Intentional Living -- Part 3: Saving to Give

Can you believe we are four days into the New Year? Time is flying faster by this year than ever before! But maybe because I'm slowing down enough to enjoy the little moments more than usual? In the past four days, I've slept, cleaned out our garaged, had a tea party, jiggled it a bit with a new dance exercise tape, built a tinker toy crane, read my Bible, watched a weird movie while folding five loads of laundry, cried over the brokenness around me, laughed out loud with my family, and worshiped the Lord in the little quiet moments tucked away in my heart.

I've also found myself reflecting on a few themes the Lord is impressing on me. I find when I'm about to learn something profound from God, it comes like little waves crashing on the shore. Break, break, splash, break. Again and again, until the large wave finally comes bounding in from the distance and refreshes my soul from the inside out.

One of these waves concerns spending and giving. My husband and I live on a very tight budget, so we are constantly looking for ways to stay in the black instead of the red. The Lord has been so faithful to us, always providing for our every need. But we don't want to live carelessly, and take God's provisions for granted. We continue to give through tithing to our church and to various missionaries/organizations, but both of us have a desire to give more than 10%, considering all the needs around us. The only way for us to give more, however, is to spend less than our budget so that we have money to give to those in need. (Today was my first test, skipping a Starbuck's latte, instead of indulging in one for no good reason! The cup of coffee I had at home was just as tasty!)

We want to be generous, not only with our time and money, but also in prayer. We are both convicted that we have not prayed for those we support, like we should, so now we are having a missionary of the month in a picture frame at our kitchen table. Along with saying grace, we are praying for our missionaries. What a joy to see the kids partake in this! They'll keep us accountable! I'm also putting another button on my side bar to keep me reminded of this mission to save in order to give! Feel free to borrow it, if God is calling you to save to give, too!

Oye, the kiddies are bounding down from their nap! The next wave will have to wait for another time!