As I hung up the phone that bright spring morning, tears ran down my cheeks.
God had spoken to me. He had used a woman in financial despair to give me a message of hope about tithing.
The woman’s name was Tori. Her son, Jacob, 17, had been diagnosed with cancer the year before. After the diagnosis, Tori immediately delved into researching the best cancer treatments and hospitals. She decided that the world-renowned Dorenbecher Hospital in Portland, OR, was the best place to go.
Tori and Jacob sold most of their worldly possessions to move to Oregon from Florida. After the move, things were incredibly difficult financially. Tori was a single mother struggling to make the bills and care for her ill son at the same time.
I met them while working as a reporter at a local paper. I wrote a story about their struggle to survive and the people who helped them to do it. Thankfully, the story had a happy ending: Jacob received the treatment he needed and his cancer was completely eradicated.
But their story with me was just beginning.
A local civic group gave the family a trip to Hawaii, which is an incredible vacation by any standard. However, when I called Tori to congratulate her on the news, she was sobbing. I asked her why, and she said they simply did not have the money to buy food, a rental car and other necessities for the trip. She said, “It’s like getting a brand new car that you love, but then not being able to afford the gas.” I asked what she was going to do, and she replied, “Pray.”
Tori and I prayed together. Then, something happened that I would never forget: I felt God’s presence and heard him speaking to me. He wanted my husband, Randy, and I, to give Tori money so that she would be able to go to Hawaii.
Despite the incredible experience I’d just had, I still struggled with giving the money. We were in the process of buying our first house, and with the looming down payment, appliances, furniture and moving costs, the bills were piling up fast.
Thankfully, Randy had recently received a settlement check from an accident he had been in. At the time we thought it was God’s will that we buy a new house because we had prayed for money, and he had provided it. But God also had other plans. He wanted us to give some of the settlement money to Tori and Jacob.
When I shared with Randy what God had laid on my heart, he was a bit hesitant. However, when I explained that it felt like He had spoken directly to me, Randy got very excited. We prayed about it, and decided to take a leap of faith.
We discovered the blessings from trusting God are immeasurable: Tori and Jacob went on vacation in Hawaii and had a wonderful time. My husband and I were also blessed.
Less than a week after we gave the money, we found a new house in a great neighborhood. But that wasn’t all. The builder was willing to take $15,000 off the listed price without an argument. And he included in air conditioning for free. Our Realtor told us; quite frankly, she’d never seen anything like it. But we knew what had happened. Because we trusted God, he blessed us more than we ever thought possible. He says, “Give and it will be given you, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.”
Our cup was indeed running over. Not only did we get the huge discount on our home, but Randy and I had an opportunity to share our faith with people who normally wouldn’t be open to it. And they shared it with others. The blessings just kept on coming.
Since giving money to Tori and Jacob, we’ve had other chances to tithe over and beyond what we regularly do. I won’t say that every time we’ve had a huge financial windfall, but God has blessed other areas of our life in ways I would have never thought possible.
I know it is difficult to tithe, and it’s a struggle for many Christians. I still struggle with it even after all that has happened. However, I know it is all God’s money. He’s given it to me as a blessing, and it is my responsibility to share that with others. Giving generously is always worth it, even if it doesn’t seem to make sense at the time.
God has it all planned out in advance. All we need to do is listen to what he is telling us.
