The appeal was for $200,000. I had $7 in my wallet.

This was prime real estate for our growing church. The owners agreed to sell it to us for half the price a developer was willing to pay. The process was moving forward, but the church ran into an insurmountable obstacle at the eleventh hour. But when God is in it, miracles happen.

One Sunday morning, the pastor announced that the church needed to raise an additional $200,000 by Monday due to the appraisal, or the loan would fall through. The amount was daunting, given that historically, previous appeals for special offerings raised a maximum of $20,000. How could the church raise ten times that? But God …

I had $7 in my wallet. I didn’t have our checkbook, but the $21 in our checking account wouldn’t have made a difference, and payday wasn’t until Thursday. (Online banking didn’t exist then.) I took the $7 and put it in the offering basket as it came by.

At the worship service that night, the total for the offering was announced—$237,000! Hallelujah! Jasmine and I rejoiced with the entire church, knowing our offering was part of the total, which enabled the church to purchase the property. Being able to contribute only $7 didn’t matter. Like the woman who gave two copper coins in Mark 12:42, I gave all I had.

Fast forward approximately thirteen years. The church is meeting in the sanctuary on the prime real estate we purchased. It’s December, and the pastor announced a new initiative. We’re partnering with a ministry whose mission is to rescue and restore survivors of sexual slavery. Our goal is to raise $150,000 to build a safe house and training center in West Africa. My heart is pulled to contribute, having researched and written about childhood sexual abuse. God has been generous to me through people, and while I’m not wealthy, I now have more than $7 in my wallet. After praying, God led me to give a sizeable donation.

At our church’s annual meeting in February, it was announced that we had exceeded our goal of $150,000 for the mission. Through the generous hearts of the people, the church raised $503,365! My portion is only a tiny fraction of the total, but I rejoice in contributing.

Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). God fills our hearts with joy when we invest our time, talent, and treasure to build His Kingdom. The context of the verse is storing up treasure in heaven, and God gives us a taste of heaven as we joyfully invest while on earth.

My heart desires to go beyond contributing financially. I also hope to volunteer time and talent as part of a mission team to help build the safe house in West Africa in the fall.

There’s joy in generosity!

Stop and consider …