Thinking About Mother's Day

I've been thinking about what I could give my mom for Mother's Day.  They typical gift is usually plants or flowers.  This year, I decided to do something different.  I'm going to give money in her name to a cause that will probably be special to her.  I decided to do this because honestly, she has everything that she needs and I think it'll be helpful for her to learn about this cause.  I've been praying that she opens her eyes and learns to think and see the world more Biblically.  Her thinking is very typical, conventional, materialistic and I hope this will help her see things differently.

I hope that as I learn to step out in faith and to give even when it hurts to give and give even when it doesn't make sense for me to give, it could stimulate the people around me and challenge them to think about the way they live just as I have been challenged.

I'm not quite sure how I'll make it though the next couple weeks.  I have a lot of expenses coming up--one will probably decimate my emergency fund.  But I also have a lot of giving opportunities coming up at the same time.  I still have to tithe on God's extra blessings ($85 so far), give special offering for summer missions ($100-200), give for the Mother's Day gift ($20?), and send support to my missionary friend ($40). That's over $200 right there.  I already gave $100 to charity this month. Not to mention other expenses which happened to come up this month; next month,  I'm gonna end up killing my emergency fund.  I think I'll be able to make it through because I get 3 paychecks in May, but there goes my plan to add to my savings...  

I'm learning to see these types of situations as opportunities to step out in faith.  I'm not quite sure that I have the money to cover everything, but still, I have made giving my first priority.  After all,  if I'm using God's  money according to Kingdom purposes, why wouldn't He provide for me?  He brought me through last year.  I was hoping this year would be easier that last year.  It's not.  I think God wants to continue to teach me to depend on Him by restricting my finances.  Well, here I go.