“Double Blessings”

I am sitting here grinning from ear to ear. It's late and I'm tired but I couldn't go to bed without writing this. God is so faithful and He never breaks a promise!!

Three weeks ago I had bill collectors at my heels! I had just finished paying all the bills I could pay, and I had very little left over. My credit card bill was the last bill to pay for the month and I didn't have enough to meet the full payment. I had $50 remaining in my account so I paid that amount on my bill in "good faith" hoping that they would accept it even though it was less than what I owed. To my dismay, it was NOT ACCEPTABLE ;(. They called me while at work but I was at lunch, my boss took the phone call and the message said to call my credit card company! I was feeling very humiliated by this time!!

For the remainder of the day while at work I kept praying and asking the Lord to give me favor with them when I called them back. When I arrived home I made the phone call and guess what, the gentleman showed me NO favor. In fact, he actually treated me like I was a bad child!! He told me I would have to pay another payment by a certain date, and he told me they wanted me to agree to automatic withdrawal from my account. My flesh wanted to argue and say "no" but I heard the still small voice say, "agree with thine adversary", so I did and gave them permission to debit my account. I wasn't getting a paycheck between then so I gave it up to the Lord and said to Him, "Lord, You have to help me with this, I have no means to pay it."

The following week when Wednesday rolled around, HE CAME THROUGH!!! I received a bonus from my employers for "Secretary's Day" and this covered the cost of the payment that would be withdrawn from my account plus a little money left over for gas and groceries!! PLT!!!

Then blessing #2 came when I received an email on May 5th saying that I would be receiving $400 from another source. I REJOICED and realized that God was working on my behalf but the only “problem” was that I wouldn’t get it until May 12th and that would make my payment late once again. BUT ladies He is so faithful, He is the problem solver, I decided to check my bank account before going to bed tonight and there it was, the $400 came 4 days earlier than it was supposed to and now I can pay the remainder of my bill on time!!!

"Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand DOUBLE for all her sins." Isaiah 40:1-2 NIV

The Lord has shown me that having any outstanding debt is not what He wants for me and HE is helping me pay it off in full!! PTL!!

"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another..." Romans 13:8

~ Dodi

 “He Blocked It”

Your praises shall continually be in my mouth! My Heavenly Husband is so good to me! I thank Him for every moment of every day. This praise report is to give testament to His protective love for me.

I was at work and left to take my lunch break. That day I didn't bring a lunch with me so I went out for lunch instead. I went to a place that I usually go to and when I was paying for my food, the cashier told me that my card declined. I asked her to run my card again assured that it was a mistake. I knew it had to be a mistake because I had gotten paid that day and even prior to getting paid, I still had money in my account (that my HH blessed me with).

So after running my card again, she told me that it had declined. Then she added that since I am a regular customer that she would allow me to pay for my food next time. That was such a sweet gesture and even in that I saw that my HH was covering me! However I did find enough cash to pay for my food. Afterwards I called my bank. They informed me that they had placed a hold on my card. The teller then told me that I would need to speak to their verification department.

Once speaking to them, the lady asked me if I had used my card in Virginia at a hotel that day. I told her that I'm currently in Washington State and certainly not in Virginia. After she asked me a couple of other questions regarding the suspicious activity, she informed me that someone tried using my card twice that day. The first attempt was a very small amount of $2.18. Then once that went through the person tried using my card to take over $2,000 out of my account! But, all thanks be to my glorious HH—He blocked it! My bank was immediately alerted of the activity and before the second amount was not processed, it was blocked!

My Love, My Jesus protected me from being stolen from. He made sure that whoever tried to steal from me didn't get what they were hoping to get. As I mentioned before, I had just gotten paid that day. Had that person taken it, I would have not had any money to tithe or pay bills, etc. But my HH was faithful to rebuke the devourer because of my obedience to Him in giving my tithes (I tithe 10% of my gross pay to my storehouse RMI). My Love, guarded what He has blessed me with. I've known others who weren't that blessed. Their banks didn't catch the fraud in time, so they had to go through a process to get the funds back. But my HH had my back and I give all glory to Him.

Give Him praises in everything. You never know what will come your way, but as you put all your hope, faith and trust in Him alone, He will always make sure that you are on the winning side of every battle.

Be Blessed!

~Lina in Washington

Ministry Note:  Though Lina is too humble to mention it, right around this same time she had not only tithed faithfully, but she began also giving an offering AND then sponsored a woman to purchase 5 RYM paperback books. God not only saw her heart, which proves that acts of kindness and giving never go unnoticed by Him but are always rewarded.

