The more I give, the more I realize that God provides everything I need.
I thought I would beat the Thanksgiving rush and say a few things about thankfulness. However, this isn’t a laundry list of blessings, but rather a testimony about perspective. The Bible tells us repeatedly to have hearts of thanksgiving and gratitude. Just as the physical condition of our heart muscle impacts the ability of the body to function, the condition of our spiritual hearts spills over into who we are and everything we do.
You’re all familiar with the question of whether the glass is half-empty or half-full. Perhaps a better questions is “Do you have enough to drink?”
Maybe the problem (if you have one) isn’t how the perceived quantity of beverage in the glass affects your attitude, but rather the size of the glass in the first place. A glass that’s too big will always appear lacking no matter if you’re a half-full or half-empty kind of person, yet I may have all the beverage I need to satisfy my thirst with only a portion of the glass occupied. If I had a glass the size of my actual thirst, I would find that God always fills THAT glass full.
That’s one thing that God has really taught me over the last decade–the last 3 or 4 years in particular. I don’t concern myself with what others have or really even pursuing the things I think I want. I trust God to feed me and guide my path in such a way that I HAVE to give Him the glory for everything I have. And when you TRULY realize that everything you have is a gift entrusted to you by God, your willingness to give it and share it with others is no longer bound by your own interpretation of your ability to “replace” that which you gave away.
Think of it this way: several years ago, I worked all the time–sun up to bedtime. I knew how much effort went into every dollar I “earned”. To give away any sum of money meant working even harder to replace it–which was compounded by the challenge that nearly every waking hour was occupied by work already. God has taught me the opposite since then. I now work much more reasonable hours, rarely work at night or on weekends, and never question what God leads me to give. And here’s why: if I truly believe that every dollar entrusted to me was provided BY GOD (using my work as His vehicle to provide), then it’s not up TO ME to worry about how or if to replace that income. God gave it to me in the first place (for HIS purposes), and He can give it to me again if He desires and if I show that I can be trusted to do His will with whatever He has entrusted to me.
My life is blessed–not because everything is peachy keen all the time–but because God has opened my eyes to the REALITY that everything we have is a blessing from Him.
I now give more to my church and others than I ever have in my life, yet I don’t ever seem to do without the things I truly need. Nobody on this planet would ever mistake me for rich, but amazingly, my bills get paid. When God leads me to help somebody out, I do so with no strings attached. If they desire to pay me back and do so, then great. If they don’t, it’s okay because it was a gift from God to them that He simply used me to deliver. Please know that I state all of this to give God the glory for what He has taught me–NOT to pat myself on the back as a philanthropist.
It truly is a perspective shift to set aside our good ol’ fashioned “American Spirit” mentality and quit evaluating ourselves based on what we “earn”. The more I give, the more God trusts me to give. The more I give, the more I see so very clearly how my pride and my “earning” mentality only get in the way of the incredible things God will do when we trust Him. The more I give, the more I realize that God provides everything I need. The more I give, the more He proves why I should have trusted Him a lot sooner in life. The more I trust Him, the more thankful I become.
My life is blessed–not because everything is peachy keen all the time (definitely not that)–but because God has opened my eyes to the REALITY that everything we have is a blessing from Him. EVERYTHING: family, kids, pets, friends, church, food, shelter, work, you name it. My kids were entrusted to me by God–chosen by Him for me to guide as He has guided me. My friends have been entrusted to me and I to them by God–to support and care for each other through the ups and downs of life. My mind and my talents were entrusted to me by God to use to glorify Him in my work.
If I didn’t know any better, I could somehow convince myself that I “earned” those things in life, that the “good” things in life are the result of the “wonderful, awesome” person that I am. Or I could realize that God gives us all so much more than any of us deserve. The sooner we realize that, the sooner our spiritual hearts can be made healthy with gratitude.
God is good. He IS everything I need. He GIVES everything I need. I have everything I need. My glass is always full because God always knows the exact size the glass needs to be.
For everything, I am so very thankful.
