He’s Not a Deadbeat Dad {Part 4}

Yesterday did not turn out as planned.  You’d think after all these years as a Mom of Many that I would learn that I shouldn’t plan anything to ‘turn out as planned’ because that doesn’t happen often.

Sooo trusting Him and His timing, here’s what I was going to write:

After writing the first three parts to “He’s Not a Deadbeat Dad” there seems to be some things that still need to be said and also some things that I feel like the Lord leading me to do.

I think it would be safe to say there are probably five categories of people out there who stop by Our Place Called Simplicity.

1.  Those who have identified a child and are in the midst of an adoption.
2.  Those who have identified multiple children and are in the midst of the process
to bring them home.
3.  Those who have yet to identify a child/children but are in the midst of your paperwork {application/home study/immigration if adopting internationally, etc}.
4.  Those who are intending to adopt, but have not yet begun anything.
5.  Those who hope to someday begin an adoption
{but still are praying or waiting or both}.
6.  Those who are not in any of the above five categories.

I really feel that the Lord wanted me to break it all down and explain something that is for any one to understand – it does not matter what category you are in.

So bear with me…cause here we go.

His promises never fail.  Ever.

He is always faithful.  Always.

Yet, there is something about human nature that thinks:  If I have, I’d better keep, because I might have a ‘need’ and then I will use what I have been keeping to meet that ‘need’.

Only thing is that when a legitimate need arises we grow anxious if we ‘use’ what we ‘had’ to meet the ‘need’ although we always said that we what we had ‘saved’ would be used for anything that ‘came up’.  Tell me, it’s true, isn’t it?

I wonder why it is that the Lord sent the disciples out and said, “Don’t take anything with you…”  Kind of contradicts what we would think {humanly speaking, right?}

And at the same time….we have long established that God wants the orphan to have a family.  He even paralleled salvation with the orphan situation, placing each who come to Him in His forever family.

But how does He expect us to pay for adoption?

Well it’s simple.  He could drop money out of the sky, yes, He could.  But most often, He choses another way:

You


and


Me

That’s it.

Matthew 25 is a great passage about meeting needs.  In fact starting at verse 14 there is the parable of the servant entrusted with money and how he doubles his money and the master is pleased.   The story goes on and the one given two also doubles it, but the one who buried his one talent was in deep trouble!

To the folks given five or two, who doubled the money, it is said, “because you have been faithful in little, I will give you much!”

Then the scripture goes on and the very next verses are about meeting needs of those around us…seeing the one who is sick and meeting the needs….etc.

There are many other scriptures I could use, but let’s just say, the essence of being a Christ-follower is meeting needs.  Meeting all the needs we see.  


Saying a trite little:  “I’ll pray about it” is most often an excuse for “I can’t be bothered.” 

Remember the story of the good Samaritan?  He saw the need, took zero thought for where he had been going or what he intended his money to be spent on instead getting down, he bandaged the man up and carried him to care, paying out of his pocket for the needs of the stranger and coming back to again check on him and pay anything else that needed to be paid.  

He could have easily said,
“I have places to go, I am saving for such-n-such,
this definitely doesn’t affect me, bye-bye.”

And don’t forget there had been not one, but TWO very influential and spiritual people that had walked by that man laying on the street.  They actually crossed over to the other side so they didn’t have to ‘get involved’.  After all, it wasn’t their problem.

Now many could argue all kinds of things with me at this point…. but….but…but….

But you can’t argue with how Dw and I have lived and what the Lord has done with our lives….so here’s our very personal story….

We have always tithed.  We don’t believe for a second that scripture says anything else.  Ten percent.  And no, God doesn’t need our ten percent.  It’s about obedience.  He says it, we do it.

But what about when Dw was in law school and we made basically nothing from my job as a secretary?

We still tithed {and by the way, never, ever took a school loan – God met the needs of school}.

