I am a very blessed person.
Not just occasionally. Every day
I am blessed.
I truly believe in asking and you shall receive. I believe in tithing and giving as a Law of
God. Some call it a Law of the
Universe. Either way, it works.
I have put it to the test many, many times. When I tithe and give I always have extra
money left at the end of the month. When
I don’t tithe and give, I’m broke at the end of the month. I believe that God rewards your faithfulness
and He proves it to me daily.
Over 30 years ago I went home for lunch. My friend Kathy was with me. When I arrived home there was no electricity,
no water, and no gas. I immediately
headed to the bank. I knew I had paid
all the household bills with my paycheck, which I received the first day of
every month. Nothing had been paid. All the money was gone. And our account was overdrawn. I was overwhelmed and distraught. Later in the evening my ex-husband told me he
had taken all the money out of the bank because he needed it. All I could think of was: where would I get
the money to get my bills paid for the month.
It was another two weeks or so before I got paid again. And that money would have to pay for the next
month’s bills. I thought my brain would
explode.
In desperation, I called my mother and asked if I could
borrow half of it. I sent her checks to
be deposited on the first of each month.
I would have rather had a needle poked in my eye than ask my mother for
anything but in this case I had no choice.
I was still short the other half of what I needed.
The next morning my friend, Kathy, came to work and said, “here’s
the money you need. If you pay me back,
great. If you don’t, it will never
affect our friendship.” I couldn’t
believe it. I swore that day that I
would never ever borrow money from a friend or family member again. And I never have.
My life being married was always plagued with money
problems. I was the more responsible one
with money. My ex wasn’t. It kept our financial life in turmoil. We rarely had more than a few dollars in the
bank and nothing in savings.
I tell you that because I never paid my friend back that
money. And true to her word, she never
asked about it, never treated me differently.
She just treated me the same as always.
I always felt ashamed. After I
divorced and was in control of all the money I was able to save the money
up.
I thought about just mailing her the money with a note. But I just couldn’t mail it. She didn’t mail it to me. She cashed a check and put that money in my
hand. I wanted to do the same when I
repaid her.
Not too long ago I visited her for the first time in
years. I rehearsed many times how I was
going to give the money to her and what I would say. Nothing seemed to express all of my feelings
adequately. We were sitting at the table
one morning and I told her there was something I wanted to tell her. I told her there was no easy way to do it, so
I just started in.
I told her that back in those days when I had no one and I
mean no one to help me, she just stepped up and offered. I told her that I had never ever had anyone
do that for me. I reminded her of what
she had told me about paying it back and how she had been true to her
word. I told her that not a day went by
that I didn’t think about it. I told her
how I thought about mailing it but wanted to give it back the way she had given
it to me. I told her how sorry I was
that I had never paid it back through all the years.
She took the folded bills and laid them on the table. And then she said this: “I’m so sorry you ever lost a minute of sleep
over this. I have never ever even
thought about it.” We hugged and it was
done. The weight was lifted. Tell me.
How many people do you know like this woman? Me either.
So what does this story have to do with God being faithful
to His word? Well, I had believed for a while
that I had blessings being blocked because I had never taken care of this
debt. One week after paying off my debt
to Kathy, I was given an opportunity which resulted in me receiving more money
than the money I repaid her. That same
opportunity has continued for 6 weeks.
Every week and still continues.
I believe even when we falter, God will still increase our blessings when we make things right. It might be repaying a debt, forgiving
someone, repairing a broken relationship, making a change in our lives or
keeping a promise we never have. Only
we know where we have falter. When we
make it right, the burden will leave.
Take a little time and reflect on your life. Are you blocking your blessings? If you are, make things right and let God’s
mercy and blessings cover you like Blue Bonnets cover a field in Texas in the
spring. You will experience a peace and
calm that you can only imagine.
Try it. You have
nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Caryn Cannatella
Copyrighted 2016
