Two years ago, when the Multiply commitments were first made, I really struggled with handing in a commitment card.

I struggled because the number I wanted to write down for my commitment (which was feasible, in my estimation) was not the number I knew God was impressing on my heart to write down.

It wasn't that I was opposed to giving; I had already been giving for a long time. But I had become “comfortable” in my giving, and it was no longer making an impact on me or my family's lifestyle anymore. I felt God challenging me to write down a bigger number than I was comfortable with, and it wrecked me inside. I didn't want to comply.

On the Member Night where some of us made commitments early, I sinned. I ignored God's leading and wrote down a lower commitment amount, one that I thought was doable for me. But because of the shame, I never turned my card in that night. Instead, I sat in my chair and wept. All that following week, I couldn't get it out of my mind. I knew I had to be obedient, but it was scary. I had never attempted to give away so much before. But then I felt God asking me this simple question: “Do you trust me?” I knew what my answer should be—what I wanted it to be. But I knew my actions demonstrated where my heart really was. So I asked God to help me trust him.

The following week, when the rest of the church made commitments, too, I took a new card and wrote down the larger number—the one I knew God was telling me to commit to. As I dropped that card in the bowl, I prayed and told God I trusted him with my money.

A lot has happened in my heart over the past two years, and I wish I could share it all now. But to make a long story short, last week [December], we not only met our goal but, by God's grace, exceeded it. And it's all because of him. Two years ago, what I thought to be impossible under my own strength God showed me was completely possible by his. To him be the glory!

Submitted by a Brier Creek Campus Member