How giving a little turned into a whole lot more

Samantha Dobbins and her husband faced a crisis when they chose to take a step of faith and tithe. What came next surprised her.

When my husband and I first got married, he had an amazing job.

Not long after, though, the company he worked for got into some trouble, and his pay was more than cut in half. We began desperately searching for another job.

We had just gotten married, had a newborn daughter, and we had gone from being comfortable financially to extremely uncomfortable. It doesn't take long for the money to run out.

A “Tiny” Check

After some weeks and months of searching for a job, we were beginning to grow weary in our search. I felt burdened and heavy.

I remember sitting in church one Sunday, just before the offering bags were passed, and I heard God say to me clearly, "If you will tithe, I will provide."

So on a whim, I wrote that tiny little tithe check. It was a tiny check, because we weren't getting paid very much, but it was a big deal to me. I could have used that money to buy groceries!

The very next day, my husband received a random call from a friend about a job doing something we had never even considered. We took it, of course. Eight years later and that job he took out of desperation is now his career.

Tithing has brought me closer to God.

A Record of Faithfulness

That was my first experience with seeing really how God can bless you through tithing (and obedience). Over the following years, I continued to tithe. Maybe not consistently, but I did my best.

Our NewSpring tithing statement came earlier this year, with a record of our tithes paid in 2016.

The first half of 2016 was particularly rough for us financially (that's another story in and of itself), so I figured that I had probably missed a few weeks of tithing.

But I opened the statement and quickly realized that I had faithfully tithed every time we had gotten paid in 2016. I surprised myself.

I wasn't surprised as in "Oh, hey, look at me! I never missed a tithe in 2016!" It was more of "Oh, wow, look what God has done for me!"

The blessings that come from tithing and being obedient come in so many different forms

An Unexpected Blessing

Tithing has brought me closer to God.  It's brought me peace, faith, and trust. It's made me want to give more.

I don't even have to think about giving anymore. It's just something I want to do now, and I can't explain that.

The blessings that come from tithing and being obedient come in so many different forms. It's not just an unexpected check in the mail or a pay raise at your job —  it's feeling blessed in everything that you face, good or bad.

Thankfulness and service now come to me as naturally as breathing, and it never used to be that way for me. I know that if I remain obedient to God, He will bless me in ways that I cannot even begin to imagine.