I love 3 day weekends and as I've stated before, I wish that we had 3 day weekends all the time! J and I had lots of quality time together, this is obviously my favorite and it's why I married my best friend :) We cooked, cleaned, watched football and movies, went to church, saw Grams & Allie, had friends over, organized the house some, did laundry, etc. We accomplished a lot and the house is as always coming together more and more and because of our efforts!
The biggest accomplishment of the weekend was catching up on my tithing for the past 4 months.
If you know me at all you know that I can be what some people call
cheap frugal. I've never been the best tipper even though I worked in the service industry for a bit and I loathe paying full price for stuff unless I absolutely have to (aka the biggest reason for my love of Craigslist). I've had a job since I was almost 16, my parents raised me to understand the value of dollar and that if you want something you have to work for it. For example: I paid my parents back for a car I wrecked for over a year after the wreck. I paid for car insurance up until college (Dad lovingly paid it through college as a present)
Since I've had a job, I've always had bills (aka: cell phone, car insurance, gas...) and I pride myself on the fact that I've worked hard and paid for all of the bills I ever had. I never got a credit card until about a year ago and this has kept me free and clear from that trap of credit card debt that so many people get sucked into. I feel that my parents really started to prepare me monetarily for adulthood when I was 16, although it was hard and sometimes it was a struggle to see other people not having to work like I did. Dare I say jealousy at times? Yes, it happened I'm human, but I will be forever grateful to them for enstoring in me a good work ethic.
My hang up with tithing started way back: For as long as I can remember, my Dad had always gotten onto me about tithing. I needed to do it more and to give the percentage that God asks us to give back to Him. This has ALWAYS been one of my biggest struggles and for the life of me I can't figure out why. I've always known that I needed to I just never did, I feel like it was a lack of trust in God on my part. That if I tithed then there wouldn't be enough money for bills or gas or if I wanted to do stuff with friends.
When J and I started attending Elevation we discovered that tithing was an issue for both of us. We decided in September of last year that we would hold each other accountable to it. You see our church had put it in a light that I had never really seen, maybe I wasn't mature enough yet to understand or maybe I was just plain blind: The money I was making was never mine to begin with, God blessed me with a job and if it wasn't for Him I wouldn't have any money in the first place.
We did great for the first few months, it became a fun thing to talk about and we got excited to go online and give to the Lord. (PS I really want a shirt that says, 'Listen, I tithe online' to wear on Sundays.) We saw the Lord really bless our lives as a result of being faithful in giving back to Him: J got a full time job here in Charlotte, we got engaged and were able to have enough money to pay for our wedding and go on a fabulous honeymoon, we found J an affordable car, we purchased our first home, etc.
Once the wedding was over and we were getting settled into the house, I slipped out of the routine of tithing. I kept making excuses to myself, 'Oops you forgot to tithe again, just catch up next week. No biggie.' Well those weeks turned into 4 months....
With the launch of the new
Elevation Rock Hill campus next week, we really felt the need to contribute! As the leader of our home, J asked when the last time I tithed and we logged on to find out it hadn't been since April. So, with some talking and encouragement from my loving husband, I caught up on tithing for the past 4 months. And man it was hard!
It was a lot of money, so it was super hard for me being the tight wad that I am. J said, 'Babe, remember it was never your money anyway.' I'm still thinking about it today, but I know that we made the right decision. I want to be in the will of God, I want to further his Kingdom----especially here in Rock Hill.
All of this to say, I can't wait for
Elevation Rock Hill to start next week, I can't wait to see what happens! As a couple we're still going to continue to hold each other accountable to tithing, especially as we're trying to pay off student loan debt and J's car. We've decided that tithing is our first "bill" of every pay check we receive.
Sorry this was so long and personal, but it's been on my heart for a few days and writing it out makes it even more real to me, it's been quite a reality check too. Hope you've all had a great Labor Day Weekend!
