giving thanks for His faithfulness

sometime ago, the church board was sharing about the updates for the church building fund. They reported that with the remaining amount to go, all they require is for 1000 giving units to give 2500 each and the new church building will be fully paid for. You know how it is when you feel that God is speaking to you and you feel very excited to obey. That was how I felt. I felt that call to give. But decided to wait till July when the bonus comes in.

And as expected, the more we wait, the more we start to negotiate with God about the amount to give. Given that I spent quite a bit in June, I was thinking that perhaps I should just include July's tithing with the building fund  so I could give 500 less. 

The following week, during IDT, a DG mate shared an amazing testimony about how the Lord gave her 10 times of what she pledged and gave to the building fund (she's a full time campus crusade staff and the Lord prompted her to give the inheritance she got from her late Father.)

She shared how, like what I was feeling, that initially, she was very excited to give, but over time, she started to negotiate, but during the church camp in June, she heard the call very clearly again, so she decided to give, and then the Lord amazingly gave her back EXACTLY 10 times what she gave! She said one thing that made so much sense, something I have always known but couldn't quite register with my heart. She said that we can never outgive God, and that He will never shortchange us. There and then, I repented of my "negotiation" and gave what I pledged plus the usual monthly thith in July. I gave not because I was expecting anything from God, but really, I gave because I wanted to obey God. 

What happened after that was unexpected though. While I did not think about gaining anything, I started to "lose" money. 3 weeks ago, my school laptop became screwy and could only be used at work, my desktop had broken down and there wasn't any spare at work. So I had to seriously look into getting a new desktop or laptop. Last week, I spent an awful lot of money including a large amount on durians (not that it was not worth it), plus the 100 bucks wheel clamp fine (we seriously were ignorant about the fact that we were parking on private property but V was very kind to offer to pay half of it) Then 2 days later, i received a letter that fined me 160 bucks with 6 points for speeding. (justification aside, brickland road was really empty lor.) I truly felt very discouraged. 

Meanwhile,I have been going into Hardwarezone.com to look for second hand PCs or lappies, but still could not find any trusty and affordable. Today , I saw a church friend posting on Multiply that he has a Imac to loan out. I offered to buy it over from him so I don't have to pay the full amount to get a new piece or pay a low price to get something with poor quality, but he said he got it free from school (he's teaching ) and that I can keep it if i want. The only caveat is if his wife's Mac grows old and die, then he might ask for it back. so I collected it from him and dah dah. i am using it now. It's one of the newer models. And knowing him, I think the wife and him will prolly just let me keep it and buy a new one if the wife's IMAC dies. Still. I give thanks for this period of time where I get to use my own computer.

God is good, isn't He? He listens when I lament. :)

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