Dwell Differently
If you were our friend, and if we could look you in the eyes and see your struggles and know you fully, and if we could only give you ONE thing—we'd give you God’s Word. There is more power and love and truth in one verse than in a thousand other words. So, let us help you memorize God's words in a simple, easy way. We hope you'll love listening in while we chat about what our verse means, why it matters, and how it intersects with our daily lives.
Dwell Differently
A Generous Lifestyle // Adrienne Camp
"A lifestyle of generosity is us just simply saying, 'I want in on the game, Jesus! Let's do this together!"
— Adrienne Camp
Today's Episode: Listen in as Natalie chats with Adrienne Camp about all the ins and outs of generous living. You'll be inspired by beautiful stories of how Adrienne has experienced the generosity of others. She makes connections about how our generosity is a reflection of our generous God. Because God never rationed what he gave us, asking whether we deserve it, we can give in the same way.
This month's memory verse: “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” — Proverbs 11:25
Today's guest: Adrienne Camp, originally from South Africa, relocated to America at nineteen to pursue a career in music. She met her husband, fellow musician Jeremy Camp, and they have been married since 2003. Together, they have two daughters, Bella and Arie, and a son, Egan. In addition to her musical career, Adrienne is the author of three books, including the Bible study As for Me: Life Through the Lens of the Psalms, and is a contributing author to the Bible study The Way of Wisdom: A Study on the Book of Proverbs. She is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Theology through Denver Seminary. Adrienne is deeply committed to her family and to spreading God's love worldwide. Her greatest aspiration is to know God intimately and to make Him known to others.
Support Our Show: We love reading your comments! AND they help other people find our show. Please let us know what you think by leaving a review.
Links from today's show:
- Adrienne's Instagram
- Adrienne's Proverbs Bible study: The Way of Wisdom
- On Magic and Miracles, by Marian A. Jacobs.
- Everyday Gospel ,by Paul David Tripp.
- Do Everything in Love Necklace
- Dwell Differently Bible Study membership.
Follow Natalie & Vera at DwellDifferently.com and @dwelldifferenly.
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Speaker 00:Hey, welcome back to the Dwell Differently podcast. I'm your host, Natalie Abbott. Guys, today we are talking about generosity. We are talking about God's generosity towards us and how we can be generous with other people. And yet, just somehow in this whole process, how we ourselves are also refreshed. And the verse that we have been memorizing all month long and that we are talking about today is Proverbs 11, 25. It says, "'A generous person will prosper,' Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. It's a beautiful verse. And I'm so excited to have Adrienne Camp on the show with me. And Adrienne, do you go by Addie too? Addie sometimes, yes. Okay, I saw that in your email and I was like, wait a second, is it Addie or is it Addie or, you know, so Addie. I love that. That's a beautiful nickname. Yes. Someday your name will maybe match your name or your age, right? I know,
Speaker 02:right? Yeah. My goal is whatever it's
Speaker 00:called. Yes. I
Speaker 02:love
Speaker 00:it. I love it. Okay. So... I love that you're on with us today because you have a Bible study that is coming out on the entirety of the book of Proverbs that you've written with actually some of my favorite people from Jen Wilkin and Courtney Doctor, Ruth Cho, like all these beautiful women authors who I'm just like, I can't wait to do that Bible study. So I'm just so blessed that you're here after having just written a Bible study about the book of Proverbs to talk about a proverb with us. So thank you so much. Yeah.
Speaker 02:Honestly, I mean, feeling like I had a little seat at that table with those women was incredible because I was like, how am I here? I feel like I need to be so much from them.
Speaker 00:I know. I feel exactly the same way. It's like anytime I'm in a room with somebody like that, I'm just like, okay, can I just sit here and listen to you talk? Another person that wrote that study with you is Elizabeth Woodson. Yes. She's incredible. The last time I had her on our podcast, I was just like, I didn't even know like what quotes to pick out of that conversation because I was like, there are just too many good things here. Like just everything coming out of her mouth was just so wise and so good. I know, don't set the box
Speaker 02:too
Speaker 00:high now. Yeah, we're just normal people here. Normal, very great normal, I promise you. Yeah, yeah. So we're just talking about normal life with normal people right over here. Exactly, yeah. But yes, so I would love to hear from you before we get started in on this proverb and what it means and how we can kind of think about it and apply it to our lives. Can you tell me a story about Yeah. You know,
Speaker 02:I feel like I've been the beneficiary of generosity in a lot of different ways. I am going to tell a story about financial generosity, but I think it's really important for us to just right off the bat tell a story about financial generosity. realize that financial resources are not the only way that we can be generous towards people. And I think sometimes we automatically assume that we have to be wealthy in order to be generous. And, um, I just think it would be good to put finances in the category of that. It's a resource. It's not all of the resources for how we're generous. And so I think that's just an important starting point. Um, although I am going to tell you about a time. So, um, Kind of a long story, but Jeremy and I, so I'm originally from South Africa. It was obviously my dream to get married in my home country. And when Jeremy and I got married, right before, it was three months before we were supposed to get married, the whole plan had been set up for us to get married in South Africa. We were going to fly down there and had everything booked and planned. I'm a little... I'm super artsy. So I had handmade all of my invitations and all of that. Oh, wow.
