We have a saying around our house for when things are going well or when things aren't going so well, "Better keep paying our tithing." We firmly believe that paying our tithing is the only way we have been and will be able to financially survive.

Our exercise of faith in this principle has been constant this last 9 months or so as we've encountered the most straining financial circumstances of our 13+ years of marriage. We have been holding fast to the promise of tithing as one would a life vest in a stormy sea, as indeed that is what is has become for us. Things have been challenging and at times the outlook has seemed fairly grim. I often would think back on stories I had heard from General Conference, friends, family etc. of checks that would show up for amounts that they weren't expecting at just the needed time. I found myself wishing, more than once, that such an occurance would happen to us. I would then think that, unfortunately, I knew where every penny had gone and ,unfortunately, no one had overcharged us or owed us any amount of money. I would then square my shoulders and put my faith in the fact that the Lord would have another way for us to make it through this challenging time.

On Saturday my husband and I were going through the mail and were beyond grateful to receive a notice that one of our major bills was going to decrease by about $400. We then were shocked to find a check attached to the notice in the amount of almost $1600. We had been overcharged the previous year and our overcharge was being returned. We were shocked into a stunned silence. A miraculous amount of money at the time we needed it the most.

The Lord is so very merciful and good to us.