Our Journey to Tithing

I've been debating on whether or not to share this story...but after today's message at church I have decided to go ahead!

It was four years ago almost to the date that I finally convinced Jeremy to attend a financial class at our church. We still lived in Ponder and were attending Crosstimbers in Argyle. We signed up for Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and it changed our lives forever. We signed up for FPU because we wanted to learn how to invest, save for college, and manage our finances in general. I was almost finished with college and about to have a career and we were ready to get in fit financial shape! I had been convicted of tithing for quite some time before we enrolled in FPU and that was definitely a driving force for me to get our finances in order... See, we weren't able to tithe because we wouldn't have been able to pay our bills because we were in debt. We didn't have much credit card debt but we did have car payments, student loan payments, and had more month at the end of the money EVERY month. I was sick of it...I was sick of not tithing...We needed help to know what to do. So we went to FPU class faithfully for 12 weeks and began the process that has lasted us just over 4 years. I won't go into specific detail about how we got out of debt but I want to share the story of how we began giving our "first fruits".

Since we couldn't financially give a full tithe due to our debt we decided to start with what we could give. I looked the other day and I believe the amount we started with was $30 a month. Jeremy and I vowed to give consistently until we had eliminated our debt and was tithing a full 10%. From the day we wrote that first check my hearts desire was to give more, to get to the full 10%. After a few months of consistent giving (from the heart not out of obligation) we re-evaluated our finances and decided we were able to give more. The preachers always say "give and you shall receive" and we know that statement to be true! The more we gave it seemed the more debt we were able to pay off. As of this January I'm SO blessed to say that we have reached our full tithe! We hope to be completely debt free (other than our mortgage) by March! We have been blessed beyond measure and we can take NO credit for any of it. It was all from God and when we realized that and started giving and making an effort to obey Him, He blessed us.

I would like to encourage those of you who think of tithing and feel like you'll never be able to do it. Have faith...you will get there! My advice is to start giving something today. Be consistent with your giving and work toward a debt free life making sacrifices that will seem so hard at times. It will pay off and before you know it, you'll be tithing and praising God for all the blessings!

One last look at 2011

Has it really been almost 3 months since my last blog? Wow... Well, I won't try to play catch up since my last blog in October because there isn't enough time to write about all that has been going on! Instead I'll highlight some of what 2011 brought to our family. 

Austin & Carson with Santa

December 2011

Family Picture

November 2011

2011 was really a great year for our family. I was able to go to Africa on a mission trip and meet some amazing people. The people in Zambia, Africa forever changed my life and I think about them daily. Austin turned 7 and Carson turned 2 (and will soon be 3) and are the best kids in the world! Austin is a great big brother and Carson adores his big brother so much. Jeremy has a job that he enjoys and started working in a different department (same company) back in March and that change was a huge blessing to him and our family. The new job allowed him to be more available for our family and less stressed! I was hired at Glen Rose Elementary as a Teacher's Assistant in October (which accounts for the lack of blog posts)! I decided to go back to work after staying home for a few years and couldn't be happier to be working in the same district where Austin goes to school. Our whole family is very involved in our church and have grown closer as a family as well as in our relationship with Christ last year. We are so fortunate to be surrounded with wonderful, godly friends! Our family is truly blessed!

Ice 2011 at the Gaylord Texan

Our family also had a great Christmas break. Jeremy and I were off work for two full weeks and we were able to go snow skiing in Durango, CO. Austin is officially a better skier than Jeremy and I! He can ski greens and blues very well, while I can sort of ski some easy blues! Carson enjoyed a few days with Nana and Papa while we were in Colorado. We had a nice quiet Christmas, just the four of us. We all went to the movies on Christmas Day and saw Tin-tin! We went to the Gaylord Texan and saw Ice. The boys both loved that. For New Years Eve, we went to some friends house for dinner and games. Poor Austin burned his finger roasting marmallows on the fire and didn't come inside to tell us because he was afraid we'd make him come in... It looks pretty bad today and I still don't know how he didn't cry (I know I would have). Tomorrow it's back to work for me and while I'm not ready to go back I had a wonderful Christmas break with the family and I'm so excited to see what 2012 holds for the Morgan household!