Speaker 00:This is like back in the
Speaker 02:scrapbooking days, you know, that was a thing. We didn't have Evite like 25 years ago or whatever, but long story, but we, because of visa situations, three months before our wedding, we ended up having to switch, uh, the date of the wedding, location, everything. And we ended up having to get married in Lafayette, Indiana, where Jeremy's from and not Fort Elizabeth, South Africa, which is my hometown. And so all of that to say things were shifting drastically. And this is before Jeremy and I had financial resources. But my roommate or housemate at the time, her name's Kat, and she offered... she had just gone through, her dad had passed away and had left some inheritance for her. And she offered, so we had to fly. We paid for my whole family to come out, but she offered to fly three of some of my best friends out from South Africa. And I mean, honestly, they were the only South Africans that I got to have at the wedding. I'm still friends with them 20 something years later. But just in those moments, I felt so unbelievably seen by the Lord. I'm seen by my friends that it was a hot desire that I hadn't even expressed to anyone to have some of my closest friends with me on my wedding day. Because it's expensive, you know? And then South Africa is still a third world country. So flying over here is not cheap by any means. And it wasn't then either. And so that was just an incredible day. I mean, I think about it still. It just made my wedding day just incredibly special and kind of gave me that sense of rootedness in my past and who I am, but also being able to move forward with my husband and celebrate with people that mean the most to me. So that was incredible. And I remember in that moment also thinking, how am I ever going to repay her? And I mean, I have seen her a few times since then because our lives have kind of taken different trajectories. But I think every time I see her, I'm like, hey, I just have to tell you, thank you again. But it's one of those things that I just feel like she had no idea, I think, what a blessing she was being to me by willing to be that generous. And she wasn't going to get anything out of it other than just being a good friend. I
Speaker 00:feel like she had to, though, really feel the joy from you. And the gratitude of getting to know that so much of what she had done, that she was giving something that she had to somebody who maybe needed that, didn't even know, probably couldn't even verbalize, like, this is just what we have to do here. And what an unexpected, beautiful blessing. What an awesome way to just... give you like the best wedding present ever. It
Speaker 02:really, really was. I mean, yeah. And, you know, I mean, also to choose to do that with her dad's legacy, to give it away was just also something really, really sweet.
Speaker 00:I love that story. I just, you know, it's interesting because as we've been walking through this verse and talking to people and thinking about it personally, there are things in my life that you kind of sometimes forget. about, that you're just like, wow, that was a really generous act that somebody just either anonymously or very humbly, quietly gave. And it just is amazing to consider how many times in the course of my life where God has met a specific need in a very personal kind of intimate way that I'm just like, I didn't even verbalize that. And yet, here is this gift. I'll never forget somebody when we were, when my husband and I were also super poor and newlyweds, someone gave us a box of money. Wow. And it was, it was a very significant, like they had wrapped it and then inside the box, they had put an envelope for every month of the year. And inside they put $50 and they said, you know, Don't use this money for groceries. Use it for a date, whatever. Because they knew that we were just, you know, he was in seminary and we were so poor. And I mean, like, I think about it, like that was $600, which in and of itself was a huge amount of money for us at the time. But the intentionality of the gift and the thoughtfulness behind it of just like seeing us. And it just, I felt very known and seen by the Lord of like, here is this treasure. And I kept it on my bed, like on my dresser. And I just remember every month opening up that box and feeling like the Lord sees me and I get to have a date, you know, and not just a date, which is a walk on the beach or a date, which is a, you know, you know, a cheap date, which we would have, you know, renting a movie or something like that, but like a real, real date where we get to go out to dinner or whatever. And just like that, that just communicated so much to me, not just the love from that, that person who gave me that gift, but the love of God for me. Yeah,
