The Blessing of the lost Tithe.

I lost our tithe today. I had placed it on the kitchen table to bring to our church this week and when I looked around for it this evening to go drop it off, POOF it had disappeared! Now sometimes I get in this groove of cleaning things, I hate have things on surfaces on the house, I mean this in the way that the countertops must not get overly cluttered or I may lose my mind. At times this maybe irrational but it makes for less cleaning later and less stuff overall which is excellent. That is not the point of this story though, the point is that I clean things up by throwing papers away, organizing mail, doing dishes and so on. I did this the other night. By doing so, I put the tithe in a safe place off the beaten path away from clutter so that it wouldn't get thrown away. I just didn't remember where that place was the next day.

B and I frantically searched for a good 10  or 20 minutes. I think to myself , "I'm already late for community night so I'll go check in the car, " sometimes I put things in the car prematurely so I won't forget them the next time I go to that one place to take care of the thing in the car. I thought maybe I did that, and if I didn't I would just go to our community group and be encouraged and come home and keep looking. On my walk down to the car I say a quick Jesus Help me find it prayer, and when I get there, nothing. So I sit in the car for a minute and just let it marinate. I think to myself "We've lost some quarters this week for laundry, and now the tithe, how stupid can we be."  I don't know how to explain it but the Lord's peace washed over me in that moment, and I could hear Him whisper "H, Your money is my money, all of it. not just your tithe, ALL of it. I don't want you to give it all to my church I just want you to use it more wisely. I've asked you before but you aren't listening." Wow. What a moment that was. B and I have been putting off budgeting our funds for months. My friend Kim would call this a "two by four" moment. When God takes a situation that stresses you aout and smacks upside the head with it to teach you a lesson. B did find the tithe within a block of me driving away from the house. I was calling him to tel him to write down a list of things he thought should go on our budget list. It was magneted to the fridge, behind some papers. HA! So much for de-cluttering!

B and I are so fortunate that I found a job here, even if it took a long time. I know that in the future we won't just have a single income thats part time, it'll be maybe 2 incomes at full time or even one full time, but for now we have to get on track and learn to be wise and good stewards of what we do have. We are so blessed with great friends, and wonderful families, and a wonderful community. I know this will be a valuable lesson for us for many years to come.