Financial Testimonies Stories of God's Favor, Grace and Provision

05/26/2017

The Joy of Giving

Luke 6:38 (KJV) Give, and it shall be given back to you, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall men give into your bosom. For the same way you measure/give to others, it shall be measured/given back to you again.

Yesterday I was at Goodwill. I like to go there and look at things. It’s the one store I can always go to and not be intimidated by the costs. Smiley face.

I saw a little boy playing with this really cool man-on-a-motorcycle toy. I saw him put it down. From looking at the boy, you could tell he was poor; later, when I saw his mom, I knew this to be true. I have seen this living episode many times, a kid in Goodwill playing in the toy section while mom is shopping.

In my heart, the desire to buy the toy for the boy rose up inside. I went over and looked at the toy. It was really cool. I thought if the boy’s mom doesn’t let me buy it for him, I will buy it for myself! If you have been to my house you know I have toys, I like buying them and having them there for the kids who visit. Ok, I confess I play with them sometimes too!

A few days earlier, I had seen some boys riding around on scooters in another store. I watched them and watched them and then finally I asked the mom if I could buy the scooter for her son. The mom laughed and said no, he has three at home. So back to this boy. His mom and I were checking out at the same time on different registers. I was irritated because my cashier was slow.

I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to get this toy for this boy. Fortunately, I got checked out first and went over and told the mom that I had seen her son playing with the toy and wanted to buy it for him.

She let me give the toy to the boy. I saw a little bit of the boy’s reaction, but I didn’t wait around. I just left the store. I didn’t wait to see if he was excited…because I was excited! I got so much joy out of giving something. For $2, I was able to bless a little boy and bless myself! The Bible says it is more blessed to give than to receive.

I can tell you it shows up on the receiving end! In the past few days, I had another $20 debt canceled, this time via e-mail and without my asking. The next day at an audition the person conducting the audition gave me $40 in tickets to a show.