Speaker 02:well, and I just think as well that it's so important as believers that we invest in each other. You know what I mean? It's that I think just with our time, with our friendship, again, with our resources, that it's like if we really are living for a kingdom that's not of this world and living with an eternal perspective in a sense of like building our treasures in heaven, then the investment that God calls us to do is loving each other, is being there for each other. Like the investment is people. It isn't stuff. It's not career. It's not success. It's like the investment absolutely is about relationship. It's about presence. I'm going to give another time as well where some of our dearest friends, we lived in San Diego for a season and our kids are older now. So when we leave, they can look after themselves, which is crazy. We've got two adults and, you know, an almost 14 year old. But yeah, And they were fine. We were leaving for a couple of days. I had provided food for everybody. Everyone was good to go. But our friends came over and cooked our kid's steak. Our friends, he's Brazilian. Oh, wow. And literally came and cooked them the most delicious homemade steak and made this incredible meal for our children and just sat with them. I love that. I mean, you were just like, you guys are literally... the most incredible. And again, it was just the gift of presence, the generosity of, we know your kids are good. We know you can take care of them. They do, but they literally were like, no, we're going to come and sit and hang with your children. And I mean, it made a massive difference on our kids' lives where even for them, they were like, so many adults just overlook us as kids or don't take us seriously. But for your friends to come and be so intentional with us, literally has changed their lives. And I think sometimes when we see these beautiful displays of generosity, it really does change a part of who we are in the way that it's so inspiring and go, that's who I want to be for other people. That's the way that there's a way that I can show God's love because I know how it made me feel being the recipient of that. And I think that goes back to the verse again of just saying like, he who refreshes like those people are refreshed, but then we're refreshed as well as we're participating with the Lord. Like there have been times, you know, Jeremy and I have been able to be generous in different ways, secretly, like other people not knowing and almost just feeling like, oh my gosh, we're on this little adventure with the Lord. And it's like, Jesus, this is so cool. They have no idea that this is happening. And we're like, yes, you know, anyway.
Speaker 00:I love that. You know, it reminds me of what Jesus says about giving and how we are to not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. And I think sometimes we read that in a sense of like, oh, well, it's like a rule, like a law, like a keep it quiet. But it feels more like, it should feel more like I'm one of Santa's elves. And I want them to be surprised and I want them to experience. It's like if you've ever received flowers and you didn't know where they came from.
Speaker 02:Like
Speaker 00:there's something almost more magical about being blessed and not ever knowing who did the blessing, but to be able to fully attribute it to the Lord and be like, okay, I guess it was the Lord. He wanted me to have these flowers or whatever the gift is. I do think that there's something, I mean, definitely it keeps us from, Pride keeps us from, you know, trying to receive, instead of receiving, you know, the Lord's favor, we're getting applause from men or whatever. But I do think that there's something really special and magical about just this idea of secretly giving. I
Speaker 02:know. Sometimes with our kids as well, I love the tradition in like around Christmas time of just going into a restaurant and then secretly paying for somebody's meal, you know, I'm not going to try to make it like we've done that a ton, but we have done it a couple of times and it's just been so sweet to just like, and here's the thing, God's big enough to connect the dots for people. I think sometimes we feel like we've got to make this thing of it. Like if they don't know that it's coming from a Christian perspective, then how are they ever going to find, like, we feel like we have to clarify everything. And listen, scripture talks about that. Some sow seeds, some water, but God is the one that does the work. And so I think sometimes we don't always have to connect or define every single little bit of the giving. I think even when it comes to generosity in itself, sometimes it might say more about us, I think, than it does about some of those people. Because I think even we've got a lot of homeless people around where we live. And I've really had to check my heart of what I believe about God's grace and not having like a scarcity mindset in a sense, because God never rationed what he gave to us. He never looked at us and was like, well, do they deserve it? And I think sometimes it really boils down to how much we really understand the gift of God's grace and his mercy, because I think sometimes we look at other people and we have the thought, of I want to give to them, but then we kind of look at like, well, but do they deserve it though? Or like you see the homeless guy and you're like, well, what did he do to get there? You know what I mean? And it's like, we have all these sort of default questions as to why we shouldn't be giving or why we shouldn't be participating in what God's doing. And I think sometimes it just, it's a little bit like, Lord, let us have a fuller understanding of the gift of salvation that we never earned it at all. There is nothing that we can do to earn salvation, that it is a free gift of God's grace, that we get to receive something that we did not deserve at all. And in the same way, we get to participate in who God is and sharing our resources with others. And again, we don't have to qualify it. It's like, you don't always have to be like, okay, I'm only going to give to them if I can also share the gospel with them. Or I just think sometimes we need to be okay to participate and allow God to be the one that connects the dots.
