One of the things I want my children to learn is the old lesson of giving is better than receiving.  We are not a rich family and many weeks struggle just to get by.  My children however do have two sets of grandparents who like to buy them things.  My MIL especially likes to show the children how much she loves them by how much she buys them.  I've learned the hard way to just let it go, but I still have real concerns that my children grow up being aware of ways to help others. 

My husband took 2 of our boys to the store and they wanted a gumball out of the machine.  Only 1 boy had quarters.  He decided to share with his little brother and they each got two gumballs apiece.  My husband told them that often times that's how God works.  Give and he gives back double to you. 

The next day my MIL came to the house to babysit while my husband took me to have my stitches out.  After the appt. he had to go back to work and my MIL took my boys to see a movie.  Apparently she had given my husband $100 and he had put it in his pocket.  When he came home from work the boys still weren't back and we were talking and he told me that one of his employees had come to him and asked if she could borrow some money.  Forgetting about the $100 in his pocket he kind of panicked knowing we only had $50 until next payday.  He told her that he needed to call me because I did the bills. He asked her how much she needed and she said $100.  Suddenly, he remembered that his mom had given him that money.  So he pulled it out and gave it to her and told her to keep it.  This is a woman that has been down on her luck and we've had her and her son over for dinner and different things so it wasn't just a random person asking.  Anyway, when the boys arrived home and my MIL was leaving she gave my husband a ziploc bag full of money, $300!  Wow!  It was in $1.00 bills so we didn't know how much was there until we counted it.  God used us to bless someone and then turned around and used my MIL to bless us.

 This was so timely for me personally.  I've struggled lately with spiritual principles that I haven't seen "working" and it was just a reminder from God that it is better to give than to receive.  Sometimes it comes right back to you like it did my sons and us, but sometimes it comes in ways that aren't monetary. It was a good reminder for me at a time when I had been feeling very "dry" in my spiritual walk and I loved how he spoke to my boys on their level.  They went to Walmart a few days later and put their quarters in the same machine and the machine only gave them 1 a piece.  Some would say it was just a coincidence, but I know that God was showing them that when you give with a pure heart He sees it. 

If we ask for opportunities to give God will give them to us.  Giving doesn't always have to be monetary either.  It can be a timely phone call, a card, something you don't need anymore that someone else can use.  There have been times when we've had no $$$, but God still allowed us to give.  It's easy to give out of your abundance, but harder when you don't have much.  I remember a few years ago I was in Walmart really late.  I went through the line and the cashier was very pregnant and looked very tired.  Her shirt barely covered her expanding belly.  I talked with her a few minutes about the baby coming and if she knew what she was having.  As I was driving home God impressed upon my heart to gather up all my baby clothes and take them to her.  I wasn't sure I was done having babies, but knew that God wanted me to do that.  The next day I got out all my clothes and washed them.  We put them in tubs and I called Walmart and spoke with the front end manager and told her who they were for.  I wrote a card and just told this young lady that God loved her and wanted to meet her needs.  We took them and left them for her.  I never saw her again, but I know that God has a plan and purpose for her and her baby and whenever I think of them I pray for them.   I had no money to give her, but God made sure her needs were met.   A couple years later I found myself pregnant with NO baby clothes to speak of.  God provided by giving me a little girl so none of those clothes would have worked anyway.  God didn't provide for me right after I gave those clothes, but years later He was faithful and made sure I didn't need what I had given away.  Ask for opportunities and creative ways to give and God will give them to you.  My uncle has always said that the daily bread isn't the problem, but the distribution of it is.   God's provided all we need, but He's left it up to us to distribute it.  I want to teach my children to be good distributers of what God has given us.

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