The Law of Reciprocity

Trying the Impossible Financially

By Ken Hulme
The 700 Club

CBN.com -After his divorce, Dale Lawson struggled financially. Because he a realtor, when the housing market crashed. his income crashed with it.  

“I only get paid if I sell something,” he told CBN.  “I was a little over $100,000 in debt; in credit card and installment loan debt.”    

Dale tried to make minimum payments each month on that debt but even that was proving to be impossible.  
 
“I felt extremely desperate realizing that I had so much going out and not enough coming in to even be close to making those payments. At that point it was just a nightmare.”

Dale eventually moved out of his home and into a cheap motel.       

“It had old paneled walls.  They were paper thin,” he recalls.  “You could hear everything going on in hotel.”
 
It was in a motel, however, that Dale decided to fast and pray.  It was there that God revealed a very specific truth to him.      
 
[God showed me that] “my life financially and in many other ways seemed to drastically change for the negative because of not tithing,” he said. 
 
So Dale immediately started to tithe again even though he says it was very hard.

“It was hard because that money should have gone for payments, should have gone to the debt; it didn’t make sense,” Dale reasoned. “But it made sense in that I knew God was there, and that he would help me.”         
 
Dale says God did begin to help him.

“Every month that went by that I didn’t miss any payments just kept building my faith and helping me trust God each month even more.”  

One month Dale saw the bills come due and needed more than he had coming in from commissions.  That month he received a bonus payment, actually a gift from a couple that had listed and sold their house using Dale as their agent.  The check was “above and beyond” the commission he was due.  

“An amazing thing happened;, I get this check in the mail from a doctor and his wife for the exact amount of those payments which was $2000 dollars.”  

Convinced that God was at work in his finances, Dale decided to increase his giving.      
“I felt like I needed to give even more.  And again this is where the teaching on the 700 Club and Christian television really helped me; Other people’s testimonies made me realize I wanted to give even more,” he said.       
 
Dale became a CBN partner. As he continued to give tithes and offerings, he noticed even more dramatic business growth, even while the economy was shrinking! 
 
“I began to see my debts get paid off; a little here a little there, sometimes a lot,” said Dale.  “I wasn’t working any more hours.  I wasn’t working any harder.  I wasn’t doing anything different, and yet it was very clear that God was bringing me customers.” 

By the end of the third year  Dale was giving away even more. That year he paid off the last of the $100,000 debt.   
 
“My debt began to be paid off in large lumps, seven, ten, fifteen thousand dollars just from sales.”  

Dale eventually re-married and has two children. The couple currently give, recently doubled their pledge to CBN, because they know the principle of giving works.        
 

“To anyone skeptical about giving over and above the tithe, and giving to an organization like CBN, I would beg them, beg them to try it; Beg them to see what God would do for them.”

Being obedient to God's truth made an incredible difference for Dale. Join him in partnering with CBN. You will make a difference in lives around the world, through medical missions, food and clothing programs, humanitarian outreaches and so much—all in the name of Jesus. Please join today.

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