Malachi 3:10- A God story

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. Malachi 3:10, NIV.

This story starts with broken pipes. Let me just say that if you hear water running in your home and a faucet is not open, it's not good. If you live on a slab, it's worse. We had a leaking pipe in our bathroom. It was fixed not once, but twice. During this time, a Christian radio station that we regularly support, WayFM, was having a pledge drive. I felt led to give, but we didn't. This is the conversation I had with God on a daily basis during that time:

God- you should support this station
Jamie- I know, we usually do
God- you should support them today. Now.
Jamie- I know, but it's going to cost $1000 to fix the leaking pipe
God- wouldn't you rather give that to spreading the gospel than to fixing a pipe?
Jamie- yes, but we don't have a choice
God- give to me, I will take care of everything else
Jamie- not this time

The pledge drive ended, and we did not give. Our leak was fixed, the counter put back in the bathroom, all was well. Just a few days later, we heard water running again. In a different room. This time it was the kitchen. I approached my husband, suggesting "We should give to the church. It's been a while since we have been giving faithfully and I really believe God is telling us to give." He wanted to sell our house and move. Not kidding.

The very next day, our pastor finished the book of Colossians. The very last few verses are about friendship. He spoke for at least 30 minutes about giving to God. How did we get on that topic? I can't even remember. He spoke about Malachi 3:10 and also the parable of the rich fool, found in Luke 12:13-21. You can read it here. I kept thinking about these things in my heart and discussing with my husband at length my desire to give generously to the Lord.

 During this time, I was doing a Bible study on the parables of Jesus. That Sunday night, I opened my study to find the next parable we would be going over- the parable of the rich fool. Wow! I used to be surprised by these occurrences, but not anymore. I just laughed and thought 'I knew it.'

 My husband and I committed to give a certain amount to the church that Sunday. As soon as we committed to doing this, blessings began coming. Sometimes monetary blessings, sometimes not. We received a check from the hospital, we had paid too much. The leak in the kitchen required no moving of cabinets and we were able to pay for it without an insurance claim. The replacement tile had been discontinued, but the employee told my husband "I almost threw this out last week, but for some reason I kept it." Therefore, we didn't have to re-tile the entire kitchen. God is good. God is so good! This would have been enough for me to see that when we give, God gives back. But it kept going...

For the first time in a long time, we got a tax refund this year. A refund! That means they send you money back. When my husband told me the amount we were expected to get back, I cried. The amount of state+federal+hospital check was $9 less than the total amount we gave to our church. In my mind, that is essentially the same amount. Awesome, God! But it kept going...

A couple of days after filing electronically, my husband informed me that he got a notice and had accidentally put one number in the wrong place on our taxes. We would be getting back a little more than he had previously told me. Nine dollars more. Did you catch that?! Mind. Blown.