Steadygain
TSP Elite
It's hard to put our Trust in GOD
1. When our lives are so easy and we have always had more than we needed to sustain us.
G: Switch your tithing & keeping: give 90% to God & live on the 10%
These trappings have been so hugely obvious that I've done everything possible to make sure my children did not get stuck with this kind of mindset.
The Lord blessed us with very good health and minds and our ultimate goal from the very beginning was to give Him honor and glory actively ~ day by day ~ in our ongoing way of life.
We started out living from paycheck to paycheck and struggled to maintain having a roof over our heads, maintaining a healthy diet and paying the bills. But GOD was always Wonderful and we had enough (though sometimes barely). YET all this worked for His Glory because it made us realize more and more just how much He does love us and how He provides the 'neccessary essentials' for a healthy and fulfilled life.
The 10% was something we never questioned and no matter how desperate our circumstances may have 'felt' or 'been' GOD always got the first 10%.
We considered ourselves very fortunate to have the opportunity to independently live and make the best out of what we had. So we focused mostly on having enough to pay for the unquestionable - neccessary expenses and setting out to be as 'genuinely happy as possible' by living simply and doing all things possible to avoid expenses. So we took care of what we had and sought to use what was available until it was no longer usable.
Overtime -- we set aside what we could -- to prepare for emergencies and the unexpected costs that crept up month after month -- until we were no longer at the brink of survival. When starting out and having babies and raising young children you can't give 90% to God & live on the 10% but deep down that is the 'Ultimate Goal' to strive for.
Over the years we had everything we needed -- the cars and appliances and furniture -- and our only debt was the house. We never use a Credit Card to buy what we couldn't afford and so we never knew what so many others have had to deal with. I should also add that we've never had an ashtray in our home -- and our children were never even exposed to alcohol, drugs, or tobacco. Please know I am not saying this to make us sound better than anybody else - and we are NOT better than anyone else - but am stressing that giving to GOD is way more than 'Money' - first and foremost it is your Heart and Life and the way you live; the example others know.
Well in the end we had more than enough and no longer lived from paycheck to paycheck and with more abundance we gave more and more to GOD in a wide variety of ways.
My children live an example that far exceeds even what we strove for -- and they make us see what afflunence we have by living and working with those in circumstances and conditions far below what we ever let happen to them.
We no longer buy gifts for one another at Christmas and haven't for years. We make donations for others in desperate need 'in each other's name' for the Ultimate Glory of GOD. We provide wells for fresh water, animals for long term stability, clothing and supplies, orphanages and schools, long term adoptions, and we add to list of Missionaries through Gospel for Asia, Wycliff Bible Translators; Crusade for Christ and others.
Yet I can tell you -- in all our giving -- there is nothing that compares to giving yourself and doing the work first hand and living with and interacting with 'our brothers and sisters in need'.
I am still NOT where I fully want to be -- in terms of giving and living to the fullest potiential -- but I'm striving to reach that goal before my life is over.
Grandma -- your words are like a spring of fresh water
1. When our lives are so easy and we have always had more than we needed to sustain us.
G: Switch your tithing & keeping: give 90% to God & live on the 10%
These trappings have been so hugely obvious that I've done everything possible to make sure my children did not get stuck with this kind of mindset.
The Lord blessed us with very good health and minds and our ultimate goal from the very beginning was to give Him honor and glory actively ~ day by day ~ in our ongoing way of life.
We started out living from paycheck to paycheck and struggled to maintain having a roof over our heads, maintaining a healthy diet and paying the bills. But GOD was always Wonderful and we had enough (though sometimes barely). YET all this worked for His Glory because it made us realize more and more just how much He does love us and how He provides the 'neccessary essentials' for a healthy and fulfilled life.
The 10% was something we never questioned and no matter how desperate our circumstances may have 'felt' or 'been' GOD always got the first 10%.
We considered ourselves very fortunate to have the opportunity to independently live and make the best out of what we had. So we focused mostly on having enough to pay for the unquestionable - neccessary expenses and setting out to be as 'genuinely happy as possible' by living simply and doing all things possible to avoid expenses. So we took care of what we had and sought to use what was available until it was no longer usable.
Overtime -- we set aside what we could -- to prepare for emergencies and the unexpected costs that crept up month after month -- until we were no longer at the brink of survival. When starting out and having babies and raising young children you can't give 90% to God & live on the 10% but deep down that is the 'Ultimate Goal' to strive for.
Over the years we had everything we needed -- the cars and appliances and furniture -- and our only debt was the house. We never use a Credit Card to buy what we couldn't afford and so we never knew what so many others have had to deal with. I should also add that we've never had an ashtray in our home -- and our children were never even exposed to alcohol, drugs, or tobacco. Please know I am not saying this to make us sound better than anybody else - and we are NOT better than anyone else - but am stressing that giving to GOD is way more than 'Money' - first and foremost it is your Heart and Life and the way you live; the example others know.
Well in the end we had more than enough and no longer lived from paycheck to paycheck and with more abundance we gave more and more to GOD in a wide variety of ways.
My children live an example that far exceeds even what we strove for -- and they make us see what afflunence we have by living and working with those in circumstances and conditions far below what we ever let happen to them.
We no longer buy gifts for one another at Christmas and haven't for years. We make donations for others in desperate need 'in each other's name' for the Ultimate Glory of GOD. We provide wells for fresh water, animals for long term stability, clothing and supplies, orphanages and schools, long term adoptions, and we add to list of Missionaries through Gospel for Asia, Wycliff Bible Translators; Crusade for Christ and others.
Yet I can tell you -- in all our giving -- there is nothing that compares to giving yourself and doing the work first hand and living with and interacting with 'our brothers and sisters in need'.
I am still NOT where I fully want to be -- in terms of giving and living to the fullest potiential -- but I'm striving to reach that goal before my life is over.
Grandma -- your words are like a spring of fresh water
