God Follows Through
In my experience, when God leads us to do something, God usually helps us get it done. I’m not saying hard times won’t happen. I’m not saying that we won’t go through pain, but when God leads us to do something, God will be with us to make it happen. In other words, God follows through. This is post three of the “God Moments” series.
Debt
Like post two, this God Moment story begins at our church. Our church had been trying to pay off a debt for the new children’s building. The building provided a larger place for our growing group of children. Now that the building was built, our church wanted to reduce the debt and free up the church finances so that our church could serve our community and God’s world in other ways.
Paying the Mortgage is Our Responsibility
My husband and I wanted to contribute. In fact, we felt that as members of the church, this was our church and OUR mortgage. It was our duty to help pay the bills just as it was our duty to pay the mortgage of our home. We just were not sure of the amount we should contribute. When we bought our own home, we cut back on some things because we wanted THAT home. Our home was more important than some of the stuff we cut out of our lifestyle. We felt the same about church home.
But How Much Do We Pay?
My husband and I decided to pray and hoped that God would lead us. After prayer, we came up with an amount that seemed hard for us. We wanted to practice putting God before our own material desires. We had just bought a home, and we had planned on renovating the living room, but we were now going to postpone the renovation for 3 years in order to give to our church. We did this not expecting anything exciting to happen, but something exciting did happen.
Follow God Without Expectations
Before I go on, I want to explain what I am NOT saying. I am not saying that every time you sacrifice God rewards you with money. Many times people have sacrificed for God and even paid the ultimate sacrifice of death. But sometimes I think God does show us just how much we can trust God to take care of us. When we trust God, God finds a way to show us God’s presence. When God leads us to do God’s will, God helps us get it done.
We Followed and God Helped Us Get It Done
We made a pledge that would not leave us struggling, but would make us have to hold off on some spending. After we took that leap of faith and pledged our financial giving to the church, my husband received an unexpected raise at work AND found out that he was getting some backpay money he didn’t know he had coming!
Giving Changed Our Priorities
You know what was funny? In the process, we realized that we didn’t need the elaborate renovation we had originally planned. With this unexpected money, we were able to do a less elaborate renovation in 2 years instead of three AND we decided to give an extra financial gift to our church as a Christmas gift. In fact, we didn’t count this gift as part of our pledge and gave it as an EXTRA gift.
When I say we, I mean my husband because I wanted to count the gift as part of our financial pledge. I had to bite my tongue when my husband said, “Yeah, I think I am going to give this extra money to the church.” I wanted to say, ‘but when it is time to pay that last chunk of money that we have pledged to the church, aren’t you going to wish you had counted this money as part of our pledge?’ But I knew this was something good my husband wanted to do, so I held back from saying anything.
Just Wait, The Story Gets Even Better!
So we gave that extra money without counting it toward the pledge. But a few months later our pledge was due, and we were kicking ourselves for not counting Christmas gift as part of our pledge. You would think we would have been better at trusting God after all of this, but when it was time for our last payment to the campaign WEEEE WERE NERVOUS! It was year three of the campaign, and we had one BIG chunk of our pledge to give. Oh, did I mention that the amount we gave at Christmas WAS the amount we had left to give!
So with heavy hearts, we reluctantly wrote that check and gave that last sum to the church.
No Really, The Story Does Get Better! Bring On The Arm Chills
Do you know what happened the very next week?!!!! My husband was asked to do an extra one-time BIG job at work that paid him almost the EXACT amount we gave to the church! I mean, just wow! We didn’t get loads and loads of extra money, but we got the money we needed to serve God and our brothers and sisters at our church. I am tellin’ ya! One day, I hope to have more trust, because God keeps blowing me away when God shows up! All I can say is God follows through.
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You May Also Enjoy
This is such a fun Journal! You can use this journal to write down you prayers, questions, thoughts, and God moments. In other words, use the journal to write down all the times in your life when God follows through.
After writing, you can color in the journal while you pray and think about what you just wrote. What a great way to slow down and be mindful!
I love prayer journals and am always recommending them. Since Thanksgiving is around the corner, I want to focus on some Gratitute and thanksgiving focused journals. Check them out below.
And this is a children’s gratitude journal! What a great way to to get the whole family involved!
More God Moments
God Moments: Did That Just Happen?
God Moments: We Chose the Same Picture
God Moments: We Prayed and then This Happened!
God Moments: We Ran Out of Gas
18 Weeks to a Healthier, Happier, More Purposeful Life
This article has been updated and is an adaptation from a story in 18 Weeks to a Healthier, Happier, More Purposeful Life. This unique book was written by Lacy Ngo, a dietitian nationally recognized as a top expert in faith-based mindfulness and evidence-based nutrition. She shares the exact steps that, based on science, produce the most dramatic health and weight loss success in her book, 18 Weeks to a Healthier, Happier, More Purposeful Life. This book is like nothing you have ever seen before. It combines faith and science. Both are crucial when it comes to producing real change because real change involves the mind, body, and spirit. This is an adaption from a story in the book, 18 Weeks to a Healthier, Happier, More Purposeful Life.
Copyright © 2017 Mindfulness in Faith and Food.
You are free to retain any and all content here for personal use, but need permission to use it anywhere else on the internet.