But what about when Dw closed his very successful law practice, I was a stay-at-home home schooling mama and we moved across the country so Dw could attend seminary?

We still tithed.  Every dollar that came in, 10 cents went back to God.  Every.single.dollar.

But what about when we planted a church in Virginia and there was no income?

We still tithed on any money that we were given.

What about now, as we have just begun International Voice of the Orphan and are living by faith?

We still tithe.

Every single dollar that comes in, 10 cents goes back to God.

It’s about obedience.

People have argued:  I can’t afford to tithe.

To which I say:  You can’t afford not to tithe.

In fact if I had the opportunity to speak to each of you privately to share some of the things I have learned in my 53 years, tithing would one of the top of things on the list…because it’s about obedience!
We cannot hear Him speak well if we are not obeying Him.

And to you who are reading this and are young, learn it now!  Don’t shrink back, ever!

Tithe, tithe, tithe!

And if you stop to think about it, I have nothing to gain by telling you this.  It’s not a product I’m selling. It’s just truth and we have lived it the last 34 years married.  {I began tithing as a young girl and have never stopped.}

We have had some mighty lean times in our marriage, with ‘no real income situations’, yet we have tithed on anything that came in.  Giving ten percent to our local church and we then, on top of it, have always given more than our tithe to meet needs of those around us, sometimes to our local church, sometimes in the community at large, and sometimes in the world.

And guess what?  We have brought home SEVEN treasures in the last SIX years, without taking a loan or using a credit card.   Dw’s best bud asked if he could do a fundraiser dinner for us and he did that when we were bringing home Isaiah.  I think it raised about $1500.  Other than that we have never done a formal fundraiser.

Listen friends, it doesn’t make sense.  It doesn’t.  But in God’s economy nothing makes sense.

We give and He gives us more.  We give and He sees that we are trustworthy.  We are not going to keep it for ourselves.  There is an old saying: You can’t out give God.

Dw and I are living proof – we could not out give our God.

Over the last 34 years married, I wish I had kept a journal of all the money we have given away.  I look back and giggle remembering of the needs we have heard about and how we have responded – joyfully sharing what we have.

I remember when Dw had his law practice.  Our accountant, who was also a personal friend, would sit at our dining room table and do his law practice taxes and our personal taxes.  Our friend would shake his head and say, “How do you guys live? You give away more than you bring in.”  At the time, we gave to ministries {after tithing to our local church} that we felt were beneficial to the family at large.  We also gave away large amounts to people in need.

In fact here’s another crazy thing:  While in the midst of all those last seven adoptions, we have heard of others adopting and have been moved to give to help bring their treasures home.   And I know many of you have too!

That’s our story, pure and simple.

He is faithful.  Always.  He’s given to us.  We’ve given away.  He’s given us more.   We’ve given away more. He meets every single need we have.  Always.

We are living proof.

So next…part 5……the idea.  It’s going to be crazy fun!!  Promise.  That’s a money back guarantee too.

47 thoughts on “He’s Not a Deadbeat Dad {Part 4}

  1. Thank you for sharing. I so needed to read these exact words today. We tithe and we give. This is how we live! We have an adoption coming up of 3 kiddos next month. Still waiting to see the final dollars show up for that. And all work seems to have dried up for my husband as of this coming January. BUT, the truth is He is ALWAYS FAITHFUL!!!!!

  2. Ah Linny this is so true! When we hold on to what we have it doesnt help us or anyone else, when we give it away God multiplies it. When we were in the process of adopting Faith, there were times when I wanted to hold on to what the Lord had brought in because looking at the numbers, the money just seemed like so much! But at the same time my heart ached for other fundraising families, and so I obeyed and gave away by Faith, and boy did he provide and multiply. Our adoption was fully funded and above and over the amount, so that we were able to continue helping. There is no limit to His bounty. To His love for the orphan.

    1. lizzielou – thank you for echoing what I am trying to convey – HE does multiply it, doesn't He? It's like not some mean trick I am trying to play on people…HE IS FAITHFUL. Period.

