How do we give of our money, time, and energy, KNOWING the goal is equality, without EXPECTING equality?

How do you draw boundaries there?

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time, your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality. ~2 Cor. 8:13-14

Living this verse out has been a humbling process of growing to trust God in the act of giving without expecting equality. His grace is sufficient, and His love and mercy catch me when I stumble and fall.

I have learned to be anchored and secured in Christ Jesus. When I am, I can give money, time, and energy, KNOWING the goal is equality without EXPECTING equality.

First, I look to Jesus to define my identity in Him as His beloved, chosen, forgiven, saved with purpose and significance.

Second, I look to Him to supply my needs where I am not in want and work toward contentment with gratitude.

Third, I freely give to others and expect God to provide all I need to give (easier said than done, I know!)

Lastly, I draw boundaries by looking to Him and not others for approval, affirmation, and encouragement.

My foundation is in Christ. He is my home base. Christ is my starting point for all I do, give, and live. He is my Lord, my Boss, and I do as He tells me. I give because He calls me to give. I give because I know He supplies all I need to give. I focus on Him first and foremost. I don’t take on projects or leadership opportunities without consulting Him first. I pray, process, and continue to learn to hear the Lord’s voice first. I ask God what to expect. I ask God for what to pray for in the process. I ask what He wants to do as a result. I ask in faith, and if I don’t get an answer, I wait. I pray for conviction to move forward. Once I get a clear answer, I trust His ways are higher than my ways, and His thoughts are higher than my thoughts.

I wanted to give my life to ministry work, thinking that was the God thing to do. As I took steps of faith, He led me to get a graduate degree in teaching public education. I had to trust Him and His leading despite what I thought my life was going to be. As I gave to His call in teaching, I didn’t expect the energy, joy, and fulfillment in giving.

I give because He supplies what I need and enlarges my capacity in the process. As I give my all, He surprises me with miracles unending in time, money, and energy. I can count on Him to give or stretch my 5 loaves and 2 fish in feeding the five thousand. I am never lacking and when I’ve reached my limit, He stretches ME and gives me more.

Remember the prayer of Jabez? From back in the day? I must say, I’ve prayed it in faith a few times! It's unnerving, trusting God to bless me and enlarge my territory. In reflecting through the last six years in Tacoma, I am in awe of being an active participant in His work in children’s lives, their families, the church, and this great city. Utterly amazed! Sometimes, I've found, it's not about enlarging my territory, reach, or influence, but enlarging my capacity for what God wants to do in me and how He wants to stretch and challenge me. Because ultimately, I'm not working to enlarge MY territory, but His! So my capacity needs to grow.

I’ve recently reveled in His ability to grow and stretch me as His vessel in giving. I’ve taken the James verse by faith to consider trials of many kinds with pure joy, trusting the work of perseverance will lead me to maturity. But I’ve recently experienced the returns persevering. He provides more, and I get front-row seats to take in the miracles.

I draw boundaries by anchoring myself in Him, checking where I derive value and worth. My worth needs to be in Christ and not in the work of giving. When this boundary is clear and lived out in the details, I do well. In my imperfection and process of growing, this isn’t always the case, especially when my efforts aren’t appreciated or received well. When this happens, I go back to God, analyze what happened, how I feel, and wrestle with my Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, and learn from these experiences. I have to be clear in knowing this is His work and not mine. God is great in reminding me of this when pride creeps up, which often leads to trouble. I am humbled to partner with Him in His work, but I need to keep this boundary clear in my mind.

Each year, I encounter many kids who shut down in learning because life is challenging enough due to various circumstances. When I press in as an act of love for them and their futures, they push back in not-so-nice ways at times. Let’s say they aren’t always grateful, and they make sure I know. I’ve had to process the ways I’ve taken this personally and felt hurt. I’ve had to dig deep and face my internal fear of being a lousy teacher and how I mistakenly found my worth tied to their performance and attitude. God leads me to repentance and realigns my thinking with the truth of who I am in Christ.

One girl I know for three years fought the learning process. She’s bright and capable but opposed instruction. The more I pressed in, the more she resisted. When I looked further into her life, I discovered she was recently homeless, and the dropout rate for homeless kids was 60%. I believe God let me realize the effort she took to go to school and try was her best given her circumstances. I shifted my approach, acknowledged and applauded her efforts, and gave her a few options to finish her work. Not only did she finish a rigorous assignment, she felt proud of her work and asked me for more help. Giving at times comes with cuts and bruises. But as I look to Him, God gives back.

In the same way, God has called me on how I can secretly take credit for successes and mistakenly feel good about them, which creeps up as pride. It’s ugly. I’ve learned to give Him credit and the glory. I thank Him, and take me out and my ego out of the equation as soon as possible!

Simply put, these are the principles I live by to live out this verse:


God is in charge, and He is the One who ultimately gives.

My identity and worth are secure in Him regardless of the outcome.

I look to Him for my assignments but don’t find my worth and value in them.

It’s a privilege and not a right to be a vessel.

I learn and grow in the process.

I watch God work and be in awe of the miracles.

God is enough. In Him, I am content.

The work of giving is a bonus.