Thank You Lord.  🙂

 “He Showed Up & Out”

Malachi 3:10 - "Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove ME now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

OUR GOD IS SO GOOD! He is Faithful to His promises. Throughout this entire experience, even during my times of little faith, I can see God's presence in my life. Its when I take my eyes off of God and look at my circumstances that I become overwhelmed. I've been praying for a financial blessing to help me in taking care of my bills and to take care of nagging issues that continue to be present. While I haven't asked for wealth, I have brought my financial needs to God and laid them before Him. When I brought these to God, I asked Him for deliverance from these issues, and I just "TRUSTED" God to provide. I have been tithing regularly to my "storehouse". Well, yesterday when I got home, I stopped by my mailbox and was sitting in my car, going through my mail and I opened a letter sent to me by my mortgage lender. When I opened it - it was a letter that said, you have a surplus in your escrow account, enclosed is a check refunding you the amount in surplus! Well, I open the check thinking maybe a couple hundred dollars. But folks, I had a check for 1,200.00!!!!! God showed up and showed OUT in a BIG WAY! More than enough to pay off my nagging financial issues and still have money in the bank. My daughter walked up about that time and we both just sat in the car and PRAISED GOD!

I began thinking about it and was still in "shock" and in "Awe" of how great my God is and it hit me. I need to apply that same faith to my restoration journey. I don't have to beg and plead for God to fix things, I just need to give it to Him and He will show up... RIGHT ON TIME. I need to be reminded of this regularly because the longer the time goes by, the more I realize I'm still begging and pleading for something that God has already done!! I just have to wait for the "check in the mail" - and it WILL show up... right on time... Just as God promised it would!

I love it when He doesn't just show up... but when He SHOWS OUT... because nothing God does is small or insignificant! I am praising God for His blessings and His abundance... I'm still overwhelmed and in awe... but I will be praising God continuously for His "BIG GOD MOMENT" yesterday!

~ Angie in Texas

 

 “Heaven’s Windows Opened”

I have been so blessed lately. I know a huge part of this has to do with tithing. I have experienced the blessings from tithing and the devourer not being rebuked from not tithing my full 10%.

Lately the windows of heaven have been opened. There were several things I was praying about needing. I asked the Lord if it was His will if He would provide them for me. Due to finances it would take a miracle to get any of these needs met. And oh boy has He provided.

First I prayed about a new laptop. While visiting my mother-in-law in California in August, she comes up to me and offers me her brand new laptop she says she doesn’t really use it or like it because it’s a touch screen. How amazing, I wanted to cry at this answer to prayer. And the touch screen has helped me actually get my work done faster.

Then comes October, my boys had bunk beds that boards were missing and the mattress was sunk down and they were pretty trashed. Not to mention I couldn't keep my one year old off the top bunk even after removing the ladder. So it was very stressful and took a lot of time throughout the day removing her from the top. So, I asked the Lord for help with the climbing and for new beds. I asked if He could provide a way. I never mentioned any of these prayer to anyone besides the Lord. Then my EH comes home from work and says his company's corporate apartment that no one lives in has 2 twin beds and they are ours if we want them. So we got two twin beds that are brand new with new bedding for free. How awesome is the Lord.

Then I started to realize with this next thing that I was getting double of everything. Not just one. It dawned on me when my dad sent me 2 birthday cards for my birthday and both had money in them. I thought that it was odd to get 2 cards from him both with money. Then I received 2 amazon gift cards from mom and grandma. I was getting the double portion that the scripture talks about!!!

So next I was talking to my MIL about used tires because she has experience with those. I can’t afford new ones and I had some terrifying moments not being able to make it up a hill because the tires were so bald. So it had been a few weeks of searching around to find the right place for a used one. My MIL law said I needed two for safety reasons. No way could I afford 2. So I just kept praying. My MIL law called me and said Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas!!! She went into a shop and paid for 4 new tires and installation!! God is so good!!! He surely does more than we can ask or imagine!!

The final thing is our couches. One was from a thrift store and the other a hand me down that has holes in it from my one year old. So I was praying about a way to fix the holes. In my mind duct-tape seemed like a great solution but the Lord had other plans. My EH comes home and says we are going to have 2 new couches from the corporate apartment.!!I just can’t get over all of these amazing blessings. It seems no sooner than the need leaves my mouth, the Lord is returning far more and better than I could ever dream. He is so good!! It has made me fall more in love with Him. He knows how much I love surprises and He has been surprising me with wonderful gifts.