  3. I can echo your testimony…my parents vowed to increase their tithe by one percent each year of their marriage. At the time of my dad's death, they were close to 40%, and I can tell you that we never lacked anything we needed. And we were living on a teacher's salary for a family of seven. God is faithful to provide for our every need…I pray I constantly remember and follow my parents' example

  4. Excellent post on tithing and on being obedient to God. We, too, can testify to not being able to outgive God. At one time We had two house mortgages to pay for over 15 months, Joel was having to commute to the church where he was pastor which cost us great for gas. I could not work and we were spending thousands on treatment for Lyme disease as insurance would not cover it. We kept tithing. Then Joel got Lyme and had to go on disability. We kept tithing. Sometimes cupboards were nearly bare, BUT God provided the food, the gas money, the mortgage money, the treatments. God is our provider. It is so true, we can never out give God. Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding……..

  5. Wow. I literally just said to a friend, "I guess God is just putting another huge thing in my path to make me trust Him to provide everything!" and then read this, and it was like God whispering His love! Thanks for sharing! Tithing has been such a blessing for us, as well, and God never lets go of His own…I know that in my head, now to live it in my heart EVERY. SINGLE. DAY!

    1. Jess, Jess, Jess. I love you. You have seen Him provide every time. Not always like planned, but I know that you know that all that time in Africa and you were never destitute…He IS faithful. xo

  6. Again thank you so timely as always…He will provide…He didn't put him in front of us and say he's yours not to then provide. I was just having all my thoughts this morning, but then I got to read this..thank you

  7. All I know is that there has never been a time,even when we were homeless for a few scary months,that we gave and did without.HE always provide,often in very surprising ways,what we needed and still does. Recently,our family was in need of a vehicle(family of eight down to one car seating five) and we had been saving for a used van.We saved up the money,found a van we could afford in good condition and were going to buy it the next day.That night we heard of a need and felt we should give to help,knowing it would mean the van could not be bought,we gave anyway. Now for the blessing:We found a nicer,newer vehicle,with less miles,in better condition for exactly what we had left after helping. Tell me that's luck: No that's the Father giving us more than we remotely deserved after we gave sacrificially. The person's need may have been met without us and the van we had planned would have been fine.But we are called to help,to give,to share,so we did and it worked out better than we deserved or dreamed.HALLELUJAH!!

    1. He does provide in ways we never dreamed of, doesn't He? He is so mysterious and He dreams up the craziest ideas of provision. I LOVE that…thank you for sharing that you have seen it work – over and over and over and over…

  8. I have been reading but not commenting a lot. Now I fit in the category of a person who was adopted and I am also a Birth Mom,I also have adopted my handsome Ugandan Prince in prayer.Janet

  9. I love what you shared and agreed with you all the way! 🙂

    The 10% is His because He gave us ALL! air, clothes, shelter, food, family, etc, etc!

    This reminds me of this verse:

    Matt 6:33
    But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

    (these things shall be added unto you = food, drink, clothes, etc)

    He is faithful who promised.

    Thank you for a great post, Linny 🙂 I am in the #5 and #6 category, just waiting and see what He leads 🙂

  10. Linny:

    I know why this post was meant to be shared today, and not yesterday.

    I am recovering from recent knee surgery and my mother in law is here helping to keep my household together. We are in the process of adopting…. and our family has been less than supportive and for the past week we have pretty much avoided any major adoption talk. Until Yesterday. My mother in law got into a discussion.. a long and uncomfortable discussion regarding why we were adopting,why now, that we are too old to adopt ( Im 45 hubby is 46), how i am obsessed over this child and how my husband isnt interested ( because he doesnt spend his entire computer time staring at her) and finally at the end of the discussion she said well you have 6 months before you would travel, Ill pray for you. Now normally i would consider that a good thing but i got the feeling that the only thing anyone will be praying for is that this adoption will fail. So when i read this post and I got to the part where you said Saying a trite little: "I'll pray about it" is most often an excuse for "I can't be bothered." I felt like i had been hit by a bolt of electricity.Confirmation in my book. The rest of your post I am also considering carefully. I have had such a difficult time with organized religion and hypocrisy that I struggle daily with attaching myself to any church. Very much a food for thought post. Thank You.

