watercolor Bible journaling page giving generously by Bekah Blankenship | 2 Corinthians 8

I went on a lot of mission trips when I was younger. There’s something incredibly special about leaving the comforts of your own life and focusing on a culture that isn’t as consumed with excess. One of my most potent memories of those days was my first trip in Mexico. We’d visited a quaint collection of homes, full of giggling kids and dirt floors, plywood walls and scrap tin roofs. We were invited into a tiny kitchen, and as we entered, our host reached into her apron and scrambled for change. She handed it all to one of her sons and whispered something in his ear. He ran out the door and down the street with such purpose and returned almost as quickly wielding a glass liter bottle of Coke. His sweet momma proudly served it to us with a huge grin and we were grateful, but mostly heartbroken and humbled. This family had so little and gave so big. This experience shaped my ideals for giving generously.

watercolor Bible journaling page giving generously by Bekah Blankenship | 2 Corinthians 8

As I read through 2 Corinthians 8 this week, which is all about giving generously, I was overwhelmed by the amount of times the word “grace” appeared. God speaks in funny ways to my heart sometimes. The chapter isn’t a grace chapter, but that’s still what I was hearing loud and clear. I don’t really struggle much with giving money or things. I hold “stuff” loosely and I’m glad. But can I be honest with you for a moment? I have a much harder time being generous with love. mercy. grace. These are things that I’ve been given so much undeservedly and yet, I hoard them. I want to be like the woman in Mexico that gave more than she could comfortably. If my life is a celebration of God’s generosity to me, which it totally is, then I want to throw grace around like confetti. He is glorified in that. He’s not, however, glorified in my selfish reservation of all that I’ve been given. That’s some convicting stuff that needed to be documented with rainbows and happy colors in my Bible! The irony of this page was that the tab from another page made it look like it reads “don’t you dare throw grace around like confetti” and I laughed and laughed over it. I spent years feeling like I wasn’t allowed to be generous with grace. I felt like doing that would let people off the hook and that would somehow be the worst thing ever. I’m learning that giving grace draws others in to know our grace-giving Savior, and He takes care of the rest. Thank you, Jesus.

watercolor Bible journaling page giving generously by Bekah Blankenship | 2 Corinthians 8

Happy Sunday, friends. May you be found sprinkling beautiful grace over all of your people this week.

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5 Comments
  1. Dawn Finley 8 years ago

    Beautiful reminder…thank you.

  2. Amy Bruce 8 years ago

    Love every bit of this ?

  3. Terri Armstrong 8 years ago

    This is wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing it!!

  4. Dyan K. 8 years ago

    I love this! Thank you.

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