Giving for God

Jared and I are attending a 7 week financial management course at our church. We have been for two weeks and feel like it will be really good for us. The reason I'm blogging about it here is that it gave us an opportunity to experience the joy of giving. The instructor gave four people $25 each to help someone in need and tell them that they were giving them God's money out of love. We were not the people picked, but when I was talking with one of the girls who was picked she said "I have no idea what to do with this" I said "I know who I would give it to, but it is your choice" I explained that I would give it to Clair's brother and his girlfriend who are trying very hard to make a living and care for their infant son. God is totally working on them and I know they could use the help and love. Well, that was on Sunday and then yesterdy, Thursday, this girl was at my house and Clair was talking about her brother and told a story about how all they had for dinner one night was 1 can of tuna that they shared. I was really hoping that she still had the money and would give it to them. She did still have it and we were able to send Clair over to his house with not only $25 but also some extra formula we had, some dinner, and a 5lb bag of potatoes that I had sitting around. When Clair gave it all to him he just kept saying "Clair, someone loves us and they don't even know us" I was so happy to hear that the message was received perfectly! He said that he could go buy dinner and some diapers for his baby because they only had 2 left. I was so blessed to be a part of this, and our prayer is that this family would see God's love through us and start coming to church and to Jesus! This best part is this is not the only story we have about giving either. Last night was our life group, and one of our friends said she still had her $25 to give away and wasn't sure who to give it to. Jared said ask Whitney I'm sure she has someone in mind. The first person who came to mind was a girl from our group who just started coming last week, and just as I suggested her she walked in the door. I didn't know what she had been through this week, but I just felt like she could use it. Throughout life group she shared about her increadibly hard week and told us that she has a son who has a very scary medical condition and he needs medication for it. She had the money for the Rx and rent in her purse, but it was stolen at work! So after group Jared and I and the family who had the $25 to give prayed over her and then they gave her the money, but they also added another $50 to it. This wonderful girl was weeping because she had not felt God's love so stronly for a long time. I wish you all could have been here for this awesome night! I love stories like this. Not only have I seen people blessed this week, but we have been tremendously blessed ourselves. As you may know all of our travel expenses are paid in FULL! Thank you to those who have given to us! Praise be to God!