The Acts 8 Movement is asking this week: How has financial giving affected your spiritual life?

Well – I want to share with you a small miracle story. It may not sound like a miracle to you, but it changed my life and my husband’s, and showed us the power of trusting in God.

Before I was a priest, I worked for ten years as a CPA. Tom was also a financial professional – an actuary. Between the two of us, we had loads of financial savvy, and as rising young professionals, we had a nice house in the suburbs of Houston, two very young children, and bright futures ahead of us. What we didn’t have was much in the way of churchiness. We’d had our children baptized, we drifted into a church in Houston from time to time, but you couldn’t call us committed Christians. We certainly didn’t give any money to the church – we figured that was a job for the older, richer people in the congregation.

All that changed when we moved to Arizona. My husband was offered a transfer for no additional salary, but a good upside potential, so I quit my well-paying CPA job, decided to stay home with the kids for a couple of years, and we settled in for life in somewhat reduced circumstances. We bought a house in Arizona and put our house in Houston up for sale.

What we didn’t anticipate was that the Houston house would take so long to sell. We loved our house and assumed everyone else would, too. But apparently they didn’t. The house sat, and sat, and sat. In the meantime, we were living on one salary, making two house payments, and watching our savings dwindle away to nothing.

But in Arizona we joined a church. Not because we got any more religious when we crossed the state line, but because I figured after leaving all our family and friends behind, the church was where I would be able to meet some people. You know, if you show up there, they have to let you in. And we did meet people – a wonderful group of families our age who became like family to us. Because they were involved in the church, we got involved in the church – which led us to God, and eventually led me to become a priest, but that’s another story.

This story is about financial giving. And the thing was, this church that we loved was doing a big capital campaign. But we couldn’t give a dime, to that or to the regular operating fund, because we were strained to the breaking point and watching our savings dwindle away. The leaders would do appeals, and we would just shake our heads sadly, because we just couldn’t afford to give, not with first one offer on the Houston house falling through, and then another, while our bank balance melted away toward zero.

One day, as we heard another appeal in church, Tom and I looked at each other, and said in unison, “It’s time.” We got out the checkbook and wrote a check to the church from our savings account, equal to one house payment on the Houston house. We were one month closer to zero on that savings account.

There was a church picnic that day, so we didn’t get home till about 2:00. In those quaint old days before cell phones, as we walked into the house, trailing our hot, tired children, the phone was ringing. It was an offer on the Houston house. It was a better offer than either of the others, and this one stuck – the house sold, and we were able to get back on our feet.

That may not seem like a miracle story to you, but it did to us. Because we were savvy financial professionals, and we knew it made no sense to contribute money to the church when we were struggling financially. We knew that our job was to conserve our cash, and save for our children’s education, and put away something for retirement – not foolishly give to God’s mission in this church that had come to mean so much to us.

Giving to the church would make no sense. But we did it anyway. And we were blessed. I know this story might sound like “prosperity gospel” theology, where contributing money to the church gives you even more money in return. And I don’t by any means think that happens to everyone, nor do I think that God’s rewards usually come in the form of riches.

But the thing is, for us, sitting there in church, we heard the voice of God at the same time, calling us to do this absurd thing. And God showed us that he was there, blessing us right through it. In fact, in writing that check, we made the decision that our money was not going to be our savior. Against all our training, against all our professional backgrounds, against common sense, we determined that we would put our trust in God instead. And we’ve never looked back.

Every year since then, we’ve increased our giving. Every year, we’ve given out of prayer and thanksgiving and faith in the God who has given us everything we have. Every year, we have found our giving to be joyful. Every year, we have had more than enough to meet our own needs, and make generous gifts outside the church as well. Every year, we have put our trust in God just a bit more.

You see, in our rational, capitalistic world, we Americans are trained to think that our achievements bring us money, and our money will save us. In my Christian faith, I’ve found the opposite. Christ will save us, and it’s our willingness to accept his love that brings us wholeness, and faith, and salvation, and the joy of giving for the sake of Christ’s mission in this world.