Our pastor has a saying..."You can't out give God." We are here to share that that can't be more true. God has given back to us more in the past year than we have ever given Him...it's almost comical.
From the beginning of our marriage, Toby and I have committed to tithe, a tenth of our income, to the Lord. Despite our financial season, feast or famine, we have been firm in this monthly giving...and God has opened the windows of heaven!
When we moved to Tennessee in 2008, Toby surprised me with a "happy moving" present. The day we pulled into Knoxville, we stopped by the AT&T store and picked up my new iPhone. At the time, he had a company phone, but was always jealous of my toy. A few months later Toby's company took back their phones and we were left to provide our own service. Of course, Toby went straight for an iPhone, but God had told him no. For whatever reason, God didn't want him to have this toy. I'm guessing He knew how much time it would steal. Despite His warnings, Toby marched himself to the store and came home with an iPhone anyway. Well, because my Jesus has a sense of humor, Toby's new phone started malfunctioning a few weeks later. Apple's tech support was baffled, "Man, I don't know what's wrong with your phone. I've never seen that. Send it back, we'll send you another one." Toby didn't make the connection and traded his phone in. Long story short, the new phone also broke with no explanation...and so did the third. Toby finally caught on and begrudgingly settled for a "basic" phone. So, here's the good part...four days before Jake was born in July, Toby walked out on our front porch to find a box sitting there with his name on it. He brought it in, curious, opened it and was shocked at it's contents. A letter..."Dear Mr. Toby, Please accept this iPad 2..." WHAT?!??
He tore into the rest of the package...sure enough, there sat a sealed, brand new, 32 GB iPad 2. He nearly jumped out of his skin. After going back to the letter he learned that his company had mailed out a two question survey back in January. I had opened the mail that day, filled it out and sent it back without a second thought. Out of all the returned entries, company wide, worldwide, they had a drawing and Toby won the iPad! So, Jesus was testing Toby...I asked you not to buy and iPhone and to be obedient, and in this case He had something even cooler waiting in the wings! Woot woot!Another cool gift...Toby's old boss at work was transferred to China and asked him to come to his house and help him tear down his kids' playset. The people who had bought his house were older and had no need for it. It was a nice, wooden playset...one we never would have spent the money on, but would have loved to have. Toby asked, "Well, what are you going to do with it?" "Uh, I guess we'll just haul it to the dump." Hesitantly Toby asks, "Would you mind if I just took it off your hands?" And just like that a $400 playset was headed to our house...without a dime from our pockets. And as a cherry on top, Toby noticed some railroad ties lying around the plant where he works. After inquiring about them he was told they were up for grabs. The next day he took our trailer to work, gathered up an intern, and loaded them up. Our Haley has enjoyed hours of fun on this sweet gift from Jesus.
And the gifts just keep on coming...a friend that Toby works with recently built a new house and paid an upgrade fee for stainless kitchen appliances. Once they moved in they decided they wanted something a little more upscale. The friend mentioned this to Toby in passing, so Toby inquired, "How much are you asking for the others?" After a brief chat with his wife, he came back and said, "Well, why don't you just pay us the upgrade fee that we paid when we built the house." So, for $650 our kitchen now boasts a new stainless steel dishwasher, range and microwave...and that doesn't even take into account the $240 we've received from selling some of our old appliances. Now, was there a need for new, pretty appliances? No. Do I enjoy cooking for my family on new, pretty appliances instead of the coil top stove we had before? You better believe it. Are you catching on? God doesn't always stick to our needs...sometimes He loves to throw in a bonus.
While we're on the subject of updating our little house, my shower has always grossed me out. Somewhere along the way, a previous owner decided to handicap enable it...minus the necessary skill. The panels didn't cover the sheetrock right, the grout was all but gone, the flooring didn't drain right and black mold grew everywhere. I felt like I needed shower shoes in my own home...gross. When we first moved in we talked about replacing it, but because of the poor construction we concluded that the cost of renovation outweighed the necessity, so we just lived with it. A few months ago the topic came up again with my brother-in-law who owns a marble shop in town. He came out and looked at it, "Oh yeah, we can put in a 19" tub and surround walls...no problem. It'll look good." And with that the ball started rolling. It still cost us a bit, but we got a great "family discount." His work was wonderful and instead of a sense of arrogance and entitlement I would have had if we'd replaced the shower when we moved in, now I step into my shower with a sense of extreme gratitude. And by the way, do you have any idea how deep a 19" tub is...it's glorious!
"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." James 4:8
Go ahead...test Him. He is always faithful and would love nothing more than to pour out blessing upon blessing on you, too. Are you ready to receive it?
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