Speaker 00:I love that. There was a quote that I came across by John Piper, and I'm going to butcher it. But he said something to the effect of, you know, in our giving, if even half of the time we're giving something almost foolishly to somebody who isn't going to appreciate it, who's going to misuse it, then only the other half of the time is the time when, you know, It's a reflection of the gospel or whatever. He's like, Jesus knows. And I think that that was just such a convicting idea to me because I do think sometimes we're doing these math equations in our heads of like, is this foolish even for me to, if I give this homeless person $5, are they going to turn around and buy booze with it? Or, you know what I mean? Like, I think we do. We have these, and we want to be wise. Absolutely. But at the same time, I think it's hard not to become hard hearted. It is. And jaded even, you
Speaker 02:know? Well, and I would venture to say, if God looked at us and asked the same question of like, well, if I give them this, are they going to be wise with it? If we, if he only gave us gifts or generosity or love or whatever it is, would we lived up to that? I think we would be in some serious trouble. You know what I mean? And so if we're, if we're again, imitating God to others and, It's not my responsibility to make sure that the person, again, and I understand we're framing this in wisdom, especially talking about the book of Proverbs, right? But I think as well, it's not my responsibility to make sure that that person, that's between them and the Lord. They need to be responsible for what they're doing with what they're stewarding. But I just feel like if God's called us to be generous, which he does so many times in scripture, I mean, it is... from really Old Testament, New Testament, it's all there. Probably, I mean, it's one of the biggest things of like making provisions for other people, being generous, practicing hospitality, like all these different things, you know, that I think we just, we need to be held responsible in a sense and not worry so much about what they're doing, but what are we doing with God's, with the resources that God has given us, you know? And again, pointing to the fact that our resources are beyond just financial. It's not just about giving money. You know, there's many, many other things that we can do to practice generosity.
Speaker 00:Guys, I am so excited to tell you a book that I personally cannot wait to read. It's called On Magic and Miracles by Marian A. Jacobs. It tackles everything from Narnia to Harry Potter. These questions that believers have wondered for years, like what do we do with magic in fiction? Is it harmless fun or a slippery slope? And what's the difference between a miracle and magic? Is all magic bad or just some? Could fantasy books actually lead to the occult? And how do we help our kids think through all of this? Guys, if you've ever This episode of Dwell Differently is brought to you in part by Crossway, publisher of Everyday God's by Paul David Tripp, one of my personal favorite authors. Guys, we know that reading the Bible is important, but sometimes it feels more like a chore than like joy. And Everyday Gospel is a great way to help us with that. It's a daily devotional that walks us through the whole Bible in 365 short, practical reflections. And guys, Paul David Tripp is just so relatable, such a great author. He connects scripture to real life. So if you want to get a copy, you can do so wherever books are sold or you can If you want to follow the link in our show notes at crossway.org backslash everyday gospel devotional, you can get 30% off if you sign up for a free Crossway Plus account. So that's crossway.org backslash everyday gospel devotional. And if you have trouble remembering that, just go to our show notes and you can click on that link. A hundred percent, a hundred percent. And I think that there's, that's such a challenge to think about, like, how can I be available to the Holy Spirit in those moments to give a hug or to pray for somebody or, you know, to literally give somebody the shirt off of my back or, you know what I mean? I just think that sometimes we feel so conflicted, you know, When we see somebody who's in desperate need and it almost feels overwhelming to us, like how can I even help in this situation? And so instead of sort of wrestling with that, I think sometimes we just feel more comfortable turning a blind eye, which is, I'm judging myself here. Same, same. It's
