Have you given your all? By Mary Mokaya
I woke up one Sunday morning feeling grateful for the new week and hoping that it would be a quieter one as the past one had been overwhelming. You know the usual requests for fundraising, and support that had seemed endless and I was really feeling financially stretched. For comfort, I checked my Mpesa balance. That is our current wallet in Kenya right? I saw had some money left and it was enough to cover my new week’s basic needs, my Sabbath offering, and transport to places I needed to go. So I comforted myself. This gave me a good feeling of safety. It turned out to be a futile and temporal feeling. You know the Bible in proverbs 16:9 (NLT) clearly says, “Man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”
During the midmorning, I was at my desk when two distress calls came in, one after another. The first was from a single mother of four who had nothing to feed her children. An hour later, a second one came in that was equally urgent and needy. My heart wrestled within me. I had shared with the first stress call and left something for myself. It was justified right? Yes! Now this second one meant parting with everything left. I wanted to ignore it; but how could I ignore such a cry of need? I chose to give instead, though it meant parting with everything I had carefully planned for the week. By noon that day, I was left with nothing; and I mean nothing not even 100 bob. I WAS AT ZERO. I sighed and whispered, “God, really? Must it always be me? You know that was all I had.” I left it at that, with a heavy heart but resigned.
Little did I know that God had heard my silent complaint or was it a plea? Are you aware that silence is God’s language? Think of Abraham on Mount Moriah. Three days of walking with his son, carrying wood but no lamb, and God said nothing. Yet just at the point of surrender, heaven broke the silence with provision. In my own small test, God had heard my whispered complaint/plea. Thankfully, He did not treat it as retribution. In the evening; surprise! surprise! A message popped up on my phone, it was an M-Pesa alert. It was money more than double what had been in my phone in the morning. I had to call the sender to confirm whether it was a mistake; but it was confirmed to be mine send to bless me.
Weeeh! God literally poured the blessing in my lap in good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. I was stunned. Shock gave way to humility, and I went down on my knees in repentance. In that instant, the words of Luke 6:38 rang loud in my ears. “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” I am still humbled by the incident.
In that quiet moment, a song echoed in my heart:
“Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart, does the Spirit control?
You can only be blessed, and have peace and sweet rest,
If you yield Him your body and soul.”
Our God who hears the Sparrow fall, hears our anguish either silent or whispered. Remember God was silent in the case of Lazarus. When Jesus delayed, to Martha and Mary it looked like heaven was silent. Yet, in that very silence, God was preparing a greater revelation of His glory. When Christ finally spoke, life returned to the grave.
In my case, my silent mourning reached God’s ears and He literally poured a blessing in my lap that Sunday morning that left me stunned. The words of Luke 6:38 are very true. “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent” (Numbers 23:19). We can trust Him with our ALL.
That day I learned that stewardship is not about giving from abundance, but about trusting God enough to give Him your all. Even when you have nothing left. What I saw as loss, God turned it into blessing. God was also merciful to me. Remember I gave with a complaining spirit, He taught me a lesson, never again would I do that. The bible says “God loves a cheerful giver.” What I thought was the end, God used it as the beginning of provision. So give that you may receive. Acts 20:35 says “And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.” See what God did to me.
Additionally, I learned that stewardship is more than the act of giving. Instead it is a journey of trust, obedience, and surrender. At times, God allows us to face moments where our faith is tested, not because He wants to drain us, but because He wants to show us His faithfulness and mercy in much deeper ways.
So, “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
She Loves to write and play around with words. Most importantly a Heaven aspirant.
Sis. Mary Simuli Mokaya
