Notes

When I was asked to do offering, I thought wow but my week hasn't consisted of any little lessons that I could probably relate to the offering....what am I going to talk about?

Then I thought instead of a little anecdote about my week, I would just share with you the reasons why I personally give and how it helps me and makes me feel.
So, one of the biggest reasons why I started giving was because I grew up in church so I was taught to give from a very early age. The good news is that even if you weren't taught to by your parents, or you never had the means to as a child, the heart is where it's at. In truth I probably didn't start giving because I wanted to until I was about 15 or 16

Another reason why I give is because by nature I like to think I'm a pretty generous person and one of my love languages in terms of how I show my affection is through gifts and acts of service.
Ironically it gives me some peace and it makes me feel better about my finances
It gives me a sense of connection with God
Helps me keep execute a sort of schedule and maintain a certain amount of control in my faith - I mean that in a healthy way that regardless of how busy my week was, how many times I prayed or forgot to pray, whether or not it was a good week or a bad week, at the end of it I know that there is one thing I (usually as I am human) remember to do that serves as a way for me to act out my faith.

So I just wanted to say that even if you have never practiced giving into the offering before or have never wanted to - that's completely okay. Some people find giving money harder than others, some people don't have the means to give. But maybe have a think about how it would benefit you and if you don't think it would, give it a try anyway and see how you feel. Its a hard feeling to explain when you are generous in your giving but its definitely a special one.

So I hope this at least just inspired you to think a bit and maybe it challenged some of you, I dont know. But I am just gonna pray and then the buckets are gonna go past.