A Generous Testimony
We Give So That Our Joy May Spread to Others
Generosity is a defining characteristic of our church culture. Last Sunday we asked Paul and April—two members of our church—to tell us how they have experienced and increased in generosity by being a part of our church. Read what they had to say below.
April:
We’ve been asked to speak on the generosity of this church. For us, this is an easy task. The members of this church have been generous to our family for 6 1/2years. Every single year since we’ve became members, my family has been through life changing events and God has used this church to help us through them all. We could spend an hour talking about this church's generosity with meal trains, baby showers, grief counseling and more. For the sake of time, I will share with you two examples of how church members were generous with their time.
Most recently, Kirsi, Lois, Sue and Diane were very generous with donating their time to support my family during the six week recovery following my surgery. For six weeks I could not lift or care for my one year old son and needed support ten hours a day. Each of these generous women got on the freeway early in the morning to be at my house in Huntington beach by 7:30am before Paul left for work. They stayed until 5:30pm each day they volunteered. This is generosity indeed. It was heart warming seeing Clark being cared for by women who loved him. It gave me peace of mind and helped me to recover well. Beyond taking care of Clark, these generous women prayed with me, counseled me and even did the chores I was unable to do. God used them in a grand way to serve my family.
I'd like to mention another chruch member who was generous with his time back in 2016 when we had just joined the Sovereign Grace family. Back then we were newly weds living on Grand St. and Chapman right around the corner. We had just found out that the baby we had been loving for 12 weeks in my womb had passed away. When we were ready to leave the house we took a walk. We ended up at Chapman Univeristy. We were grieving. It was painful. We ran into a church member. It was Dustin Smetona. He said, “Hey how ya doing?” Paul responded with an, "Oh, ok" and I burst into tears. Dustin could have said something like, "Oh man. Looks like you had a rough day. I'll be praying for you. See ya." But instead he took the time to sit with us, hear us, pray with us and read Scripture. He was generous with his time in order to show fellow members love, care and support. That's what membership is. It's supporting each other through life's joys and griefs. Life is hard. You dont' have to go through it alone. When you lose a parent or a child you will want to be surrounded by God’s generous and loving people like we have been.
Paul:
Thank you for being a generous church. Generosity is having open hands. You do not hold onto those gifts God has given you but, in turn, have your hands open whenever others need something. As the body of Christ, you have supported us in so many ways. You have given us your time, finances, and personal property. There are so many of you that have helped us throughout the years.
I’d like to mention one more example of generosity. In 2019 our neighbor had an electrical fire and, sparing many details, it left us homeless. We lost all of our clothes and possessions on the 2nd floor. Many of you generously gave us your clothes. Sue and Les opened their home to us for nearly two months. They freely gave us shelter, food, counseling, and prayer. They were very generous, especially with their Saturday bacon and bagels. Because of them, our burdens were so much lighter and have left us with a lasting reminder that God will always care for us.
I think we are prone to lean on our limited resources. We forget that God, in His great love, works in the hearts of His people to freely give us things we need. I just want to encourage you all that "It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).” Thank you.