Tithe testimony

Yesterday in church the pastor was talking about 7 areas that we need to work on making changes to this week. The last was making a change in your finances. I know so many people have a hard time about tithing (sp) and some go by the old testament and some by the new. Anyways, I just feel like God is laying it on my heart to share our testimony about how God has blessed us with our faithfulness to tithe. August 2003 James and I decided to start Dave Ramsey's financial peace. Anyways, we started making out our budget and there is a place to budget in tithing. We always gave some but never the 10%--James is very legalistic about tithing the 10% gross but I was too scared to give God that much because we were already just making enough to pay our bills and had NO extra. So, I agreed to do 10% of the net just to test if God would really provide for us. Anyways, we did that until May 2004 and then when I was going to quit working because I had Gage and we decided to go ahead and trust God with the 10% of gross. So, we were faithful and nothing much ever changed with our finances but God blessed us with jobs to do on the side to make more money and provide for our basic needs. Somewhere in 2007 we were able to start paying off bills and we are ALMOST debt free except for my car and the house--no more credit cards--we then decided to start giving alittle more than our 10%. We were then hit with the news about Autumn in 2008 and that is when God decided to really show us how our faithfulness has paid off. James has gotten raise after raise this past year. Strangers, family, friends, and co-workers sent us money to help with medical bills and travel expenses. Our church paid 1 month mortgage for us and then an unknown couple from a church in Odessa decided to pay our January and February mortgage. Everytime we receive ANY money from people we immediately put back 10% to give to some cause like missions or adoption or helping others in need. I was looking at how much we have to donate the other day and there is still over $1,000 we need to give. We have been receiving doctor bills and we have already paid almost $2,000 in just 2 months of payments to all the bills we owe and medicines for Autumn. Anyways, our biggest bill that we owe out of pocket was to the neurosurgeons for Autumn's first 2 surgeries. So, I called today to get the total amount we owe and the answer was NOTHING. I told the guy he must be wrong because I showed we at least owed $8,000. No, insurance ended up taking care of it and the only surgery bill still pending is the shunt revision and that bill is only $1,200. WHAT??? God brings me to tears in the way He provides for His children. We have even been blessed enough to put back a little each month to have a date night or take the kids to have a family fun day. We use to only have 3 dates a year--birthdays and anniversaries. I have always felt like I need to spend our money wisely and James gets mad because we never get to splurge on anything (I'm a tightwad). Anyways, to me it is a testimony that when you realize your money belongs to Him and not to you He blesses you beyond you can ever imagine. He does not promise to make you rich but He will take care of ALL your needs. Man, God IS so good!