Nearly four years ago on Mother’s Day, my husband Michael and I were sitting in a morning service at Agape Spiritual Center in Los Angeles when a little old gal from Alabama named Edwene Gaines took the stage to talk about prosperity.

When she first started speaking, I thought she was cute…and sweet…and all those thoughts you have when you don’t think someone’s really going to make a difference for you.

And then she shared her story about tithing and changed my life profoundly.

Edwene defined tithing as “returning 10% of all we receive to a person, place, or institution from which we have received spiritual food.”

She went on to define spiritual food as “that which inspires us, teaches us, reminds us of Truth, and causes us to remember who we really are. You know you’re being spiritually fed when you feel your heart sing.”

She suggested that we tithe without attachment to how it is used: “You have fed me spiritual food. Thank you very much.” Period.

In her book, The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity, Edwene tells her amazing story of how, with barely a dollar to her name and a young daughter to feed, she began to do what most people with a steady income fear: she tithed. And the abundance that she experienced as a result was miraculous.

Something about her story touched Michael and me so deeply that we decided to do a six-month experiment and tithe a full 10% of all money we received to people, places and institutions from which we received spiritual food. Our lives have grown exponentially since that day, and nearly four years later we are still happily tithing and enjoying unlimited prosperity, abundance and faith.

And then, this past month at my live event, Big Mission, Big Sales, Big Life, we had the chance to see this in action again, when more than 400 event participants rose to the challenge of tithing to the eWomen Network Foundation and their mission to support the finanical and emotional health of women and children. Would you believe that, while working on finding their blessing, activating their sales and pursuing their big lives in that room, these business owners from more than 10 countries also tithed more than $186,000!

“I was inspired to give more than I’ve ever given before!”
These words were heard repeatedly during our breaks as our attendees inspired each other to give, and it became clear that the spiritual practice of tithing had been activated, sometimes for the very first time, in a whole room full of people.

I was so moved by this that I had my accountant pull a report, and imagine how I felt when I confirmed that while my income has doubled again this year, so has my GIVING. As great as it feels to earn more, I will tell you, being able to GIVE significantly in the six figures on a regular basis – now THAT is spiritual food that comes back to me in spades, and motivates me to keep doing my blessing.

Please note, I’m not in any way preaching that you “should” do this. I do, however, want to share this “family secret” with you and encourage you, if you are moved to do so, to give this experiment a try for six months. Especially if you’ve been feeling weighed down or defeated by recent happenings in our economy.

Tithing has proven to Michael and me that when we give back to the universe, the universe gives back to us…always so much more than we ever dreamed of and in ways that are unimaginable.

Edwene also taught me, at a time that I was uncertain about my direction, that our purpose and our message can well up at any time in our life and be sparked by experiences that may not seem favorable while we’re going through them.

It’s all just part of the fabric that makes up who we are and gives us life experience so that we can better serve others

Thank you to eWomen Network Foundation, our beneficiary at Big Mission, Big Sales, Big Life, for the incredible work you will do with the $186,000+ we were inspired to tithe to help you with YOUR mission. You gave us all the opportunity to “Lift as we Climb” and we were lifted by saying yes to that!

I would love to hear your tithing experience. Let us know below!

Wishing you a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!