor whatever we give” campaign until Pastor Lee spoke on tithing one Sunday morning.
It was January 9th, 2022, that Pastor Lee taught the sermon of the “First Tenth.” In his sermon, he challenged anyone who wasn’t to start giving the first tenth of their Gross income and see if God would bless them after 90 days of faithfully tithing. My wife and I discussed and prayed over the idea and had no reason to doubt God’s promise. However, we didn’t know what would come some 85 days later.
“God has, without a doubt, come through on His promise.”
I received a substantial pay raise for no logical reason that put us in a financial situation that was more than we could ask for. A week later, we received our taxes back, which was surprising as over the years, they had been garnished. We found out the garnishment was canceled for no reason (we didn’t ask questions). Our taxes were so numerous that we were able to set aside some savings to pay off debt.
Since then, the blessings have continued to overflow. Over the next several months, I was given the position that I have desired for the past ten years at work, and it was quickly modified into an even better one. We are now able to contribute more to our 401K, and we can provide for our growing family with few financial sacrifices. We are now able to start the enrollment process for our eldest daughter to join Gymnastics, and for the first time ever, we were able to buy our Christmas gifts early and adopt a couple of families in need. Another huge blessing was when the insurance companies resolved who would be paying for our daughter’s medical bills that were rapidly coming in, resulting in a small fraction for us to pay.
God has, without a doubt, come through on His promise, and the thought of reducing the amount of our tithe is but a mere utterance of the past. The joy that tithing brings to our hearts is enormous and continues to grow as we see what our tithe, alongside everyone else who tithes faithfully, does for our community and the other projects that Radiant is planning.