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Almost Enough!

"Almost enough!" I thought.  After saving for several months, I was almost to my goal.  With what I would probably receive from my approaching birthday, I would have enough money to be able to buy that gadget I had convinced myself that I needed.  

Later that day I picked up the new ASAP newsletter and saw the article encouraging us to “Taste and See”.  Immediately my mind went to the envelope now stuffed with bills.  “Oh Lord, surely not that!” I plead. “I need that gadget!   I’ve been saving so long and I’m so close!”  

I read and re-read the article, hearing the Lord encouraging me to lay down my dream.  After struggling for a short time, I told the Lord that I was willing if it really was Him speaking to me and not just an overactive conscience.  By evening I had come to peace with the fact that I would probably be turning over the envelope to ASAP, but still asked the Lord to make it abundantly clear to me.  

The next morning I opened my Bible to where I had left off yesterday.  Reading in 2 Corinthians I began with the eighth chapter.  Immediately I was electrified as I read the following:

For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability they gave of their own accord, begging us with much entreaty for the favor of participation in the support of the saints…see that you abound in this gracious work also…. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor that you through His poverty might become rich….For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality – at this present time your abundance being a supply for their want, that their abundance also may become a supply for your want, that there may be equality.

I sat stunned, tears running down my cheeks. “Yes Lord, I hear you.  There is not a shadow of a doubt.  You can have my gadget”, I prayed.  “I just ask that You will work in my heart to make 2 Corinthians 9:7 a reality also;  “Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.”

With the great peace that comes with total surrender, I asked God to lead in showing me how else to grow my gift.  Immediately I thought of my approaching birthday and told my family that I had a special request for my birthday that I would reveal when we were together for Thanksgiving.  

When Thanksgiving arrived, my family, some new friends and I were reminded of how much we really do have to be thankful for as we watched the moving ASAP DVD “Unto the Least”.  Some gave their gifts that evening while others took a gift catalog home with them, so I don’t know exactly how much the Lord multiplied the contents of my envelope.  But that is fine with me; I do know that it more than doubled when you include the other ways God worked.  Here is just one short example: Just after purchasing a pair of needed snow pants, my sister asked me if I could use a pair as hers no longer fit her.  Back to the store went the ones I had bought and the saved money went into the ASAP fund.

It was fun watching the Lord supply the funds creatively and I can, without reservation, testify that He answered my prayer and made me a cheerful giver. It was with joy that I delivered the funds to ASAP knowing that God had a special purpose for each and every dollar.  

And, by the way, that gadget I “needed” – I got one for Christmas!