FIRST FRUITS

from “S”

I honestly was not planning to share this testimony but felt compelled to show how faithful to God is to His Word.

I worked a part-time job on weekends at a local major hospital system in 2022 and I decided in November that I would give my first paycheck of the new year as my First Fruits offering. On January 14, 2023 I gave a few dollars more than my 1st paycheck to total $2000 for my First Fruits offering.

By the spring of 2023, I had decided to go back to school to pursue my Doctor of Nursing Practice. I was accepted into a doctoral program in May. A sister in Christ prayed for my success and that I wouldn’t have to get loans, or even pay anything. I thought to myself, “that would be nice” but I honestly did not ask God for it thinking it was too much to ask, and so I planned to continue to work PT to pay for everything. By June I resigned from the PT job realizing that I can’t work full time, go to school full time, and work weekends, too.

The first orientation meeting for the Fall semester was via Zoom in early August. During the Zoom meeting the professor hosting the meeting told us about a grant program and said, “by the way, there are some funds available from the State of Maryland. In fact, everyone in this Zoom meeting is eligible for a grant taking care of all tuition and fees and will be paid in full for the duration of the program.” The total award will be just under $75,000!! I was praising the Lord to myself throughout the meeting! God is SO good! He even gives us things we dare not ask for! God is faithful! Like it says in Ephesians 3:20, He is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ever ask or think. Amen!

from “R”

I would like to anonymously share the blessing that God has done this year. I gave my first fruits offering on New Year’s Eve. This past week, I received a letter from the federal government canceling all of my federal student loans through the public service loan forgiveness program. I had completed my application about 6 months ago and have had a long and frustrating process to get to approval. I was most recently told that I would have to wait until Aug 2023 to see if my application had been approved. However, the Lord saw that this was the right timing for my application to be approved for 6 figures of debt. 3 days later, I received an additional surprise of an unexpected refund check in the mail for overpaid student loan payments. I apparently had overpaid on my student loans and was eligible for a refund. God is good and I will continue to praise him for his never-ending gift of grace and mercy.

from “M”

I wanted to share my first fruits testimony. First I had already been convicted on giving to God first in 2022 so this application sealed it for me and I stepped out on faith to contribute and continue to do so throughout the year. I have been giving the first from my earnings back to God. In doing s, He had revealed I had more than enough, and needed to manage what He had given me much better (which i began working to do). I am one of many that was dreading the restart of student loan repayments. I have $200k in debt and was hoping to have enough credit to have maybe 3 years of payments (out of 10) remaining because I work for the government and qualify for the public service loan forgiveness program. I had recently refinanced my loans which meant I had to start back at payment 1 under the original program. Well, I received a letter in December saying i had about 5.5 more years for which i was thankful because it wasn’t the full ten I would have originally needed to pay. I then received a letter early February saying I had 5 payments. I just checked my mail and received another letter saying my loans were fully forgiven and received a refund check for overpayment!  God is so good!  He had already revealed to me that those restarted payments were covered but I never expected to have them fully forgiven and paid! Thank you so much for starting this devotion in action with Bridgeway and I look forward to what my Father has in store for me as I continue to strengthen my relationship with Him and trust in Him fully. May God Be With You Always.