Carolyn Snyman - Co-founder of Hands at Work
“To me, giving means being willing in and out of season to give of my time, talents and treasures. It’s understanding the spiritual concept of receiving freely from Jesus, so we can then give freely to others. We can be a huge blessing and encouragement to others by giving, no matter what it costs us. An attitude of giving is one without a consequence or expectation of receiving something in return.
It also can mean being faithful in our tithing of what God has given us. He always gives enough for us, and so we can use what God has given us to bless others. It seems hard sometimes because we often think, ‘I don’t have enough to give’, but giving most the time is a sacrifice - and the blessing is received afterwards. We are often tested in giving; our heart’s attitude, or even wanting to tell the receiver what to do with the gift. However, even if we are left with nothing, we need to trust and believe that we have heard correctly and that God will provide for us. God promises us that He will always provide and take care of us, but it’s not always the way we think it should be. When George and I were called to a life of Servant hood and giving freely of ourselves, even when we didn’t have much to give, God still provided for us. We said we will go wherever, but we desired for our children will have good schooling. Things don’t always go the way we have planned but today we can say the Lord provided for each one of our kids for their schooling and still does.”
What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. I Corinthians 2:12