A tithing story

All my life I have heard stories about saints in the depression or in the early years of the church who can't afford to pay their tithing but they do it out of faith and obedience. I found myself in this same predicament. My husbands job hours have been cut to part time. With his partial paycheck and my not being able to work more than part time, we find ourselfs in a situation where we have to watch every penny that goes in and out of our house. We don't even have enough money coming in to meet our monthly responsibilities now. I knew that I needed to pay my tithing. I didn't question it or doubt it. But by paying tithing along with a generous fast offering it left our family with no money to pay the living expenses. We would have to fall behind on our heat (we are in dead of winter right now and in the single digits for temperatures), the electric bill would have to wait and we would have to live more on our food storage. But I handed my bishop my tithing envelope with a smile and a handshake. I spent a lot of time in prayer, having faith that because I was being obedient, something would happen that would take care of my family. I paid my tithing on a Sunday. In the mail on Tuesday, I received a check from an overbalance I had paid on an account. This was totally unexpected. This amount of money made my tithing look like a pittance. It is enough to meet all our monthly living expenses. You don't hear very many stories of faith in paying tithing anymore. I can attest that I had the opportunity to experience one myself. Pay your tithing and give a generous fast offering even when you don't feel like you have the money. You will be blessed far more than you give. Melody

I have my own GREAT tithing story to share. As you know, we are trying to become active again and our Bishop (and his wife) are helping us with our learning how to budget and do what we need to. When we listed the bills that needed to be paid I noticed that the Bishop Horning and Whitney (his wife) hadn't listed tithing. I brought it up and we refigured every thing out. It made the the ward have to pay $275 more in our bills to help us financially. But we paid our tithing. A few days later I got a newspaper route job that I wanted. I also got $50 in cash I wasn't expecting and I was able to go to the store and get some groceries I needed. It should of cost me the whole $50 but for some reason their was a sale on the things I bought and I only spent $35. I had $15 left over and I was able to put more gas in my car. Coincidence? I don't think so. Tammy

First of all Tammy - I'm proud of you for going back to church and turning to the church for help. I agree that it is definately NOT a coincidence that your money went further after putting your tithing first. Good for you that YOU put your tithing first. Keep up the faith and the good work. Melody

Melody, Your story is a beautiful testimony of paying Tithing. Thanks for sharing this with us. Your husband having had his hours cut must be very difficult. I will soon turn 62, and husband will turn 65, so we are living on two pensions both earned by dear husband, which have the advantage of being fixed amounts so we always know what we have to work with. I think it would be very traumatic to have hours/wages cut. I lived in Idaho as a teenager, and one certainly does not need to be without heat! Linda

Hi, I haven't been on this board for a long time. I love your story. I have another story but it is about patience and waiting for things to work out. My husband has been on disability for the last 17 years. I have taught full time and between his part time income, disability and my income we have barely sqeaked by. Last December I was diagnosed with breast cancer. With medical bills and other related expenses we would look at our monthly income, if we paid our tithing we would go into the hole on our budget the exact amount of our tithing. It was really hard to continue paying tithing but we made the decision that we would anyway. We did go in the hole for several months but we continued with faith knowing things would work out and they have. Through some financial miracles (too many to name)we are now able to again make our budget and have some to spare. Sometimes miracles take time and sometimes they come right away. You just have to continue in faith even when it looks the darkest,. My testimony of tithing has certainly come full circle.

Thank you for sharing Kaye. It seems like we don't share enough faith provoking stories these days. I think we all need to hear them. It helps us to know that we are not facing these struggles alone. Melody