Firsts...

I was thinking today, and I just had to journal about what I came up with. It isn't really a new or astonishing revelation, but God really cemented a lesson in my heart today. I was thinking about how God blesses us when we bring Him our firsts. Like my quiet time. I used to think I was way too busy to spend an hour with God every day. If I had a minute to focus on prayer and quiet time, I was lucky! No matter how well I planned, something always came up or interrupted. But finally I just made a choice to get up early and spend time with God then. Sure, I work crazy hours, often until 3am (getting home closer to 4am!) - see the time stamp on this post for instance. And sure, I'm usually pretty grouchy if I haven't gotten my rest. And honestly I've never in my life been a morning person. But it kept coming back to me, that God deserved those first few moments of my day. That those were the times least likely to be interrupted, distracted, or shoved aside for some other chore or responsibility. So I decided to give it a try. There are many mornings that I'd much rather stay in bed when I smell the coffee brewing, or would much rather pull the blankets tighter around me than climb out from under them. But when I am faithful to my committment and I crawl out of bed and meet God in my closet for those first few moments of my day, He truly comes through for me. I am filled with a peace I otherwise couldn't imagine, a patience that comes from well beyond my capabilities, a strength that is far from my own. He blesses my socks off all day long, simply because I came to Him first. I gave Him my first moments, my first thoughts, my first fears and wishes and anxieties, and desires.

It worked the same way with money, really. We have never made as much money as our intelligence/earning potential says we should. We choose to be public servants instead, but that is another story. My point is that we've never had an excess of money to throw around. Things have been tight- at times tighter than others. There was a time before we decided to be a tithing family that we couldn't have dreamed of giving that much money "away." A series of messages were laid on our hearts that led to us taking the step to tithing. Trust me, we couldn't imagine how it would work, where the money would come from, what we'd miss or forfeit to make it happen. But we knew we were supposed to do it, that God expected His tithe, and that we needed to make it work. Really, we realized that everything we had we owed to Him anyway, so we rejoiced that He let us keep a full 90%! We went in a single day from throwing whatever extra cash we had in our pockets into the offering plate, to writing out a check for at least 10% every week. It was huge, and we were scared. But when we brought God the first, he blessed the daylights out of the rest. Suddenly things stretched farther, money just happened to come in unexpectedly at the same time as an unanticipated expense. Things just worked, in ways that we still to this day often don't understand. But I know that God's hand is all over it. He loves that we bring our first to Him, and He provides more than we need and then some with what we have left. His mercies overflow, his goodness endures, and our storerooms are filled abundantly.

So I want to learn to bring God my first in everything I do. I want to make it my goal to always give God the first of anything I have. My desires, my needs, my hopes, my dreams... I want to bring them to Him first and lay them at His feet. I know that He will meet me there, that He will be faithful to His promises, and that He will bless me in abundance. I pray that the earthly distractions will fall away, that my heart will be filled with His affection, and that I will rejoice in his goodness forever. To seek Him first in all that I do, that is my prayer.