Speaker 02:comfortable, right? And I mean, just to add to that, I was going to say, I think sometimes, It is hard for us to give when we're feeling like, wait, I actually want to be the one that's receiving generosity. Like I'm so empty. My cup is so depleted. I don't feel like I have absolutely anything to give at all. But I think that's also where we need to remember just that God's resources are endless and he's the provider. In a sense, I have read this one thing that just said that like, we're the cup. God's the, he's the one that fills, he's the one that overflows. We're just the middleman in a sense, you know what I mean? And so we don't have to be the one to provide all of these things. And so if we want to participate with God in his generosity, which I think is a huge element in the work of the church, you know, that we can go to him and just say, God, I want to do this, but I don't feel like I have much to give, you know? And then, I mean, immediately my brain goes to five loaves and two fish. And there's been many, many, many times in my life that I've kept to myself of just bring your loaves and fish and watch God multiply. I don't have enough to feed everybody. I don't have what it takes. Sometimes I'm so exhausted to be the ultimate mom to my kids or ultimate wife or friend or whatever it is. But I'm just like, okay, but God's the multiplier. And so I'll bring him what I have, even if it's just scraps. And even honestly, like all jokes aside, talking about the girls that wrote this Proverbs study, I felt like the little boy with the five loaves and fish. I'm like, why am I on this table? And then just going, but God, I love the book of Proverbs. I love the pursuit of wisdom. I'm passionate about family and relationship, which was the part that I wrote about. And so here I am, I'm going to bring you my scraps. And God, you be the multiplier because you're the one that is, you know, he's the beginning. He's the end. He's the one that holds it all together. And I think the lifestyle of generosity is us just simply saying, I want in on the game, Jesus. Let's do this together. And
Speaker 00:isn't it so true that when we're at our emptiest and we see the Lord use us anyway, that He is the one that we can glorify? There's no... There's no preconceived notion of like somehow I've got something to bring to the table here. Exactly. Like the wool is totally pulled off of our eyes. Like we know that we're... We know too much. It's not from me. Yeah. Yeah. I do think that's so true though that when we are in that moment of just like, do I even have... It's funny because just yesterday I had a friend that I happened to run into and she said that her air conditioning was out. And... And she was like, what are you doing today? And I had all this stuff to do for work. And I was at a coffee shop like working. And I just felt this conviction of like, I need to invite her and her two little kids who were with her to my pool. Like, I just need to do that this afternoon and to not work. And so I did. I did. I was like, hey, why don't you come over to my pool later today and we'll just swim. And I just remember her walking out the door and just feeling this weight of like, what a silly person I am. that I somehow would have not done that because I'm doing work for God's kingdom. Like my job is working for God's kingdom. And yet here is God's kingdom. Here is his work. Here is the pleasure and the joy and the me being refreshed. Like literally she walked out of the door and I was like, that was so good. What was it in me that was like, you don't have time for that. You know, like God will give me the time for that. He'll give me, he gives us. Again, he's the one. who generously, like in this equation, I think sometimes we think about it, like I'm working with my own limited resources and therefore I don't have enough. Yes. But if we have God in our equation, then we have infinite resources. And so whatever it is that we give away, we still have infinite resources. Absolutely. Like we cannot ever outspend his account, you know?
Speaker 02:No, not at all. I mean, and I think that's a... I think that's a real question for us to ask ourselves. You know what I mean? Of just really, what is my mindset of how much I have to give? Like, am I actually only looking at my own capacity? Right. You know what I mean? And then even just thinking through, I love what you said about like, really the work of the Lord is people. You know, it's like, I mean, even right now, it's like the reason why we're recording the things that we're doing is because we want people to be encouraged. And so sometimes in the busyness, I think we make the busyness a priority because we feel like we've got to get all of these things done. But at the end of the day, God's heart is for people to be making the connections about how much He loves us and how much we're supposed to love others and Him, obviously, in return. And I think the lifestyle of generosity is fully aware of the fact that what He has is endless, even when we feel like we're at our end.
Speaker 00:Yeah, I think that's so good. Adrienne, would you talk to our listener who maybe is in that space right now? What would you say to somebody who's like, this is all fine and good, but actually, I've experienced so much loss. What do I have left? Have you ever felt that way yourself? And have you ever... been refreshed by God and by his people in those kind of desert seasons, I think that we sometimes find ourselves in.
