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Hey, What is up everyone, and thanks for listening to the accidentally intentional podcast. If you are an avid fan and a weekly subscriber, then you know that it's been a couple weeks since I've released an episode. And because I'm always up to something, I want to tell you exactly why because I come bearing exciting news. months ago, I did a podcast where I talked about a life update. And I had shared how I had quit my job and I was on the hunt for a new one. In this new season I'm in and I am here today thrilled to announce that I have started a new job. And it is an incredible experience with an incredible company and I'm having the time of my life. And I'm telling you about it because it actually has to do with today's episode, the company that I'm now a part of is on a mission to unlock unprecedented generosity and generosity is a subject that is so near and dear to my heart. So I just wanted to thank all of you that have been checking in on me and have been praying for me and also who have been helping me pointing me in the right direction throughout this job search. And I also just want to take a note and pause and just cheer on everybody else that is in this exact moment, right now that I was in, that feels frustrated or lost when it comes to career and job. And I just want to let you know that, Hey, hang in there. Because there is something better on the other side, if you are willing to continue to fight for it, search for it and not back down. With that being said, I actually want to do an episode today on how I ended up changing my mind on generosity and explain all of that to you. And so I first want to start off by saying that, hey, Faith guides my steps. So the majority of this conversation is going to be coming from that specific lens. And I want to tee up the conversation today by sharing a proverb that says the world of the generous gets larger and larger, and the word of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. That's proverbs 1124. And that is a verse that has been critical in my own life that I have seen play out. And of course, I'm gonna share all of this with you today. So I hope you're ready, grab your coffee, or tea, or water or whatever drink of choice that you have to sit down with me as we have a conversation about generosity, and what it can do for others and what it can do for you. So having grown up in the church, I was very familiar with this term of tithing that was talked about almost every Sunday, my entire life growing up, and still, of course, today. And for those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, tithing is basically a biblical principle, where you give 10% of your quote unquote, first fruits, as it says in the Bible, which basically means the first 10% of a paycheck, for example, you give back to the local church that you're a part of. And so this has been something I heard my entire life but isn't something that I wanted to always put into practice. Okay, and I think everybody can understand why why would I want to give 10% of my paycheck away? And upon first glance, that is a completely fair question to have, when I came out of college and got my first professional job, I was making what felt like no money at all. In fact, I think it was like $22,000, after taxes is was my take home pay. And I remember really feeling challenged and really wrestling with this idea of, do I have enough money to actually tithe and give 10% of it away, which I also know is a conversation that a lot of people are having with themselves, you know, you hear about it, when you're in a church, or it doesn't even necessarily need to be a church, you hear about a cause you want to donate to and the first thing you do is look at your bank account and say, Wait, can I afford to do this to give this away. And so I remember being in this position, and really not knowing what to do. And it was around this exact same time that I picked up a book called circle maker by Mark Patterson. And it has become one of my favorite books and I recommend it to as many people as possible. The premise of the book is praying circles, which means just praying repeatedly and incessantly around your dreams. And at the end of the book, the author Mark Patterson lists out 100 Bucket List dreams that he is praying circles around, and I was really caught by surprise when I was glancing through his list and saw one of the bullet points being that he wants to give 70% of his income and live off the other 30%. I was like, what he asked me making so much money in order to be able to do that. And so I was just like, that's such a weird thing. But then at the same time, I was like, that's actually a really cool thing. And I changed my mind in that moment, too. What if I made a given goal? What if I made this a thing is like, Yes, I give 10%. Now, even though that's a stretch, because by giving the first 10%, it's a principle of trusting God to provide and meet all of our needs. But what if I created a goal and put a timeframe on it, that by this age, I want to be giving this certain percentage. So I typed it up in like, a document myself of all the dreams, I was going to be praying around, and I set like a seven year benchmark goal for that, and kind of tucked it away. And so basically, after