Malachi 3:10

Over the past two months, God has made great efforts to teach my husband and I something, and that is that if you give, he will give. First I must confess, we were not always faithful givers. We wanted to be, we used to be, but when times got hard, we just let that slip away. As things more challenging and even on good months there wasn't enough, we knew we had to make a change. About three months ago the hubby and I decided to give tithe on our dependable (my) income. The first month surprised us. From the time we gave, we kept getting blessed. Our needs were met, many wants were granted... it was amazing. This past month we decided to give on estimated total income. Do you know what happened? We were blessed again. I'm not saying its a magic formula, but it something God truly allows us to test Him on. He said give, we (finally) didn't question Him, and He amazed us! Now that we understand this, I wished we never stopped it in the first place. Perhaps we wouldn't be where we are today if we had. However, I believe in redemption and I know He can bring us back to the place where we were, likely better!

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. - Malachi 3:10

Ecclesiastes 5:10-11

Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them?- Ecc. 5:10-11

I love what the notes included with my study Bible says about these verses. It says, "Whatever financial situation you are in, don't depend on money to make you happy." Its all about contentment, and its not an easy lesson to learn. From experience I can tell you that living on little is challenging. Its often tempting to think, "if I just made a little more, it would be better," but what I should be thinking is "how can I make the best out of this?"

Although finances are one of the biggest areas many people struggle with contentment in, the struggles are not limited. Some people struggle with "keeping up with the Jones'", others struggle in their marriage, some struggle in their career.

Finding contentment does not necessarily mean you give up hope for more or better. It means that you are happy with what you have and can see the good in what IS there. I will borrow a phrase from a fellow blogger [The Orange Rhino],  make an "at least" statement. Sometimes it takes looking at our struggle and saying something like "I may not make a lot of money, but at least I get plenty of time with my children." Or maybe your situation is "I can not afford cable right now, at least I have plenty of books." These may seem simple, but it can be useful to see everything we have, rather than what we lack.

Prayer of the Day: Lord, Thank you for all the blessings in my life. Help me to have the right attitude about my situation.