Poured Out and Overflowing

“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 you will not have room enough for it.” Malachi 3:10

For the past several years, Malachi 3:10 has been one of my favorite verses. I have given until it hurts at times and constantly tried to stretch myself in the area of giving and being generous of my finances, time, and talents. Never for personal gain, but because I genuinely believe we cannot out-give God.  

In taking this journey, God has really tested my ability to trust Him. I left Saipan without a job or a plan.  I moved back to Southern Indiana with a job and started a Master’s degree. I have fought hard to trust God with the future, my finances, and my health. And He has never failed me. So a few months ago when I knew very clearly God was calling me to Myanmar, I once again had the opportunity to trust God to provide.  I will admit, I have never had any desire to go to Myanmar.  Odd because I am pretty game for going almost anywhere, but Myanmar scared me. And my heart was so broken in Africa, I was not sure it had room for more orphans and widows. But the door opened so clearly, I knew I had to walk through it. I had no idea how I was going to swing it, but in everything I believe God is faithful to provide.

You see, my mother instilled in me at a very young age the belief God would provide. She has never worried about where food or clothing or money to pay the bills would come from and despite my father being unemployed for several extended times over the last ten years, she has never worried.  I paid very close attention to her amazing ability to trust God. And even now when I struggle or stress out about my finances, she is always there to remind me we serve a God who is in the business of providing for our needs if we will just trust Him.

The hard part was, I live very tightly to a narrow budget. I save my money, give a pretty good portion away, and try hard to spend very little. I don’t have cable, I haven’t gone to a movie in almost a year, I keep my apartment hot in the summer and cold in the winter to save every penny I can on electric bills. I shower at the gym to save water. I save a good chunk of my pay check every month. Sure, I may be a little extreme, but I want to have the ability to give and bless others so I live pretty tightly.

As of this week, I have all the money I need to cover my trip which is a miracle in and of itself!! God is soo good and I am so thankful for the people in my life who contributed to my trip and sacrificed so I could go. However, I only have one week of vacation and I will be gone for two so I was a little worried about covering all my bills in January. Sadly, just because I won’t be here doesn’t mean I can skip on my bills.  Which brings me to the point of this whole post.

This morning I went to pay my electric bill because it is due on the 19th and I just got paid. It was actually really cheap this month because I hadn’t run the heat or air for the whole month prior! When I logged on to my account it showed there was a negative balance which was weird to me, but I figured it was just a clerical error so I paid my bill and got a message saying “The amount paid is more than the amount due.” I called Vectren and there was a payment to my account for $200 earlier in the week. My jaw almost hit the floor. I didn’t even have $200 in my bank account earlier in the week and the lady on the phone assured me several times it was an actual payment. She refunded me the payment I had just made and told me to have a nice day. I hung up the phone and just sat there, tears in my eyes, and an overwhelming sense of peace and thankfulness. I have no idea who paid my bill. I have no idea why. But I can tell you my heart is broken and humbled by the willingness of a stranger to cover something so practical and meaningful.

So thank you. Whoever you are. Thank you for blessing my life. Thank you for believing in me. And thank you for giving of your hard-earned money. I have no doubt it was a sacrifice. I also can assure you I will pass on the blessing to someone else.