    Lisa

    1. Lisa,

      I am glad that the Lord used the post to minister to you.

      But here's the thing I would ask is this: there are hypocrites who work at your favorite grocery store…but do you stop going there? There are hypocrites in the work place, but do we stop working?

      No, of course not! I know you know this, but it's about a relationship with Christ and when He told us to not forsake the gathering together, He knew doggone well that there would be hypocrites as part of it…we are to go, plug in, bless our pastors, serve and serve well. That's HIS plan. Why? Because when we serve with our local body we see people and their flaws, and we are reminded of our own inadequacies and how rich we are to 'overlook', knowing that we really would like others to over look our own flaws. And we learn how to FORGIVE. Forgive, forgive, forgive.

      We are ALL just sinners saved by grace and His words echo in my ears: There is none righteous, no not one.

      That means you and me.

      Go back a few days and read the post about my friend Megan. There is a wooden subway art that she made me. It is profound. REad it. The bottom line bites me each time I read it.

      One last thought…over 20 years of senior pastoring we had dozens of people leave whatever church we were at, because of offense – including those on our staff who refused to make things right. God's word is clear…if someone offends, go to them {Matt 18}…so if offense stands in your way, you are commanded to make it right – that's for our benefit…instead most leave and go somewhere else {carrying their offense with them} until they get offended {again!} and pack up and go and eventually sort of go somewhere else until they get offended and eventually quit going altogether.

      The thing is that if they had made it right in the first place, it would not have continued.

      Then the world looks and says, "Why would I want that?" I think it was Ghandi who said, "I like your Jesus, it's your Christians I don't like."

      That's you and me. We are all imperfect Christians. Our responsibility is to make things right {to the best of our ability} and then just love. Period. Love.

      Bless you and keep reading!

      Forgive, move on, love. That's it. He is faithful. He will work.

  11. Linny, do you have words of wisdom for when a wife wants to tithe, but the husband refuses? My husband comes from a country that is full of golden-gilded churches in the middle of poverty-stricken villages. They more tithe the church collected, the more poverty-stricken the people became, to the point of starvation. You can't tell my husband that he can't out-give God, because he would tell you back that all of rural Russia out-gave God. They still go to mass every day, give their money every week, and live in dilapidated 400-yr-old homes, and suffer from the social effects of poverty generation after generation. Giving to the church is a very difficult thing to him. So far, he's only willing to cover our family's share of electric/water bill, and pastoral wages. The bare minimum. He agrees that giving to God is a good thing, and using our resources for "good" is what we should do, but to give straight to the church makes him taste metal. I have a feeling you're going to say "fasting." 🙂

    1. I am sorry Carmen for your situation. Trust is huge and seeing abuse of funds, etc, is a horrible place to be.

      What would I do if I was in your shoes? I would fast and pray. I would ask a friend to fast with me, for God to move on your husbands heart. The thing is that it is Biblical to give 10% to the church…God's word…it never fails. Clearly the church officials failed, but GOD never ever does.

      Oh my. I had read your comment before posting it, but it did not show me your last line. As I am typing this I see what you said. LOL. That's too funny. I know it sounds simplistic but truly, fasting changes hearts, lives and situations. xo

  12. Linny, I could not have said it better!! My husband and I became Christians about 10 years ago as adults. I am 35 now and over the last 10 years we have had lots if income and zero income. We NEVER stopped tithing! Not when we had zero dollars to our name…not when my hubby lost his job…not when we had 3 little kids and no salary, and not when we brought our newest treasure home 1 yr ago from china. And…we never took a loan, never put it on the credit card…nope HE was faithful and we always had enough!! Always!

