Tuesday, January 18, 2011

the tithe test

 I'm a child of God. I believe in Jesus and He is my savior. SAVIOR. He saved me from myself. He has gotten me through the storms and has blessed my life beyond measure.

Tithing? Makes me skirmish. Our household chooses to tithe as an act of worship. Why? Cuz God sed tuh...der.  Mostly because of the way we were raised. It's what you do. Go to church. Dress nice. Tithe. It's habit. Like pizza and football on Sunday nights.

We are creatures of habit.  Once we had Lilly, I realized how blessed we really are. See, God gave us this gift. Lilly is amazing. She truly is the LIGHT of my life. How did God know? He knew the desires of my heart and gave her to me {yay!}. Tithing doesn't seem like such a chore anymore. It's more of a THANK YOU and a way of honoring Him. Now, we choose to have it automatically withdrawn each week. And PTL for that. It's hard. There are some weeks where we could REAAAAAAAAAAALLLY use the extra cash. Can I get an amen?

But...

 I don't tithe my lillypie money. It's MY money right? My etsy money. My target money. My "ooh that shirt is cauutteee money. My one day I'll stay at home money. NOT GOD's MONEY.

This week it hit me.

Uhh...it's God's money. and I'm selfish.

Lillypie was a a fun hobby over the summer. God's blessed me because my sales have grown over 200% since July.  Lillypie  has evolved into a handmade business. {yay!} A source of income.  {yay!}A creative outlet {yay!} A passion. {yay!}  God has blessed me with this new adventure and in return I am thanking and giving HIM the glory by giving 10% back.



I'm not a scholar, but I venture to say that there are not too many times in the Bible that the Lord gives us the go ahead for testing him. Well, here I go. I'm putting tithing to the test.  I've given my life. I strive {read, struggle}  to give him my love and devotion daily.

I promise to give at least one tenth of lillypie profits to the Lord.
there, it's on my blog. now i have to do it.

Interested in this tithing journey? Interested in testing yourself and/or your business?

I'm excited. I'm ready to grow. I'm ready to learn.

I'm anxious to document my journey.




Do you tithe? What blessings have you seen? Want to hold each other accountable?


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10 comments:

  1. ROCK ON MAMMA!!! This is awesome and such a great way to serve our Lord, he is oh so deserving of so much more than we give him, he did after all give us handsome husbands and oh so cute babies :) AMEN!

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  2. Laura! I love your word art. I love the message of your post. I love the gorgeous creme flower you made in the post below. And most of all I love that you shared it all with me. Thanks so much. You're absolutely wonderful.

    Cheri

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  3. amazing laura. I love this and what you are doing! So wonderful!

    Ashley

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  4. somehow, the lord knows what i need to hear. somehow, the lord knew that i checked your blog daily and knows i've been struggling. i won't blab on about why i'm struggling, but i am. once again, heaven is tapping me on my should to let me know the lord is there for me when i'm ready again. i will work at this challenge, laura. the fog is starting to lift. only kindness, friend.

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  5. What a great post and thanks for sharing and for the reminder. I so need to be better in this area. God has blessed us beyond belief, after all!

    Hope your day is going well, L!

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  6. I love this! I haven't made much money from my blog but I have thought the same thing about tithing about that money. Thanks for this post! Congrats on your business growing!

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  7. Wow.... amazing. Our sermon this past Sunday was exactly this verse - Malachi - and exactly this same nudge was upon my heart as well on "my" money. My husband and I tithe as well, but I hadn't realized that I didn't tithe "my" business money.... until this Sunday!!! And then I just happened upon your blog tonight and BAM! Thank you for this post, and I am also joining you :) Hi!

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  8. This is so true! My hubby and I have struggled with all things money for a while, and even though we want to tithe and know we should, we often find ourselves putting it off. THIS month, though, we decided enough was enough and start a legit budget...with tithing being at the top of the list. We've already seen God bless us like crazy and it's only the first week! We were a little unsure of our "eat out" budget because we gave ourselves a TINY allowance for it, but God has provided us with a ton of bogo offers on our fave restaurants, groupons, and gifts in form of chikfila and pf changs gift cards! God is crazy good!! Thanks for posting about this and know you're not alone : )

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  9. New follower to your blog! Which by the way, is pretty much wonderful! I was actaully just thinking about this last week. I'm very blessed and I need to do a better job at being thankful and honoring God with his blessings. I have a steady job, healthy body and roof over my head. Giving JOYFULLY should be at the top of my list, and thats right where im going to try and keep it. It's a struggle to be honest, but it's a harder struggle doing it without Him.

    Thanks for the encouraging word..joining you too!

    Ryan :)
    http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheBloomingThread

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