It Is Never the Amount. It Is the Heart.

As we are nearing the realization of our dream of relocating to a new building, I find myself grateful.

✓ Grateful for those who paid the price to keep the doors of Grace open from 1938 and

beyond. Clearly, we are standing on the shoulders of their sacrifice.

✓ Grateful for the prayers and all of the gifts, large and small. No matter how small, the

gifts were steps of faith that helped get us to where we are today.

The Heart Behind the Gift

I am reminded of the widow who gave and of Jesus’ observation of that moment. His

observation comes in Mark 12:43–44: the wealthy gave out of their abundance, but the

widow, out of her poverty, “put in everything—all she had to live on.”

We should not miss the point that Jesus is making: The gift is never measured by the amount given, but by what the gift represented to the giver. The others gave from their surplus; she gave herself into the offering.

I believe that gifts given to God through Grace have been sacrificial, and for that we are

grateful.

A 1950 Chevy and a Sacrifice of the Heart

I want to call to mind one gift that was a huge sacrifice, a gift that reminds me of the widow’s mite.

• 

• 

In this case, a dear lady (her name doesn’t matter; God knows) gave a car—a 1950 Chevy

two-door Deluxe. While the car is no longer in deluxe condition, she had owned it for over 60 years. Through the tears of parting with an old, rusty friend, she gave it to God as her sacrifice for the building. It was one of those gifts that makes you want to say, “No, no, don’t give that!” But she obeyed God.

And Then God Did What Only God Can Do

Someone in Buffalo had a 1950 four-door and was looking for a two-door that could be

parted together with it. So now her sacrifice became a miracle that blessed a young man and provided quite a number of squares for the building.

It is Never the Amount; It is the Heart!

God is so good.

And as we prepare to step into this next chapter, I am grateful for the memories, the sacrifices, the prayers, and the testimonies He has given us along the way.

They are reminders of His faithfulness.

They are stories we will carry with us.

And they give us faith for what God has next.