God's Unbelievable Faithfulness

There is some latency in a sales job.  It was about halfway through summer, or later, that I actually started getting real money from the job.  Now as any NSA student will tell you, NSA is expensive.  This year, each payment is $1870.  Now several weeks ago I made the first part of the first payment to NSA.  Unfortunately it was fairly small, due to me having to make the deposit first and paying for rent back in Moscow.  So I was only able to pay about $400.  I was however a little delinquent on the account so I knew NSA would charge me some money.

Last week I got a little information packet from NSA that included a summary of my payment.  I looked at how much I owed on the first payment and I was distressed to see it was around $1700.  I chalked it up to delinquent charges and, not having much time to give it thought, put the paper aside.  I resolved to call NSA and ask about it but didn't get around to it for some time.

The other day I was listening to a sermon by Mark Driscoll concerning money.  At one point he touched briefly upon tithing and told an inspiring story of his younger days when he was in financial straits.  He told his wife they should cut the tithe; she adamantly refused.  So they continued tithing, despite the fact it would cause them to go into debt.  However, on two different occasions, they received $100 from someone; they were simply being told, "God told me to give this to you."

This convicted me to tithe as soon as I possibly could (I'd been building a tithe up for several months and it was up past $300) even though it would mean I delay paying for NSA even longer.  So I called my dad up, asking him if I could take $300 out of my college fund to pay the tithe.  This depressed me, as one of my big goals this summer was to become essentially financially independent.  It looks like this should happen next summer, though.  But I digress.  At this point I was fully committed to paying the tithe, even though it would set me back a bit.

So tonight I realized I should go through the information packet and fill it out and send it to NSA.  I happened to look again at the amount due on the first payment.  It read $1311.

This took me aback.  But I quickly thanked God for it.  I essentially was given $400 out of nowhere.

Now I'm not saying this to advocate a karma-like approach to God.  Every time you read your Bible, candy will not suddenly appear under your pillow.  If you owe a back-tithe and you pay it God will not suddenly give you $400.  Did I get this $400 simply because I misread the amount the first time?  Of course.  This was no miracle, but it was a gift.  God is faithful, and God provides.  Praise Him. =)