Lacy, thank you for sharing about how God is at work in our lives even when we are reluctant. I have recently discovered that when I hold on to everything I have (possessions and ideas), then there isn’t much room left for me to notice God’s presence or plan for what is next. But, when I let go of what was, then I’m ready to experience what is next. It is always different than what I expect, and there are always stumbling blocks and hurdles to cross, but God is SO GOOD. Sometimes, the only change is in my perspective, but it is such a blessing to be able to see the good in my life instead of being beat down by worry and fear.
Thank you so much Lollie! Yes to everything you just said. I too struggle when I hold onto my possessions and ideas. I still keep holding on, but I am so thankful God continues to lead me even though I keep falling short. I am so thankful that God is so forgiving and loving and stays will me as I fail over and over. I will keep trying though, because I love God so much too!
oh my gosh how crazy is this story! and so true- when i sometimes leave it up to HIm- it always follows through 🙂
I know right! So thankful that God always follows through!
I think we need to remember that God does follow through but not always at the timing that WE would like. He works on His timing. I found that out a few years ago when I lost my job and He waited until the last minute (I was almost out of money to pay the bills) before He blessed me with the job I have now.
I am so glad you pointed this out. Sometimes God follows through at a different time or in a different way. When I feel lead by God sometimes I have an idea in my head as to how things are suppose to turn out. It doesn’t always happen like I plan, but I am always amazed! I am so happy that you have found a job now!
I love this story of how God shows up and follows through in your life. I believe in Him. My own faith was shaken when life required me to move to the other side of the world and started over from scratch when my friends are getting married, having babies and thriving in their careers. I have yet to understand His plans. But, like it’s mentioned above, His timing is different than mine and I just have to keep the faith that something greater is up ahead of me. Thank you for the encouraging article.
Herlina, I am so sorry you are going through a tough time. I cannot imagine how overwhelming moving and starting over on the other side of the world must be. My heart goes out to you. Thank you for taking the time to comment. Sending virtual hugs your way.
It is truly amazing how God intervenes. Thank you for sharing your personal story.
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment!
It’s always wild how we see God work, personally and up close, and yet still get nervous about God working. Thanks for blessing me with your moment of trust and follow through! (or should that be MOMENTS)
You are so welcome Kathryn! I know what you mean about being nervous about God’s plan sometimes. What if it is going to be hard and even painful. Sometimes there is a storm before the rainbow. I just would rather not have the storm, but I try to trust God through it.
This is wonderful encouragement! My husband and I have been on both side of this issue. Giving faithfully and being blessed back financially, as well as giving faithfully and honestly feeling like we had been taken advantage of. And to be honest, I was bitter for a long time about it. But God, being ever faithful, has used even my bitterness to bring me to a deeper place of understanding.
Oh I am so sorry you were taken advantage of. I would be bitter too, but I love that you feel that even the bitterness helped you have a deeper understanding. I am so glad you brought this point up though. Sometimes we can be taken advatage of. Trying to figure out that giving balance is tricky! Also, I feel like if we give it all away then people will have to help us, and we could no longer help others. I am trying to prayerfully figure out when to give and when to wait. I haven’t figured it out yet. Thank you so much for sharing your experience.
What an amazing story! We had an incredible story happen to us, similar to that! God just showed up and made a way where there was no way for us! We will never stop being impressed at it and thankful for what she did! God is so amazing!
Oh wow! I love when God makes a way when, like you said, there is NO WAY! How does God do that! I love it!
Truly said. A wonderful articulation. When we have faith in him unknowingly something comes around. May be its the positive energy but it’s trye
Thank you for taking the time to share your kind comment!
Very beautiful post although I cannot say I am religious. This was very inspiring and I am happy for your successes in life, spread the positivity ❤
Thank you Ashley, Yes! I love when positivity is spread! Positivity is contagious!
This was such an amazing post to read! To see that your husband got extra work that was nearly the exact amount that you gifted to your church was a twist to an already amazing story that I wasn’t expecting.
Thank you for sharing a completely different perspective with us in this post. I’m still looking for a church home to help pay the mortgage on, I hope to be blessed the way you have to find one that I feel as connected to as you do.
Have a Blessed week! <3
Oh this comment makes my heart happy. I know, right! The end of the story is the best part! I am so hoping you find an amazing church that you can feel connected to.
God ALWAYS provides. There were times Id be worried, and I tell myself “God always provides” I put it in his hands, and instantly I feel at peace! And almost always, God comes through for us somehow, whether it be financially or some other way. But it’s amazing when you put your trust in God how your mind set changes!
This was a beautiful story! Your faith is amazing!
Thank you for sharing your sweet words. It is amazing how trusting God can bring peace!
I definitely believe that when God is guiding you in a certain direction, He is always going to provide, even if we can’t see the provision or how it’s going to work out. I’m so glad that you clarified that we’re not always talking about monetary gifts from God, I think a lot of people get confused by that, they want God to make it rain money, but that’s not the only way He provides. Thank you for sharing your story, this offers encouragement to those still waiting on His provision.
Thank you Jen! I am so glad you found this post encouraging. So true! God provides in many ways other than monetary.
When you give to God there’s blessings attached to it. Any done for God is never in vain.
So true! Thank you for taking the time to comment. I love the way you worded this!