  13. Oh Linny, thank you for this post. God is so working on my heart. You even addressed the whole "but what about being able to give to other people/organizations outside our church" that often echoes in my head.

    God did bring a story to mind about a time He did something similar for us. Since getting married, we've not ever had excess, and we are still working to pay off some things that were used to start our business. (And yes, I feel like there is something I could be doing more obediently or better to get that debt gone once and for all, but I'm not sure what at the moment though I'm starting to get some ideas as I hear some whispers in my ear from the One who loves me most.) Anyway, we heard about a need from a bloggy friend in another country. We had enough in our house fund to cover it. So we sent it. Nobody knew about it except the bloggy friend's parents and us. Then I got an anoymous and untraceable comment on one of my blogs that said, "Check your post office box. love, Papa." I checked it and there was an anonymous gift for the EXACT amount PLUS 10% that we had given away. I still have no idea who sent it, but I'll never forget learning that I can't outgive God. With all the things I've been wrestling through currently on this particular issue, it does seem kind of funny that it would be that particular amount.

    Thank you for being part of what God is whispering in my ear about fully obeying Him even though I have a zillion and one excuses as to why I want to tithe my way. These posts are definitely driving me back to Him and helping me listen to Him.

  14. Wow! Awesome and so completely true. Each time we have decided not to tithe (which thankfully has been less than I can count on one hand) because we "couldn't afford it" the money would run out. Each and every time we have tithed, every need is cared for.

    As far as adoption goes… you've given me much to think about.

  15. I am in category 7 — really too old to adopt (turning 77 next week), but wishing I could have adopted but it was never a possibility for reasons that I won't go into here. HOWEVER, I have two SN grandchildren from Ch*na who are the most precious children in the world, as far as I'm concerned! I love to follow the blogs of those who have or who are adopting, and join in prayer for the orphans everywhere.

  16. I wanted to share my story, Linny. We've been a long road of infertility and felt called a few years ago to adopt, and i started reading your blog then. We fund-raised, petitioned our families, applied for grants, tried to sell the house and downsize, everything short of a loan and didn't get enough to even cover the initial payment to start the process. Took that as a red flag from God and turned instead to a fertility treatment and lo and behold got pregnant and we now have a precious baby girl. I don't know if we'll adopt in the future in light of what we've learned about the process and our daughter to consider.
    When you started this series and said 'we've never in all our years of adopting found a couple who couldn't due to lack of funds,' i was like, you can start here! I'm sure there was a lot of reasons why it didn't work out. This series is making me go, hmmm, and look back on what happened. Good to think and pray on.

    Hilary

    1. Congratulations on your baby girl Hilary. Obviously I am unable to address each of the situations who stop by our Place Called Simplicity in a blog post, BUT, if you go back and read what I wrote, I believe you are referring to this line:

      His heart is for the orphan and when anyone purposes in their heart to bring a treasure home, He will provide, above and beyond anything you can think or ask, to accomplish His plan for that little orphan treasure.

      I skimmed the posts and that's all I could find that sounded remotely what you are referring to. I still stand by my thoughts…I have not ever met anyone who purposed in their hearts to bring a treasure {matched with} home, that He has not moved every single mountain {financial included} to bring them home. I suppose I could have worded it different, but that's my firm belief!

      No doubt, we are not sitting together talking, but having been in adoption circles for almost 30 years, I have never heard of a grant for anyone who does not have a completed home study. So clearly, grants would not work if you did not even have the process started. Selling a house and downsizing is an effort, but is always possible, but you're right, it takes time.

      I definitely did not say that "we've never in all our years of adopting found a couple who couldn't due to lack of funds"…because there are plenty of people who want to adopt, but are financially in a heap of trouble. And they would not be able to since it takes financial stability to bring a child home through adoption {I am not in any way implying that is your situation at all} just that I know plenty of people who couldn't even consider adoption because of their financial situation, so I definitely wouldn't have said that.

