giving night

journal entry - June 4, '08
I cannot believe what happened tonight. Giving night. Quite possibly the greatest night of my life. Praising God for 2 ½ hours straight – praising by giving back what is His. Breaking materialism in our lives. I spent the entire night in tears. Wow God, I was so filled watching you pour out your blessings on others tonight. Ipods exchanged, laptops freely given, money for plane tickets and outreach fees placed in the hands of those who need it. Indescribable miracles.

I gave Natalie my NorthFace jacket tonight. I loved that jacket so much. It’s still so new, I wanted to hold onto it. But I wanted to give more, and I knew you were asking me to let it go. I don’t want to be controlled by any material possessions, trapped in the spirit of poverty. I don’t want to hold back from any of the blessings you have for me, Father. I let it go. And the look on Natalie’s face and the tears running down her cheeks made it completely worth it.

All day, the only thing I could think about was a guitar. God, you told me I was going to learn to play, and with everything in me I’ve wanted one of my own. But I didn’t tell anyone. Hardly anyone knows I want to learn the guitar, and I laid that down. I didn’t want expectations on my heart. I wanted to be full, even if I received nothing. But God, you see every desire in my heart.

Jed gave me his guitar. It was his very first one. With tears streaked down his face he told stories of it as he placed it in my hands. It’s all that I wanted and more. It’s not something I gave to myself, but a gift from you. It’s absolutely beautiful, and perfect for my little fingers. Being a sacrifice from Jed makes me want to learn it and take care of it so much more. His memories are being passed onto me. Andre prayed prophetic gifting over me – and God I know you’ve called me to this. Help me to learn, to have discipline and diligence in my practice, and use it as a tool for your worship and glory. You blew my mind tonight. And I loved every minute of it.

Just a few of the blessings I can recall from tonight:

• Leah gave her MacBook to Seojin
• Seojin gave her digital camera to Amber
• Andrew gave his MacBook to Andre
• Ben received all of the money needed for a plane ticket to Hawaii for missions
• Trey gave his laptop to Aaron – and then Seojin gave her new laptop to Trey
• Graham and Hope gave $5,000 to Wraeth and Michelle for plane tickets overseas
• Mark emptied his savings account for Andrew & Ally (first time without a savings account in 25 years)
• John received a guitar from Caroline, and his first pair of tennis shoes from Trey
• Deanne, Amber, Caroline, Becca, Aaron & Amie received new iPods and MP3 players (Becca gave away her 8GB iPod and later received Grahams 80GB iPod)
• Derek gave his new digital camera to Ben, then received one from Renee
• Natalie gave away her wedding pearls, then later received Ally’s 19yr old wedding pearls
• Harmony gave Michelle her diamond wedding ring
• Hundreds of dollars given freely to those in need for outreach fees
  

Oh daddy, how you bless your children! Thank you for being the provider in our lives. For filling our needs and our wants. You are more than enough.