Speaker 02:Yes, yes, yes, and yes. I mean, I think first and foremost, it's okay. I don't want like as much as we're promoting generosity and promoting not having this scarcity mindset and relying on God's resources. I think everybody needs to be honest with the fact that sometimes in a sense, we do need to just ourselves sit at the Lord's feet and to be filled up by Him. I think sometimes in the church world, we do over-glorify doing work, the work of the Lord, and those things are all important. But I think if our hearts are so depleted, then what do we think we're giving out to people anyway? Because again, they don't need us. They don't need us. So if we're just busy giving them these scraps of who we are, I think we're really missing the point. And that is that we're to give from our own enjoyment of who God is first and foremost. And so if you find yourself, which I have many, many, many, many times, I mean, the reality is, is life is hard. It is so hard. We all get just thrown crazy situations and crazy heartaches and things that we have to go through tragedies. I mean, there's so many things that people are facing. I think even just to acknowledge the political turmoil that so many of us are, it just feels such a heavy weight that I think it is so important that we learn to literally just be with God, that that is first and foremost, where the heart of generosity starts is learning to receive from him the what we need first and foremost. And it's not, it is not selfish because again, the point isn't that we're the ones giving to everybody. The point is that we're learning to enjoy God first and sitting at his feet first. And so for those who feel empty, I would say be gracious, be kind to yourself, um, learn to be okay to sit at the Lord's feet and soak them up before you start trying to give other people, um, something that you don't have yourself. And if you don't even know how to start, I think it's so important for us to create a language of honesty. I think the book of Proverbs is a continual invitation to learning a life of wisdom. And part of that learning is that we have to verbalize wanting it. And in order to want it, we've got to realize that we need it, which is acknowledging we don't have it. And so I think that that's a very important place to start is going, I don't have it and I want it. And God says in his scriptures that wisdom cries loud in the streets. It's everywhere. It's there for us to learn. And it isn't, I mean, I think one thing that we've been really trying to address as we've written the proverb study, all of us, is that these aren't necessarily promises, but these are principles. These are our rhythms and ways to live your life. And so it's not like you do, this one thing that it's not like one plus one equals two and you're just going to get the scenario every single time. I mean, I think anyone who's lived any amount of life knows life doesn't work that way. But it's learning to add the continual hunger and desire for wisdom into our life. And so no matter where you are, be honest about your lack, be honest about your need, you know, that we need God's wisdom. And I love James so much where it says, that God gives liberally for those who ask. He gives it without finding fault. And so he doesn't look and go, well, like we were talking earlier on, like their lives a little, I don't know. I heard what she said when she stubbed her toe the other day. Like she definitely doesn't deserve it. He doesn't treat us like that. He doesn't look at us, but he's like, you want some of this? As a loving father, I'm going to give it generously to you. And then we get to glean from scripture and we get to glean from the Holy Spirit's And I think just soak up all of what it is that God has to offer us no matter what season we find ourselves in, whether it's a season of plenty or overflowing or whether it is a season of just being so exhausted that we get to, I mean, we get to depend on the Lord in every season.
Speaker 00:I appreciate what you said about honesty because I think that sometimes we think about our lives and we feel like we have to sort of project an image of what we think that a Christian is supposed to look like, right? A Christian looks like somebody who's generous and who refreshes others. And therefore I need to do those things, right? And I don't think that that is the heartbeat of the gospel. It's not the heartbeat of God for us. And I love what you said about these being principles. And it's like, The idea is that when things are going well in the ideal world, you know, that when we are generous, we too prosper. When we refresh others, we are also refreshed. And yet we see in the other wisdom books, like in Ecclesiastes or in Job, when things don't go that way, right? We see when the wicked person prospers or we see Job, for instance, who is a righteous person who has all of these trials that he goes through. So I appreciate the way that you said that about it being just a principle. So this isn't a promise that we can always rely on, that anytime that I feel like I want to be prosperous, all I need to do is be generous, right? Yeah, totally. It doesn't work that way. The world doesn't work that way. Yeah, I just think that that's a great way of helping us consider, because this is a proverb, we need to be sure that we read it as a proverb and not as a promise from Jesus, like this, that when you do this, you know, I think sometimes we think about, um, verses like this in this transactional way, because that's kind of how the world works. You know, like if I work, I get paid a salary. Yeah. So, you know, I think sometimes we come to God that way. We think, well, if I'm generous, then you owe me,
Speaker 02:you know, I think even in generosity, sometimes getting our eyes off ourselves, um, and just thinking about other people and putting ourselves in a different perspective maybe, or that I think that there's something about seasons of darkness that it helps lift our eyes a little bit when we are outward focused. But I love what you're saying as well. It really is about the motivation of the heart. I think you could have one person that's generous and kind of bitter about it or expecting something in return. And then another person is generous but is really joyful in it and not expecting anything in return. And maybe from an outside perspective, it looks the same way, but the heart motive is really different. Yeah,
Speaker 00:yeah. That reminds me of the verse about the Lord loving a cheerful giver and that we should give what we've intended in our hearts to give, right? And that brings the Lord joy. So one last question for you, Adrienne, as we're thinking about this verse and how we can live this out. So if you were going to say one thing that you could encourage us to, as we're memorizing this verse and we're thinking about generosity, we're thinking about refreshing others and being refreshed and where all of these things come from, if you were going to say what's one actionable thing that maybe would encourage us to be more generous? Or maybe if we're in that space where we're even resistant to receiving or telling somebody that we are in need, maybe an action for each person. If you're in a season of abundance, what would you say to that person? Or if you're in a season of a desert, what would you say to that person?
