Lessons from Auntie Anne

One of the great takeaways from meeting Anne Beiler and reading her book, "A Twist of Faith", has been to see how she prioritizes the power of a giving heart.  Remember in an earlier entry Anne had said that "Success comes from hard work and effort but blessing comes from obedience." Obedience ingiving is a great key to a life that God blesses.  That blessing from the Lord is not always in the form of financial increase but the blessing is real and lasting.  Auntie Anne's mission as a business was to give away as much money as possible, what a great goal. Anne and Jonas Beiler understood that God in His mercy had given them so much and they had no choice but to give back to God by putting Him first in their finances. Early on in their life together Jonas, Anne's husband, made a decision to trust God and to give obediently in their tithe to the Lord and beyond that in their gifts to Him. The principal became part of their life when things were tough and tight and yet they saw God prove Himself over and over. In fact at one point of their life they decided that they wanted to not only tithe but to begin to give by faith and trust God for His provision. This is one more step of obedience and for many of us it is a difficult one to take, but it is one we must learn and practice.  We can trust God and put Him first so that He can and will bless us and use us to bless others. There is a principal of God's kingdom power that is tied to our willingness to give not because we have to but because we are allowed to be a part of His plan.  In times when people are worried about the economy and about what might happened, it is important that like Anne and Jonas Beiler we make a decision to give to God in our tithe and our offerings above that as an act of our obedience to the Lord.  May God teach us to trust Him and may He give us a heart that is obedient to give.