3 Ways to Give this Christmas

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Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. Luke 6:38 NLT

My husband loves to give.

It’s not that I don’t, I do enjoy giving. But there is something in him that yearns to give. He is always looking for ways to bless others. For him, it comes natural. For me on the other hand, I’ve had to learn how to give.

My question was always, “What if I need that later on?”

Over the years God has taught me to give through the examples of many wonderful people.

But sometimes He simply presents the opportunity to give.

Several years ago, I felt led to give away my daughter’s coat to one of her classmates who needed one. There is no way that I can describe the beauty of this coat and how cute it looked on my daughter. I loved the coat. I thought to myself surely this is not the Lord. He would not ask me to take this coat from my daughter and give it to someone else. I reluctantly told my husband, knowing he was going to tell me to just do it.

And of course, he did.

After going back and forth for several days, I finally decided to just do it.

So I gave it away.

What’s funny, is a few weeks later we got a coat almost identical to the one we gave away.

God is faithful.

[bctt tweet=”He is a giver and when we give we are taking on His character.” username=”Alisa_Nicaud”]

Giving prepares our hearts for a rich Christmas experience.

So, where do we start?

There are three ways to give.

You can give of your time, your talent or your treasure.

Many of us give of our time, which involves things such as volunteering at the local food pantry, helping at outreach opportunities in our communities or even getting involved at our children’s schools.

Giving of our treasure would be monetary support to ministries, other charities or even individuals.

Giving of our talent is a little different. To give of our talent we have to know what we are good at. When we know what we are good at, we can take that talent and use it to help or mentor others.

Although sometimes it doesn’t make sense for us to give, when we do, not only will we be blessed, but our hearts begin to change. In this season of giving, how is God asking you to give?

Practical Tips for Giving this Christmas:

Giving our Time: There are many initiatives this time of year that give us a chance to volunteer. You can start by checking with your local church. Other organizations such as local shelters and food banks also have volunteer needs.

Giving our Talent: What talents could you share with someone? Everyone is good at something. If your good at cooking, teach someone who isn’t. If your good at organizing, help someone who isn’t. We can all mentor someone on something. In the end, each party will be blessed.

Giving our Treasure: There’s many people that we want to buy for this year. Between teachers, the gate guards, the cleaning people, etc.. it can get very expensive. So in order to give, but still be frugal I will be making some gifts. Here are some ideas I found that may inspire you:

Great gifts in a jar:
The Frugal Girls

Pinterest Board:
Christmas Gifts

Prayer

Lord, thank you for the many gifts You’ve given us. You are the giver of all good things. Help us to be more like You by giving and serving others. Lord I pray that you show us how to give and who to give to this Christmas. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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