😊Encouraging Mondays: How We Measure Giving!
😊 Good, Blessed Encouraging Mondays, Family, Friends & New Encouragers!
👏🏼💖Before we continue, I want to pause and acknowledge something meaningful.
To everyone celebrating a birthday this month, to everyone celebrating an anniversary, to those honoring milestones, and to those who have remained faithful to resolutions and commitments, big or small: We see you. We celebrate you. And we honor the consistency, courage, and intention it takes to keep going.
Whether you chose to read more, rest more, watch less television, be more present with your family, care for your health, or simply stay committed to growth — your effort matters.
💛Happy Birthday!
💛Happy Anniversary!
💛 Congratulations on every milestone and every resolution kept!
💞 You are loved.
😊 You are supported.
😊 And you are not doing this alone.
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🎯 Today's Message Is Entitled:
How We Measure Giving
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## 📖 SCRIPTURE READING — Acts 20:35 (NLT)
*"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.'"*
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## 💛 ENCOURAGING MONDAYS REFLECTION
### Giving Beyond What Money Can Buy
Family...
As we begin a new month together, I'd like to invite us to reflect on something that can quietly shape the way we see ourselves and the way we see others.
When we hear the word giving, many of us immediately think about money. While financial generosity is certainly important, what if we've been measuring giving too narrowly?
God has entrusted each of us with gifts that extend far beyond our wallets.
We encourage.
We pray.
We listen.
We forgive.
We show compassion.
We offer wisdom.
We give our time.
We extend kindness.
We plant seeds of hope.
Those gifts matter.
Sometimes they matter in ways we may never fully understand this side of heaven.
Like many of you, I've often found myself praying, "LORD, bless me financially so I can bless others even more." I believe that's a beautiful prayer because there are real needs all around us. Helping someone with groceries, rent, transportation, medical expenses, or simply making it through another difficult season can be an incredible blessing.
As we continue praying for God to increase our ability to give financially, let's not overlook the many ways He is already using us today.
Perhaps your encouraging words have helped someone keep going.
Perhaps your prayers have strengthened someone who was struggling.
Perhaps your patience has brought peace into a difficult situation.
Perhaps your kindness reminded someone they were seen, valued, and loved.
Those are gifts too.
📖 Jesus reminds us:
*"It is more blessed to give than to receive."* (Acts 20:35)
As we journey through this month together, may God expand not only our generosity, but also our understanding of what giving truly looks like.
May we remain faithful with whatever He has entrusted to us today while trusting Him with what He is preparing for tomorrow.
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💛 ENCOURAGING THOUGHT FOR TODAY
If you've been feeling...
• discouraged because you wish you could do more financially,
• uncertain whether your small acts of kindness really matter,
• or wondering if God can use what little you have,
Pause and remember:
God never asks us to give what He has not entrusted to us.
He simply asks us to be faithful with what He has already placed in our hands.
Your prayers matter.
Your encouragement matters.
Your compassion matters.
Your presence matters.
Every seed planted in love has value in the Kingdom of God.
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🍎 TEMPLE CARE CHECK-IN
This week, let’s practice giving to ourselves in a healthy way by making one nourishing choice each day.
It doesn’t have to be a complete lifestyle change.
Perhaps it’s drinking an extra glass of water.
Choosing fruit instead of a processed snack.
Preparing one meal with fresh ingredients.
Or simply pausing before you eat and asking:
“Will this choice help me care for the body God has entrusted to me?”
Faithful stewardship isn’t built in one day.
It’s built one choice at a time.
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🙏🏼 CLOSING PRAYER
LORD,
Thank You for reminding us that giving is about so much more than money.
Thank You for every opportunity You give us to encourage, to pray, to serve, to listen, to forgive, and to love others well.
Teach us to recognize the gifts You have already placed within us.
Help us never overlook the value of a kind word, a compassionate heart, or a faithful prayer.
As You continue to bless us, may we become even greater blessings to those around us.
Give us generous hearts, willing hands, and joyful spirits that reflect Your love in everything we do.
Help us remain faithful with what You have entrusted to us today while trusting You for tomorrow.
In Jesus's Powerful, Majestic Name,
we Praise and Pray,
Amen.
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💛 DAILY PROCLAMATION
Before we close, I want to invite you—only if you feel led—to say a daily proclamation with me.
This is the proclamation I return to daily.
Not out of perfection, but out of surrender.
💛 From Survival to Surrender — My Daily Proclamation
🙏🏼 God,
Today I stop negotiating with You.
I stop hiding parts of my life behind excuses, wounds, and fear.
I stop managing sin instead of surrendering it.
I stop calling survival "strength" when it is really exhaustion.
I release every attachment that feels good but pulls me away from truth.
I let go of relationships, habits, and cycles that soothe me temporarily but cost me spiritually.
I acknowledge what I already know:
what does not align with You cannot heal me.
Today, I surrender control.
I surrender comfort.
I surrender timing.
I surrender the false intimacy I've used to avoid true wholeness.
I choose alignment over appetite.
Obedience over urgency.
Healing over hiding.
God, I no longer want to survive—I want to live whole.
I invite You into every area I've kept guarded, delayed, or divided.
Lead my life.
Heal my heart.
Reorder my desires.
From this moment forward, I choose surrender—
not because I am weak,
but because You are strong.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen.
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💛 CLOSING BLESSING
💞Much love for you all!
😎😊 Have an amazingly Blessed day and week and Summer!
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🎧 STAY CONNECTED WITH ENCOURAGING MONDAYS
Encouraging Mondays is more than a message—
it's a digital ministry and growing community rooted in faith, reflection, and peaceful transformation.
**Website** — encouragingmondays.com
**Store** - encouragingmondays.com/store
**LinkedIn** — Shawna Stately
**YouTube** — @EncouragingMondays
**Podcast** — Devotionals with Shawna S.
Wherever you connect, may God's peace meet you there.
