The Windows of Heaven

This morning I saw our tithing check that Jared had filled out to give to the bishop at church. I thought, "Wow! That is a lot of money," and started thinking about what I could buy with that money. Then I thought about the blessings that we have recieved from paying our tithing and I realized that there is no comparission between what the Lord has given us and the small amount that we give back. Some recent financial blessing we have received for paying our tithing include being able to sell our run down car for $500 to a mechanic and having the last $452 of one of Jared's student loans unexpectedly written off by the bank for "taking care of [his] loan obligation in a diligent manner."

More than these financial blessings, I was thinking about some of the recent non-material blessings we have received. With this pregnacy I was really worried about having to go on bedrest again and not having the support here that I would need. I prayed about my concerns and the Lord opened the windows of heaven. I was blessed to have my sister and her husband come and help take care of us for a few weeks. After they had to leave the ward has been wonderful about helping out. They went the extra mile and scheduled meals for us for the entire week, including weekends, as well as someone to take the girls out once a day while Jared was at work. What a blessing. So with the help of all these kind and generous people I've been able to make it to 36 weeks without going into pre-term labor.

I could go on forever about the blessings we have received. Each time we have sacrificed our time, talents, or money to serve or help others we have been blessed ten fold.

By the way, my sister told me about a great article on this subject that you may enjoy: http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=2441