Grow One Toward Tithing
by Andrea Dauro

Father asked me to tell you my experience of tithing or at least my working towards the 10%. Since becoming a member of St. Lukes in August of 1996 my life has not been the same in many ways. Just shortly after I signed my first pledge card for 5%, I discovered that I was pregnant and knew that Rebecca's father was not going to be in the picture. I was very tempted to change my pledge and revert back to my pre St. Luke's days of only contributing $1. or $2. I was afraid and did not feet confidant that I would be able to support my daughter. I took a leap of faith and chose not to change my original pledge.

Despite the family tragedies that we have had, ie. my father's car accident and subsequent 20 strokes, and my mother passing away from lung cancer 8 months after Rebecca was born, I feel overwhelmingly blessed by God. It truly seems that the more I give to the church, more blessings come my way. I gave birth to a beautiful little girl who has given my life purpose and a focus. Because of my father's condition, I am able to stay at home and take care of him and as a result a daycare center doesn't raise Rebecca, I get to! God truly does work in mysterious ways.

I have never regretted my decision to pledge the amount that I do, and I agree with Father Gillquist when he stated that this is the only area we are allowed to test God. I am a testament that God will reward and take care of you when you take care of the church. I have relatives that tithe 10% and they have been overwhelmingly blessed too I feel that God is my partner and he quietly nudges me in the direction that I should go in.

He has nudged me towards occupations that allow me to use the talents that He has given me to help me support my daughter, My bookkeeping business that I run from my home has been doing well, and I recently started up my craft business again as well. I guess I'm not raising my daughter alone after all! But I believe one of the best blessings He has bestowed on me since I started pledging is my newfound attitude on life.

I took at everything differently now and only from a Christian stand point, and I find that totally invaluable. What a wonderful way to live. It doesn't mean that you'll never have bad things happen to you, but the more faith that you have, the better you'll be able to cope with the problem or tragedy. It's like a blanket of peace that comforts you. I like to compare tithing to the little kids story of the sun and clouds trying to get a man to take off his coat, but with a twist. I imagine the man holding all his money in the form of seeds tightly in his fists and not wanting to give any of them away. And then God comes in the form of the warming smiling sun and slowly the man starts to unclench his fists and slowly starts to spread some of his seeds around. His reward is a bumper crop that only God could provide. I really believe that the more you give the more that will come back to you. Give it a try. I did and it works!