I also just remembered my EH paid for me to get my hair done. My sister took me to get my nails done. The Lord also doubled my income last month. I just can’t even believe all of this in October!

And the best part is on top of all of the gifts my joy, peace, strength, faith and love for my Heavenly Husband has increased more than double. I feel like a new person!!!

~ Christina in Washington

 

 “I Tested Him”

I want to praise my Lord and thank Erin for revealing the truth about tithing. I never heard about such an important principle like this.

The most touching was the truth, that the Lord owns everything. Everything that I have, what I ever own belongs to God and He is so gracious to bless me with all those gifts. And this made me consider tithing even though I did not earn any money at that time.

“. . . Freely you received, freely give” Matt. 10:8

I want to start with my background. Here in Poland tithing is something nobody talks or hears about. But the Lord was always blessing me with money. I was able to take care of myself financially very soon even though I was still studying. He was taking care of my jobs and I never lacked anything. Thank You my Lord!!

I thank the Lord for giving me a generous heart. I love to support people around me. I have always been happy to help, to give...maybe that is why I have all this financial blessing before I began tithing.

When I read the lesson about tithing I knew this was truth. I just did not know how to make it right, because I did not have own money, just money from my EH. So I made a deal with the Lord :). Here in Poland we have government support until the baby is three years old. But because my son was born in the USA, I was told in the office I have no right to ask for this support, even though my son has citizenship. They had never heard about story like this, so they did not know how to help me. I left it alone but I knew in my heart that I have a right to get this money. So I said “God, I will tithe 10% of the money my EH gives me if You will help me to get the money from government.”

So I went back to the officer with this verse on my lips "There is nothing impossible with God" and with gentle and quiet spirit. They took my application, bank account information and told me I will get the money. So simple!!! And not just that, they told me that I will get money for the past 6 months. Beyond my expectation!!! It was such a miracle for me at the beginning of my journey.

BUT I did not pay my tithe yet. I wanted to wait for this money and then pay together with the tithe from my EH money. The day that I was supposed to get the money came and I did not get anything. Another day came and it was the same. I really had to test God at this point in the way He is instructing us:

“‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer (Hebrew אָכַל 'akal - slay, consume, burn up) for you, so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,’ says the Lord of Hosts.” Mal. 3:10–11

So when I paid my tithe I IMMEDIATELY got the money from government. The Lord proved to me that He really is faithful.

Since this time I have learned that I really can trust Him with everything, not just with money. Everything belongs to Him, and I am His bride. I know He loves me so much that He will not save money on me.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it . . .” Psalm 24:1

He knows He is the first in my heart, in my life and I do not care about earthly things anymore. I do not even care for money because “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise and be against the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions, or whatever else is trusted in).” Matt.6:24 (AMP)

I trust Him with everything, I am happy with what I have. I do not want anything anymore not even one more penny but He is blessing me more and more abundantly that I can honestly say I have the richest Husband in the world and that why I am also rich. I feel rich because of Him.

Thank You my Love for everything.

~ Betsy

 “Miracles in My Finances”

Like many of you, there was a time I thought I couldn't do without my 10% tithe. For a long time I partially tithed. Now, tithing has become so natural. It is the first thing that I do when payday comes. I won't even stop to buy a $1.45 breakfast taco until I pay it. I just want to PTL for working miracles in my finances. The word says to test HIM, and I just know in my heart that my LORD and HH will provide everything that I need. Since paying my full tithes regularly HE allows me to have enough money to pay all of my bills and have extra to help others. I have a lot of credit card debt. I could do nothing but PTL when HE paid off one of my credit cards. I know it wasn't me. I am in need of new clothes for work and non-work. HE gave me $100 cash to shop with and led me to a sale where I found three shirts, a pair of jeans, and undergarments. I felt like I was on a shopping spree. Thank YOU HH. YOU always take great care of me.

~ Sabrina in Texas RESTORED

 “Any Loophole”

I knew about tithing all my life and it took me going through losing my entire family for me to understand how important it is to tithe!! I no longer tithe to get anything from my HH, I tithe because I love Him and obey Him.

I remember when I was in church and I struggled so much with tithing! I would tithe and then I would allow the enemy to whisper in my ear that I needed the money or that it was okay not to because God knew my heart. Yes He knew my heart and it was wicked and disobedient! I wanted to have any loophole to keep from tithing and keeping my money to do whatever I wanted.

I am so thankful and grateful that He did not give up on me and He patiently worked with me and ministered to me that the 10% belongs to Him. I know the struggle of not wanting to let go of the tithe, but I so am grateful that it is not even a struggle any longer.

~Bailey RESTORED