that, after I wrote that down and was all excited about it, I put myself on the hook. And I started consistently giving 10% of my income to my local church at that point, and just trusting God, you know what, Lord, you know that I can barely afford anything. And God, I'm gonna believe that you got me. So I'm gonna pause this piece of the story right there. I'll go back to that portion in a minute. But as I started giving in tithing consistently, a lot of things started to happen in my mind, in my heart, and a lot of it started with worry reasonably so right. And then I started having thoughts of like, what if I can't trust what people do with my money, you know, and that leads me to another story that I want to bring up here. Because back in 2014, I was part of a missions team that went to Skid Row in Los Angeles. And if you have no understanding of what Skid Row is, up until 2020, it was the largest square mile in America of homelessness. This was the worst of the worst, when it came to homelessness, and drug addiction and drug abuse and just complete, utter depravity. And I got to see firsthand by walking on the streets of Skid Row, what it was like for these people, and it was getting to be very honest. And I remember while we were on that trip, the group of us was really wrestling with this idea of giving. And here's why. Because we were thinking like, what if we give someone money or something like that, and as a result we're enabling, they're on unhealthy choices, for lack of a better term. And I was really challenged because someone on the trip totally changed my mind when they shared this with us. And they said, You know what, when we decide to give, we are 100%, giving up control of what that person will do with it. And so in that moment, we're deciding two things, we're deciding one, this is for you. And two, this is also for you to decide what to do with it. And yes, that's absolutely a gamble. But if we are trusting that God is going to work in all things, for the good of those who love Him, as it says in Romans 828, then we can trust that when we give, there's more going on, than just having someone receive a gift. And that doesn't even need to be with money. It can be with time with material things such as clothing, food, etc. Maybe there's a little bit more to it. And so I was really challenged from that moment. And my brother was on this trip with me. And I will never forget watching this play out live time because my brother saw a homeless man on Hollywood Boulevard, who was holding up a sign saying need money or something like that. And my brother knelt down, started having quick conversation with him and said, Hey, man, like I want to buy you dinner. And the guy said, No, I don't want that. And so my brother said, I mean, aren't you hungry? He said, I don't want food. And so my brother said, Okay, you might get hungry later. So I'm gonna give you one like totally understand not hungry now not want it totally fine. And so my brother went to a fast food restaurant right next door, grab food, brought it out for the guy. The guy took it. And right in front of my brother stood up, walked over to a trash can and threw it away. Now. If you saw that happen, what reaction would you have? Would you be angry? Because I know I was so angry in that moment. I was like, why would you? He was trying to help you and you just denied it. And you know, then I immediately thought of how often do we deny the gifts that God tries to give us in our lives. But that's another side tangent. But I remember being gripped in that moment, because it really was playing out this whole situation of you cannot control what somebody does with the gifts of anything, time, money, material goods, et cetera. You just have to be generous, period. No, I'll be generous, if generous without conditions. And it really taught me a lot about what obedience looks like. And especially in that moment, because I think it's an x two or x three, where it talks about how the church, the church back in the New Testament, came together and provided and met everyone's needs, so that everybody had enough or had enough provision. And I believe that we are wired for generosity inherently, and just wired to give. And if you've read or know any studies about the brain, and what happens or what lights up, when we give, you would know that science, and nature backs this up, which I think is so cool, because there's so many layers to this, and giving is contagious. And if giving is contagious, then at the end of the day, we're able to shift our focus away from what somebody's gonna do with this to it doesn't matter, because I know the what I have, can help other people in the same way that I have been helped and blessed and benefited from the generosity of others before. So of course, I want to go forth and give out of the overflow that I have. So now back to 2017. When I write these given goals, and I make it my goal that when the next X amount of years, I want to be giving this percentage, which means every single year, consecutively, I need to be ratcheting up the percentage in which I give away. And so I want to share with you some thoughts about my experience, and what I've learned over the past five years, from creating giving goals for myself, because these given goals have really changed me. And I want