When asked if I would contribute a guest blog to Haiti Awake, my heart did a cartwheel!

I’ll start by saying that I have been blessed beyond measure since I found Haiti Awake last year! It was in the wake of my personal spiritual awakening as I started looking outward more than dwelling on my own circumstances. God’s timing was IMPECCABLE! I had set very specific criteria on the organization I desired to support – child sponsorship, the ability to really connect with the children I would be sponsoring, build a relationship, send personally-chosen items. God provided all of that and MORE through Haiti Awake!  Isn’t God just incredible?

So, as I sat tonight considering what I felt would be important to share, about what God would want me to share with you, I felt led to the word “giving.”

When I think back on 2020, I can’t help but sit in awe of how God used people like you and me to power forward in His Kingdom-work despite the challenges the globe faced amid the pandemic. Even though people struggled, many still found a way to give. That’s why being a Christian is so wonderful. We give and we love because He first loved us and gave the best gift the world has ever known!

The Bible is PACKED with guidance on giving. For instance, in the book of Acts, we read about how the early church provided for each other’s needs, taking care of the orphan and the widow and spreading the Good News!

Acts 4:32 says, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.

Or, in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, Paul wrote, “6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

And finally, one of my favorite verses on giving, Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

So, as I close, I want to share some lyrics from a song released way back in 1988.

One by one they came
Far as the eye could see
Each life somehow touched
By your generosity
Little things that you had done
Sacrifices made
Unnoticed on the earth
In heaven now proclaimed

And I know up in heaven
You're not supposed to cry
But I am almost sure
There were tears in your eyes
As Jesus took your hand
And you stood before the Lord
He said, my child, look around you
Great is your reward

Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am a life that was changed
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave