By Clyde Shellstrom with Dave Franco
How Toys for Joy is the recipient of a miracle and mystery
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I give of my finances to Toys for Joy and I should not be thanked. God is the only one who should. He has made all my giving possible—not because he has made me a man of privilege. I am not giving out of my success. I give out of the abundance God has given me for doing nothing more than…giving to Him.
I will explain.
Somewhere in my life I ventured out to the end of the spiritual plank and trusted God that if I tithed 10 percent of my income, and then gave a little more, he would take care of me. God responded by establishing what I call the mysterious cycle of giving, where the more I give to Him, the more He gives back to me which gives me more to give to Him. The thing about it is that I simply cannot trace back the numbers—and yet I always have extra. More goes out than is coming in, and I still always have extra. It’s a miracle—one that I’m not always in a hurry to tell others about because when I have, people look at me like I’m from another planet. If only they could see what miracles take place in my check book each month.
Oddly enough, there was a time when, during my divorce, I decided to stop giving. My monthly obligation to my ex-wife was so severe that it shook me into not trusting God as I once did. I felt I needed every penny.
But then everything went haywire. Everything I had seemed to break and things were costing me more than I had anticipated and money was going here and there, and I suddenly felt like the miracle I had been living under had been removed.
But once I got wise, I reverted to my giving ways and the miracle has returned. That is why I give to Toys for Joy. It’s an opportunity to step back into the mysterious cycle of giving.
The result has been that not only has He blessed me with just enough to give back, but He has blessed me, each Toys for Joy Saturday since 2012, with all the smiles from the kids to whom I am privileged to hand a toy and say Merry Christmas. That never gets old.
This is not a get-wealthy program. This is a live-free program. Whether God blesses you with more joy, or better relationships, or greater health, you can live free knowing that God is in total control of your life. Because when you trust God with your finances you trust him with your heart. And that is what He really wants most.
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Click here to give or serve at Toys for Joy on December 8 and witness Christmas dreams come true!
