Autumn is in full swing, and our hearts and minds naturally shift toward gratitude. We begin counting our blessings and naming everything we’re thankful for. But looking back at my life, I believe true gratitude isn’t a season. It is a seed meant to be sown into the lives of others. And when I consider how giving has blessed my life, I always return to my own story.
I didn’t grow up with much. Resources were scarce throughout my childhood, and my family was often in need. Every year as the holidays approached, we received free Thanksgiving meals.
To this day, I can still picture it — a local church member, full of smiles, dropping off our meal at the door. We knew we wouldn’t eat a full Thanksgiving dinner without someone else’s choice to provide it. The turkey, with all the trimmings, came directly from someone else’s generosity. Growing older, I understood it was more than that. It was their obedience toward God and their readiness to give from their own abundance.
Those experiences changed me. They planted a seed of cheerful giving right in my heart.
Watching God’s faithfulness show up through the generosity of strangers lit something in me from a very young age. I remember telling myself: if I ever had the chance to help, I would do it cheerfully.
Years later, God continues to prove Himself faithful. He has given my family so much. One of the greatest honors of my adult life has been stepping into the role of the cheerful giver. Together, as we are able, we have been blessed to provide for needs I once knew firsthand.
What God Says About Giving
The world tells us resources are scarce, so we had better protect what we have. But God’s kingdom operates on an entirely different principle.
Jesus says in Luke 6:38: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
The blessing of giving rarely centers on physical things we pass along. The real reward is what happens inside our own hearts when we release what we have into God’s hands.
When we give, we break free from the fear of scarcity. We declare that our security does not rest in money, assets, or time. Instead, it rests in the radical, unchanging faithfulness of a God who blesses us simply because He chooses to.
From Receiving to Giving
Every time we provide for someone in need, memories of those childhood Thanksgivings flood through me. God sees every soul. He hears every prayer. What a beautiful, humbling honor it is to realize He can use our hearts to answer someone else’s prayer.
Giving my time and finances has blessed my life by shifting my focus from what I can get to how I can give. It has taught my family to live with open hands. Looking back at the journey, from receiving free holiday meals to handing them out, we see a beautiful paradox of grace.
We don’t give because we have it all figured out or because we hold an endless surplus. We give because we remember what it felt like to wait on a miracle. And we want to be part of someone else’s miracle.
Friend, as we gather around our tables, let us remember that our overflow is never meant to stop with us. It is meant to flow through us. May we become people who look for the needs around us. And may we give cheerfully and intentionally, trusting that the Lord who provided will continue to multiply every loaf and fish we place in His hands.
