Blessings of Tithing

Near the end of last year, we were stretched a little thin, financially. We weren't bringing in as much as we had thought, and so we were on a tight budget. What made it harder, was that Christmas was coming. I was concerned, and had more then one emotional breakdowns about our financial situation. We had to get creative about our Christmas gifts, and we went over our finances several times to make sure we had enough to make it through the year. We were going to make it, but it was going to be tight.

Then, at the start of December, Daniel had to have his wisdom teeth taken out. An emergency we hadn't accounted for. We didn't have dental insurance, and no money in our budget for it. 

Daniel and I had several discussions about our options. One of those options was to use our tithing money to pay our medical bills. It was the only 'bill' we had that didn't have repercussions if not paid. Well, not financial repercussions anyway.

We prayed for answers, and for help. Do we pay tithing, or medical bills? But the answer was obvious. We didn't really need to ask, because we already new the answer. We pay our tithing first......always! And we did.
Yes, we're still in a bind, and we have not yet recovered, but we made it. We have been blessed too many times before for paying tithing, that there was no way we couldn't do it this time. I believe in paying tithing, and I know that we will be blessed for it. It's not always easy, but I know it's worth it.

This past General Conference, Elder David A Bednar gave a wonderful talk about the blessings of tithing entitled: The Windows of Heaven.