      But to wrap this up…I do believe that some times it is not God's timing to bring a treasure home, for whatever reason. Just like it is not God's timing for you to get pregnant before you did, right? He's all about timing and His timing is perfect. As I said in the 3rd part…when we want to know what to do, we are to pray, {fast if possible}, and then wait for Him to speak. His plans for each are as unique as our looks. He is faithful to speak to obedient ears.

      And I do pray that you can look back and see God's hand on your lives as He closed the adoption door {at least temp} and brought your treasure home through your sweet belly.

      Our oldest bio daughter Abigail is smitten with her siblings brought home from all over the world, so much so that she and her husband have decided that adoption is their first choice and plan to bring another treasure home to their Ugandan treasure one day in the not-so-distant future.

      So don't rule out adoption – treasures are a blessing from the Lord – no matter whose womb they grow in!

    2. I didn't mean to misquote you, i know you worded it carefully to include those specifically in the Lord's will and already matched, so I guess our situation doesn't really fit that bill. We couldn't even get it off the ground, i can't imagine getting so far in the process and not being able to finish! Thank you for responding Linny.

    3. No problem at all Hilary…I just went and looked it up, because I feel a very deep responsibility to convey the truths of God's word at all times. Fortunately, I have spent so many years advocating for the orphan, I don't 'shoot from my hip'. I have consistently seen God do the same things over and over and over making it easy to 'keep the story straight'…I just got a little worried that maybe I had left a small word out that made it seem like I was saying kind of the opposite…

      Anyway, thank you for commenting Hilary. Clearly, God closed the door on your willing hearts for this season…but maybe when your little treasure is older? And ya' know what? That time it could be flawless because it's God perfect timing, right? Bless you my sweet friend!

  17. LOVE this post! During the times in our marriage when we tried to "save" and "hold on to" we have barely had enough to live off of. But, when we have let go of fear and have given more, we have actually had a lot more to give away (and a lot more joy!). Last January (while in the midst of an adoption), my husband lost $15,000 on a job that he was doing. We had this money because of the adoption tax refund and it represented every single penny of what we had for our adoption (and every single penny that we had in the world). My husband is a carpenter/contractor (who does beautiful work) and in 20 years has never had anyone fire him from a job. Our "natural" inclination was to give in to fear and keep every extra penny (beyond tithing) for ourselves. But, we began to feel very uneasy about this approach and realized that we still needed to give, even in the midst of what was to us, a huge loss. Now, 9 months later, God has provided MORE than the amount that we lost through grants from some generous, generous Christian grant foundations. HE IS ALWAYS FAITHFUL! And soon (very, very soon), we will be off to China to adopt our precious little guy. What a wonderful God we serve!!

  18. I love how you "shot straight from the hip". I'm that kind of gal as well…so here goes. I agree with what you have written…for the most part…and yet I am a bit confused. As I have mentioned before, we are in the process of bringing our third little one home from Ch*na. We will then have 5 kids and I couldn't be more excited! We are not poor, but our finances…humanly speaking…should not allow for us to be adopting our third child in 4 years. When we began the process for our first adoption we did not have any money set aside at all, but trusted God. He provided, although not in the way I would have chosen. My parents passed away within 18 month of each other and we received an in heritance which paid for our adoption. Our second adoption was the same…no money set aside. We did worry. But then God spoke to me and said he would provide. I had an incredible peace, fully trusting all the necessary money would come in. Long story short…not a penny came in for our adoption. However, for the very first time in years we were able to take out a loan. I know, I know, this is where some would come in and say it is unwise or even wrong to do that. I do not believe this was God's first choice/His will. I honestly believe that someone simply did not listen to God. Some would say we should have listened more carefully…sought counsel, etc. Trust me we did everything we knew to do…tithe, pray, etc…I suppose I chose to see this as God's way of providing. With our third adoption well on it's way we have received/earned about $5000 out of the necessary $30,000. I am slowly learning to not worry. But I wonder…why? Why were our financial needs not met? What did we do wrong? Or did we do something wrong? I honestly don't know the answer, other than to say that to the best of our ability/understanding of the word of God, we did what was biblically correct. What I do know is that God spoke to us, we listened…and now we are daily filled with the wonderful joy and love that only our little girls could bring. I wish things would have worked out differently, however, I have never regretted our decision and quite honestly, we would do it all over again…simply because God has affirmed and reaffirmed over and over again that we are and have been doing His will…and in His timing.
    I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I feel a bit judged even though I know that is not your intent at all. However, God writes each of our stories differently and that is what makes Him so awesome!