Speaker 02:I think I might actually say the same thing to both seasons. I think our starting place is for us to sit and dwell about the generosity of Jesus. I just, I think that will keep our heart motives in check. We will walk with a massive amount of humility. So even if we are perhaps somebody, perhaps God's gifted you financially and you give to a lot of causes, but there may be a little air of arrogance, even privately, you know, Or you may be in ministry and a lot of people depend on you. And so you've kind of created this like, well, I'm the do person. I give to everybody else and I do all of these things. And I'm the person that provides these people's needs. And what would the community do without me? It's like thinking those things. And then if you feel like the person that's like, well, I don't even know that I have anything to give. I think when we sit and we think about the generosity of Jesus, and I mean, like I would just challenge your listeners that, For reals, like go sit down and have a quiet time and start writing down the ways that Jesus has been generous to you. Starting with salvation, starting with how we deserve absolutely nothing and he gave us eternal life. Like what is eternal life? Talk about like the gift of the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? How does he comfort us? Those are all generous gifts. How God has given us the community within the church. He's created a church family for us that we're supposed to bear one another's needs. We're supposed to build one another up. And all of these are acts of generosity. I think it will overwhelm our hearts to walking in humility, but then also realizing again. I don't know. I just think when you've been so blessed by something and someone, it immediately makes you want to give it to somebody else. And then even as we're talking about it earlier on, we're not going to look with judgmental eyes of like, I don't know, I don't think they deserve kindness. They've been blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever it is. That would start to really just reframe. And I'm even, as I'm saying this, I'm like, this is something for myself to learn to practice. For real. These are the wisdom principles that we've got to add to our lives. You know, scripture talks about add this and add that. And that is wisdom. It's learning to add those things. And so I just think, meditating on the generosity and the kindness of God is our starting point.
Speaker 00:I love that because I do think you're right. It simultaneously just elevates our understanding of what we've been given. And yet it also humbles us in our recognition of like, who am I to think that somehow I'm I'm the person who's giving so much when it's the Lord who has given me all that I even have. With that focusing
Speaker 02:on the Lord and humility, one of the biggest keys, it's this unsecret secret to the book of Proverbs, is that fear of the Lord and being in awe of Him, which is a position of humility, is what unlocks wisdom in our lives. And so if you want more wisdom in your life, the position is humility. And I think gratitude puts us in that position. And so I think it's almost just that sort of beautiful, all-encompassing position
Speaker 00:for us. Yeah, I love that. This was so good. I wish that we had more time to talk about this. I feel like I had a million other questions that we didn't get to. But it just was really helpful to consider, especially... this proverb in that bigger context, which I think you really helped establish for us. So thank you for joining me today. And for those of you who are listening, if you want to get Adrienne's new Bible study with all of those awesome ladies, I will have a link in our show notes and also have a link to all things Adrienne so you can follow her as well and get to listen to her beautiful accent, which I've just been sitting here like, I love how you talk. Oh, thank you. Yeah. All right. Thanks, Adrienne. Thank you so much. Guys, I'm jumping out of my seat to tell you about our new Dwell necklace. It's 1 Corinthians 16, 14. Do everything in love. What a beautiful reminder for us as we consider what we're doing as we go about our days. What a beautiful thing to share with somebody who asks us what our necklace means. More than that, our necklaces are made with love by our partners at Starfish Project who help trafficked and exploited women and girls experience freedom, establish independence, and develop careers. You can feel good about buying this necklace. More than that, it's tarnish proof. It's 14 karat gold plated stainless steel. So it is not gonna tarnish. And it's just amazing. I hope that you love it. Go over to dwelledifferently.com and check it out.
