Giving
When NOT to Say - "I Can't Afford It"
By Shannon Woodland, The 700 Club
There are people in this world who are crying out to God for help this very minute. You can end hunger and thirst, bring medical and disaster supplies, provide jobs, and give hope to millions of hurting people. When you join, you help preach the Gospel in 147 countries and territories and 65 languages around the world. Do something that will last for eternity.
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“I was desperate,” says Cindi Merritt. “I stayed in bed for 30 days boo- hooing and crying and I say that very seriously.”
After nearly 30 years of marriage, Cindi’s husband left her. With the divorce came the loss of Cindi’s job because she worked for the family business.
“I didn’t work, I didn’t eat, I didn’t do anything but lay in bed, cry and watch Christian television,” says Cindi.
Cindi watched The 700 Club daily and was encouraged by what she heard. So she decided to get out of bed and take a friend’s advice – begin a career in real estate. But this move opened up new challenges for Cindi.
“I always looked at money as my money,” she says. “I was not a tither. Once I got divorced and started re-evaluating my life, that was one of the things God started talking to me about was, ‘I’m going to provide for you but you need to get your life right with the tithing situation.’”
Cindi began tithing to her church and she also became a CBN partner. But there was one more thing God brought to Cindi’s attention – the spousal support she received for a short time after her divorce.
“I never looked at that as income,” says Cindi. “I didn’t work for it. And one day God and I were having this discussion and He said, ‘You know I provided that for you.’ And I said, ‘okay, I need to tithe on that don’t I?’”
Cindi added up what she owed in tithe. “And I rounded it up to $25,000 dollars,” says Cindi.
Within a few weeks, Cindi grabbed the opportunity to make up her tithe.
“And God says, ‘Now’,” remembers Cindi.
Cindi went to her phone, called The 700 Club and with the belief that God would provide, pledged $25,000 dollars.
“Things just started popping in my business,” says Cindi. “God started giving me opportunities in business. He said, ‘Okay here’s another one, here’s something else.’ And within a matter of just eight months or so that $25,000 dollars is long paid off and He has continued to give me opportunities that have blessed me.”
Cindi is still going strong in the real estate business. She’ll be the first to say that it took many talks with God to get her on the road to tithing. But today she’s living proof it works.
“People who don’t tithe are always going to say, ‘I can’t afford it’,” says Cindi. “And people who do tithe and give are always going to say, ‘I am so blessed. I am so happy!’ And that’s the category I’m in now. I love to tithe, I love to give.”
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