    On a side note…the passion for orphans is not the same in Canada as it is in the USA. I'm not sure why. We have been praying that Canadians will be moved to respond to the current orphan crisis.

    1. Oh sweet Marie, I definitely am not judging you – I don't even know you. I don't know where you live and I don't know your situation….

      I write what I believe God wants me to write {often while fasting}. However, there are definitely scriptures about not taking loans, so I know that I could have used those in the post, however, the point of the post was not to 'judge' anyone, but to merely make God the author of provision, not US by running and grabbing a loan to 'help God out".

      We as Americans have long justified house mortgages because of it being an 'appreciating item"…and the same would be for an adoption, "an appreciating item". And yes, we had a mortgage once-upon-a-time. We chose to do away with mortgage debt in 1989 and buy a dump of a house with our equity so we no longer had a mortgage. We were then able to give away more, because we didn't even have a mortgage and today we don't have a mortgage…and probably that's a good reason why we are able to serve the orphan without the debt of a mortgage payment.

      In light of scriptures about loans, I believe that God makes some things clear: Borrower is slave to the lender, etc….and that God is not so enthused about even mortgages for instance. Think about how many well-meaning Christians who could argue till the cows come home that God was in their house buying and then they ending up losing their homes due to foreclosure. And sadly, I just don't believe God's word supports that thought.

      BUT what if christians gave to each other so each could adopt? And that's what my next post will be about! Sooo that no one had to take a loan!

      As a teacher {through speaking publicly or the bloggy world} there is a enormous responsibility from God to me to communicate the truths of His word…in fact it says that a teacher is held to a higher standard than others. I must, by God's warning, always convey truth from His word {not the popular thoughts of today's society}.

      i promise I was not judging you or anyone else, but frankly, with the vast majority of American Christians feeling that loans are okay, I stand against the flow and my thoughts are not really popular. But Christ didn't call me to be popular, but only to speak the truth of God's word.

      And HE will judge me accordingly when I meet Him one day. I seek to only honor Him in all I do.
      {ROmans 13:8, Prov. 22:7, Prov 22:26, 27; for starters!}

  19. A friend of ours who is adopting posted a link to this on her Facebook page. I really appreciate what you had to say here. My wife and I are about to adopt two newborn twin boys. We also believe is giving and tithing and have helped out innumerable people in need, both when we were single and as a married couple. Now having just celebrated our two year anniversary we are bringing home two babies. It was a crisis situation and everything is happening very quickly. We are trusting God for provision and would appreciate your prayers and the prayers of your readers.

    The boys were born a month and a half premature. And One has a hole in his heart which was operated on, but we just don't know. We are excited one minute and terrified the next. We have started a blog at http://www.adoptingtwo.com where we will begin sharing some of our story.
    BEN

  20. A friend of ours who is adopting posted a link to this on her Facebook page. I really appreciate what you had to say here. My wife and I are about to adopt two newborn twin boys. We also believe is giving and tithing and have helped out innumerable people in need, both when we were single and as a married couple. Now having just celebrated our two year anniversary we are bringing home two babies. It was a crisis situation and everything is happening very quickly. We are trusting God for provision and would appreciate your prayers and the prayers of your readers.

