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I shared in a previous testimony that I worked with my husband in his construction business as his full time employee/laborer. I occasionally helped him in the office if he was putting together a large proposal or tax preparation but he handled all the finances for the business and the household. I watched how he managed the business and when he received a check he would give 20% to God.
God gave me my painting business after my husband went to heaven in January 2004 and I just applied what I had learned from my husband. When I received a check for a job, I would give God 20%. I had been painting for about a year and I had just finished a large job that had kept me busy for almost two months. Little did I know that God was getting ready to enlarge my heart. The Tsunami hit in Indonesia right about this time and I saw the devastation those people suffered and God began ministering out of Doyle's mouth that the body of Christ was to give an offering to those people. I believe the scriptures that were ministered to us were out of IICor8. I had a home, a job and food and those people had nothing. I considered those scriptures and it was in my heart to give all that I had in my checkbook except for about $10.00. I did shake a little but it seemed right. I had opportunity to fear but I also had the opportunity to trust God and see Him perform His word. It was just a few days later a proposal on a large paint job I had bid on was accepted and I received a material check for one-third of the total amount of the job. God asked for money again the next week for Indonesia and the week after. Each week I gave the same amount as the first time and then God ended that offering for Indonesia. However during this time God showed me that we didn't get and then give, but we were to give first. I remembered when Doyle shared that the Lord told him to give $100 per week and he was rewarded for his obedience. I believed God was telling me to continue to give the amount I had been sending for Indonesia each week and I did. I was a cheerful giver until money got tight and then I would let fear get in and begin to doubt that I had heard God. I e-mailed Doyle and told him as much. He wrote me back and said, "give according to your faith, that's what the word of God says." I was encouraged enough to give one more time and sometimes I would have to decide whether to give to God or pay the bills that were due. Know this, I was crying out to God, "YOU SAID IF I WOULD GIVE, IT WOULD BE GIVEN UNTO ME; GOOD MEASURE, PRESSED DOWN, SHAKEN TOGETHER, AND RUNNING OVER WOULD MEN GIVE INTO MY BOSOM!!"Lk6:38. Each week, God made a way for me to continue giving.
One evening the end of May 2006 I received a phone call from Doyle. He asked how I was and I said I was doing fine. He said, "how are your finances?" I told him I was paying my bills each month but I wasn't making much of a dent in my debt load. I was making a small monthly payment on my husband's medical bills, we were years behind in our taxes to the IRS, I was making a large vehicle payment and I was paying off a credit card that was in my husband's name. He ministered the scriptures to me out of Jms1:27, "pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." Doyle said God was going to pay off my bills. I got off the phone and wept at the mercy of God on my life. God moved on the hearts of His people and they laid money at the apostle's feet for his distribution. Within a few weeks, I was out of debt and God bought my 16 year-old son a Chevy S-10 pickup.
This is the power that is available to us, if we will dare to believe. So I encourage everyone who reads this testimony to hold fast to this gospel of the kingdom, and see the salvation of God for whatever you need in your life. God bless you!
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