to explain that. Because when you have given goals in my brain, it works like this, I know that I have this amount of money that I get to give away every month. And because of that, it opens my eyes to opportunities to be able to partner with other people that sometimes get overlooked. And I have a story to explain about that in a minute. But what's also been interesting in the five years in which I've ratcheted up my given goals, consistently, is that every paycheck or moment when I am getting down to the dollars, before I go over, something happens. It's like out of nowhere, God provides an opportunity for me, for me to make additional income, et cetera. And this is the one time in the Bible where God actually says, Test me in this. And he's asking us now if you don't think that I will provide for you, then I dare you, I challenge you to give away 10% of your income and watch what I do with your 10%. And it is literally crazy, like I am not exaggerating at all every single time that I have been so nervous that I was not going to have enough money. God came through in a huge way. And that's been one of the coolest things about it. And now I want to read this verse to you. Because this has always been something that's been super important to me, as well. Matthew six, one through four says truly I tell you, this is Jesus speaking. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. So that you're giving may be in secret, then your Father who sees what you have done in secret will reward you. And this has been super important to me because I don't actually like talking about this subject because I don't ever want it to come back and be like, Look at me. Because really, what I'm trying to do through all of this is challenge you to look at God, this has nothing to do with me at all. This is all about what God does when we actually take him at his word. And so even though my salary has increased over the years, my reliance on God every paycheck to help provide and meet my needs hasn't changed. I haven't reached a point where I'm like, You know what, it's all good. I can just sit back and chill. And now that I have been doing this for five years, I don't ever want to get to that point. I want to always be reliant on God at the end of the day and always be stretching myself to be more generous than I even think is possible. Because I know that on the other side Have an act of obedience and stepping into generosity, God is going to meet all my needs, I want to be dependent on God because my relationship with him is the most important thing in my life. And so now all that being said, I want to share with you how cool God is. And what he did. The week that I got my first paycheck from my new job. And of course, you know, the through line through this entire conversation has been generosity, even down to the company that I am part of now. And it was a Friday that I received my first paycheck. And Saturday, the very next day, I go on a walk. Now, I'm telling you about the sequence of events on purpose, because having not had a consistent job for months on end, the moment that I have now a consistent paycheck, it has unlocked more funds to be able to give and be generous. So I was super excited about it. Now, once again, I get to look for even more opportunities to do so than before, even if they come in the most bizarre of circumstances. So I'm on this walk on Saturday, and I pass a homeless woman holding a sign. Now this is peculiar, because I have never, in the two years I go on this walk route, have seen someone who was homeless holding a sign here before. So it kind of catches my attention. And a walk past, I take no more than 10 steps. And immediately, I feel on my heart, turn around and go sit down and talk to her. And so I take off my air pods, put them away, I walk back to her and I sit down. And I said, Hey, I'm on my walk right now. But what happened, and then ensues, a half hour conversation with this woman, where she shares everything that brought her to the point of homelessness today. And I am completely gripped by this conversation. And I have so many things swirling in my head, such as you almost walked right past this person and ignored their existence. And as we're going through the conversation, my goal is to treat her as a human. And to be generous with my time in this moment. That's it. And I want her to know that I see her. And so the questions I asked her are not baiting questions, they aren't questions of Oh, are you really and trying to figure that out? Or questions that would show that I just trust her because I want her to know that, hey, even though I don't know you, I actually really care about you. And I want to hear your heart. So we have this half hour conversation. And near the end of it. I say do you are there any motels around that, you know, that you could stay at if you get enough money. And she tells me that there's one motel where the guy said he'd cut her deal for X amount a night. And so I keep that in the back of my mind, but I say nothing else about it. And at the end of the conversation, I say to her what is your experience been like sitting out here? And she says, Well, it's been it's been a lot. It's been pretty painful. And I said, Can you share why? And she said, Yeah, because people act like you're invisible when they see a