Financial Testimony

Another testimony for the Glory of God!

Last Thursday during Intercessory Meeting, we interceded and claimed financial blessings for SWYF and all SWYF members. It was a fantastic meeting - we prayed, interceded, praised, worshiped, and claimed abundant financial blessing that was poured onto us.

On the next day, during our regular SWYF meeting, Andre gave a talk related to the "Giving Till It Hurt" series. The talk was centered on the story of Elijah asking for food from a poor widow (1 Kings 17:8-16). The widow had just enough food for one meal (for herself and her dying son) in the midst of drought, and they would be waiting to die after the meal. Yet, she obeyed Elijah and gave him a small cake. What happened was, the jar of flour, oil and water (required to bake bread) never went empty - though not lavish, God has blessed with enough food to carry on in the midst of drought.

Learning from the widow, we should offer up to God whatever we earn as a sacrifice, and no out of convenience. This was paralleled with the poor lady offering her only two coins, and Jesus placed her higher than the rich who offered buckets of coins (Luke 21:1-4). Which means, we should tithe to God, even in the midst of recession.

That Friday night, I actually planned to sell of all my ALTR ESPP shares, because of two reasons: I noticed the closing price at a high point of USD16.87 the day before - an uptrend for two consecutive days; and I need the money. So, I thought of going online after SWYF meeting, and look for a handsome price to sell off my shares. It ended up that I was so tired that I totally forgot about going online!

So, I slept. The next day, I realized that the stock price went up to USD17.50! I was overjoyed, but kinda worried, because the stock price might drop on Monday. So, with a certain confidence (and a little bit of don't-care feeling), I did what I had never done before - go online and set to sell all my shares at market price. I thought - whether it is going up or down, I must sell it off.

And come Monday night. I never bothered to check the stock price. So, I slept and checked what happened this morning (Tuesday already). What happened was, when market re-opened on Monday, ALTR went up to USD17.63 before dropping all the way down to USD16.62 and close. My market order was filled when it was going up, at USD17.59 to be exact! Cool!!

The interesting part is, I saved up the energy of having had to monitor the trend, and set the 'right' limit order. I was able to catch my sleep, and earn a handsome amount! Rather, God gave me rest and money! Thank you, my Lord Jesus!

I guess I have to tithe my earnings. :-D

De-jargon - Tithe (n.) literally means ten percent. To tithe (v.) means to pay a tenth of one's earnings. In Judaism and Christian terminology, to tithe means to set apart a tenth of our earnings / first fruits as an offering to God.