The Beauty Of Generosity

I've always been a stingy person, and never once did I ever consider generosity to be "my thing". Yes, I knew how impactful generosity can be but thought that God would never use me in that way. It wasn't until this new year that God opened my heart and challenged me to live a life of generosity and servanthood. I've only begun this journey, but have already started to see the beauty of generosity.

As I was praying to God of what my new year's goals should be, God convicted me of my selfish heart and refusal to serve others. I would constantly self-pity myself, giving myself excuses of why I shouldn't live generously. I would say things like "I don't make much" or "I'm going to have to save a lot for my future" and just pitying myself because of the large sums of money that would have to come out from me.

God convicted me of my selfish heart and showed me that even through generosity can his kingdom be expanded. My own self-pity was stopping me from living out God's complete provision in my life. God wanted to use me through the resources he has given me, but I limited how God could use me. 

I said yes to God when he asked me to give my time to do ministry and to write blogs, but no to generosity.

But this is the year that I choose to say yes to generosity. God put in my heart for me to commit to serving and showing an act of generosity at least once a month to my family, boyfriend, and strangers/friends. So using the Live Purposefully Calendar (click to download to use for yourself), I planned out strategies that I would commit to learning to be more generous. For this month, I decided I would pay for someone's groceries. 

As I was walking in the grocery store, I started praying and asking God to make a divine appointment for me to meet someone whom he wanted me to bless through paying their groceries. As I was approaching the grocery line to pay for my own goods the Holy Spirit zoned my eyes to a young lady with a child who was in line and about to pay for her grocery goods. I felt the Holy Spirit push me to go to that line and pay for that lady. 

The feeling of awkwardness starting to arise but I knew this had to be done. So, I offered the lady that I would pay for her groceries. She was in complete shock and refused for me to pay for her. The register lady saw all of this happening and told the lady, "Don't reject a blessing that God wants to give to you. He loves you and wants to bless you through this young girl." 

It was at that moment when the lady whom I was about to pay for starting to have tears in her eyes. She said thank you and hugged me 3 times before she left the store. I don't know if she had a relationship with God or what was going on in her life, but I do know that she felt God's love at that moment. 

I was so amazed at how God was able to put all of this together. Not only was the lady whom I paid for touched by God's love, but the register lady who was serving us was also in awe. She announced it loudly, "God is here and he is still moving in this city." She thanked me for showing God's love to that young lady and said she wish she could see more people do what I did. While all this was happening, everyone behind me in line was also listening and watching.

My prayer is that everyone at the grocery store who did see what happened would be touched by God's love and believe that he is real. I am also praying that the young lady who I paid for would hold on to God's love for her and draw closer to him. 

That evening I was so overwhelmed with how God was able to orchestrate everything for his glory. Through my generosity, God was able to extend his love to another who really needed it. 

Our generosity allows God to extend his love to others.

That day God really opened my eyes to the beauty and power of generosity. I was able to see how God could use my generosity to expand his kingdom. I thought my one generous act would just touch one person, but it ended up touching a whole line at Publix, and possibly more lives. 

Generosity is more than a kind act - it displays the love of God into the world. We have been given so much potential from God to display his glory and draw others to him through the many gifts he has given to us - and generosity is one of them. Is God calling you to say yes to generosity? Who is God calling you to serve? Ask the Lord how you can serve those around you, because he does have a plan to use you through generosity and servanthood. 

Acts 20:35 says, "..by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." If God has blessed you with good resources and money, don't hesitate to share that to others. It is a blessing to be able to have the gift to give to others and bless them. Our giving has so much power to touch lives. It is a blessing to be able to bless others. So remember, there is beauty in generosity.