    The boys were born a month and a half premature. And One has a hole in his heart which was operated on, but we just don't know. We are excited one minute and terrified the next. We have started a blog at http://www.adoptingtwo.com where we will begin sharing some of our story.
    BEN

  21. Thank you for your response Linny! Knowing you monitor your comment feed gave me the confidence to respond. I know you don't know me, as I don't know you…other than from what I read on your blog. Perhaps you'll have to stop by for coffee one day…you're welcome to visit my blog anytime :). I sincerely hope I did not offend you or step on your toes…not my intent. I do not want my questions/thoughts to stand in the way of the wonderful work you are doing for Christ. However, I did need to verify whether you are legit in your views and also needed some clarification. I live in a community where the growing trend is to say it, claim it, believe it and all things will happen as you have asked/demanded. Of coarse, everything is backed by scripture…however skewed it may be. I must admit your post reminded me of that mentality and I had to make sure. I totally agree that we as a nation have become enslaved to our debt and most see their debt as a necessity. Can you imagine how little debt our nations would have if we sought godly counsel rather than worldly counsel? It would be incredible to see! I do believe for adoptions to happen at all, and in order for them to happen without financial stress we need to surround ourselves with those that are passionate about the less fortunate. Unfortunately, there are communities where this is almost unheard of and those that walk this path are very alone. I can not begin to describe the importance of my bloggy friends…most of whom I have never met in person. I do not want others to read our story and think, not even for a moment, that getting a loan is the way to go. It's not. All I know is that if God had a formula of a+b always equalling c…well, we would not have gone into debt. I honestly…perhaps naively, believed God would provide in the manner I thought He would provide when I heard Him saying He would provide. We have searched, prayed, asking God to show us any sin, wrong beliefs…anything that would have/could have prevented us going into debt. I do believe we may not have communicated our need enough…come across as being too self sufficient…What I have learned…once again…is that my disobedience to God, my not listening to Him, can and does affect others…sometimes in a huge way. I can hardly wait to see how God will provide…:)

    1. I am so thankful you came back and responded. I know there is a large community within the body of Christ who 'name it and claim it' feeling that they are almost above troublesome times. Scripture does not support that thought. In fact it says "the rain falls on the just and the unjust"…and across the board among most of the western world there is a sense of "entitlement"…I have written about it in other earlier posts over the years…the "I earned it, therefore I deserve it"…when the reality is God has allowed us to 'earn' it to give it to those in need – in all sorts of ways. You did not offend me in any way – I'm a big girl…and when I stand on scripture there is no worry of anything! Stay tuned for part 5 – I'm hopeful to post it today…pray for me as I write…because there are so many people {from all different walks and backgrounds} who read and I want the most exacting way of presentation to make it simple and palatable for each person – rightly dividing God's holy word. And yes, I will stop by for coffee one day. xo

  22. Linny thank you so much for these words spoken straight from God's heart. I grew up in a church but don't feel that I was saved until 15 years ago. For all of that time I considered myself to be an underemployed single person who didn't have enough to pay my bills let alone to tithe. I always intended to be obediant when I would have just a little more. I realize now that in each situation God had me in the job and at the salary He needed me to be at. I'm now about to marry a man that I don't deserve and what an uncomfortable conversation for your future husband who always tithes to ask you why you don't. He even designates this $20 bill is part of my tithe and has to dig through his wallet to find another. Even then I figured I'd wait until we were married and see where our finances our before I totally committed to tithing. Reading this post today is the final conviction that God needed to send me. I just talked to my fiance about starting our life together by tithing our wedding gifts and of course he agreed. I think the root of this issue for me has always been about trust and I have such a hard time trusting. If I'm going to deal with trust who better to trust first than God.

Leave a Reply to ASH Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>