BLESSINGS!

Jim and I are pretty faithful in tithing. It's how much we tithe, however, causes differences between us. I believe in giving more than just the "bare minimum" 10% of your gross income; to me it's such a small portion compared to all the Lord has blessed us. To Jim, that's more than we can really "afford" to give, especially with all of our bills and the holidays coming up.
However, I do carry the checkbook with me so sneakily I can write however much I want to without him noticing until either he takes a peek at the check before putting in the offering basket, or sees it online once it's been deposited. :)
Yesterday's findings on how our tithing has been working is enough for me to continue. Yesterday I called Charter to get our pipeline service changed; we have been paying more than we wanted to for our service, and although the quickness of pipeline has been awesome, it wasn't enough to keep us paying what we were paying. When I called in, I talked to a nice lady who, without argument, offered us the same service for a year at $10/month less than what we are paying now...no strings attached, no contract to sign, we just have the same service for a year and can still cancel at any time. I agreed, remembered to get the woman's name who offered this discount to me (just in case I get burned, that has happened to me before), and hung up, feeling excited.
Then, I read my e-mail, and get one from Netflix, the online dvd rental service we have been members of for a couple of months now. It beats Blockbuster; keep 3 movies at a time, return them whenever you want, don't have to pay for postage, and you build up a rental queue, so you pick the movies you would like to see and whenever you return one, another one you pick previously will be automatically sent to you...it's a great deal if you're a big moviewatcher like I am! Anyway, we pay $23/month for this service, which isn't bad to begin with, but again, just another thing to pay for.
When I opened up my e-mail from Netflix, I read that because of the feedback they had been getting from some members, they are giving all members the same service for only $18/month! Wow, another $5/month that we save! By that time I had to call Jim and let him know; I knew he'd be elated.
I realize that this may not be a big deal to some of you. What's $5 here or there? But I am a big savings buff. I'm the type who goes into the store and automatically goes to the sale or clearance rack. You don't buy things at retail price unless you absolutely have to find something for a wedding you're going to that evening.
As soon as I added up all that we were planning on saving in the future, my praise instantly went to God, for how He has worked in our lives to give us what we need.
"For this I will praise you, o Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to your name."
2 Samuel 22:50