sign. And you were the first person all week that has sat down and seen me and had a conversation with me and she starts to cry at this point, then I'm getting emotional listening to it. Because here I was nearly guilty of almost doing the exact same thing. And she said, You know, I've had so many people make promises to me and they're empty, and it's hard to trust people anymore. And as she says that, I think and here I was guilty of almost not trusting her and not trusting her intentions or actions, etc. And so I'm feeling like convicted as she's just talking and but just convicted about how to act moving forward. And I will say that as a result of that conversation. It really has been such an amazing reminder and one that I needed of seeing people where they are and for who they are, and that their current situation does not define them. And so at the end of the conversation I do said to her, you know, because I'm gonna walk, I don't have any cash on me. But Do you by chance, like, have a Venmo. And through a turn of events, she ended up still having access to a Venmo account. And I said, Okay, so I'm going to send you money right now. And I'm going to do it right in front of you. Because I want to be able to help you spend a couple of nights at a motel. And so I gave her the money, and then showed her the Venmo receipt. So she knew that I went to her, and she started tearing up again. And she said, You didn't have to do that. And I said, I know I didn't have to, but I get to. And I really wanted to, because I want you to know how loved you are. And then I stood up, and I gave her a hug. And then she said, I can't remember the last time I've gotten a hug from somebody. And in that moment, I was like, This was so much bigger than I thought, I will never forget her saying, I can't remember the last time someone gave me a hug. The money was such a minor part of it. The major part was that God wanted to show her how loved she was. And he somehow wildly decided to use me to do it. And how humbling and crazy that is that in the midst of our brokenness that God sometimes chooses to use us, for him to remind someone, that He loves them, that he's providing their needs, that he still sees them, and that they still matter. And afterwards, I shared about how moved I was by the experience on Instagram and other people joined in and, and, and gave. And, you know, what was so cool about it is that people gave without asking questions. And that was such a, an amazing reminder to me to continue to give open handed, because as it says, In Proverbs, The world of the generous, gets larger and larger, and I want to continue to lean into that every single day. And the story continues, because that day, I actually invited her to come to church. And would you believe that Sunday, me and my boyfriend, pick her up and take her to church with us. And she has an amazing experience and was again, reminded of how God saw her in the middle of what she thought was rock bottom. He was there with her. And as I thought back over those 24 hours, I was just reminded of how every single thing that happened was God so visibly showing up for someone and how he will go to such crazy lengths to get someone's attention to remind them of how much He loves them. I still can't get over it. The fact that she went from in 24 hours to being invisible, on the street holding a sign to later the next evening walking into a church where people were holding welcome sign saying, Hey, welcome to church fully seen and fully loved. I mean, honestly, it still brings me to tears today. And the reason I'm sharing this with all of you is because I changed my mind about generosity. Because I first used to think I can't, I can't give, I can't type I don't make enough. But now I can confidently say, I can't afford not to give, and I can't afford to not be generous, because I serve a generous God, I continue to ask for opportunities for God to open my eyes to see where I can partner with him to meet a need for someone else or something else living a generous life has absolutely transformed my entire heart. So hey, this is just my own life experience. Right? But I would love to hear yours and continue this conversation and I truly mean that. So please feel free to DM me at XO, Asher or at accidentally intentional on Instagram and we can keep this conversation rockin and rollin there. But guys, I just appreciate how generous you are to listen to this episode. And give it your time and give me your time because I know how valuable it is. So I just want to say thank you. And hey, if you wouldn't mind. If you could just leave a review for the show or for this episode, whether it's on Apple podcast or Spotify. It could be a starred review or written review. I would so up Appreciate it, and especially sharing this and what I really want to do is I want to compound this message of generosity because generosity is something that never goes out of style. And I think if we're honest with ourselves, we are all products of generosity at the end of the day, especially when it comes to Jesus, laying his life down giving his life for us, so that we can have a relationship with him. I think it's pretty amazing. So thanks for tuning in to each episode. Know how incredibly loved you are, and I can't wait to see you back here. Then two weeks