Poured Out and Well-Watered for Giving in the Desert

After a challenging year in 2024, Scott and I didn’t have big bags of money to give away, but we were excited about the season of giving and had hoped to share about some of the organizations we love. This year, we have the courage to share more openly. We’ll try to keep it real without getting awkward.

“One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”
Proverbs 11:24-25 NIV

Friday, December 5, 2025

Dear friends,

It’s already December, and Scott and I still have the Thanksgiving joy in our veins!

The Lord has cared for our family in such close and personal ways over the past two years, and we want to share about it. And given our history as a fundraising family, it should come as no surprise that we can’t resist the urge during this season of generosity to end with links for year-end giving to some of the organizations we love.

Replanting
A year ago this week, Scott and I were just letting out our breath. 2024 had begun with quite a bit of uncertainty for us following Scott’s sudden and acrimonious departure from SWU, and we had been through some stressful months. As the year drew to a close and we exhaled at last, we reflected with amazement and gratitude. The experience had not been comfortable by any means, but we could see that God had been faithful and present, going before us with favor and wisdom at every turn.

Scott had started his own law practice in estate planning,1 and even though new ventures take some time to get off the ground, the Lord had affirmed that move through the strategically generous and helpful actions of his own people before we had even told anyone what we were doing. For example, with no regular income and before a single client was on the horizon, Scott added up some daunting startup costs, and as soon as we stepped out in faith and paid them, a friend called out of the blue with what would eventually become a strong, steady pipeline of clients and an immensely supportive professional community. We could not possibly have dreamed up a better situation.

One of these days, we’d love to share more with you about that whole journey of being uprooted and replanted, like how God prepared us financially ahead of all the SWU drama,2 how he guided us through an excruciatingly difficult decision that was personally very costly but morally and ethically right, how the Holy Spirit persisted to give us peace about people and narratives beyond our control, and how he showed his kindness to us in many ways. Long story short, we were incredibly thankful to be ending 2024 in a much better place in every way than where we began, and 2025 has been better than ever.

Trust
Of the many encouragements along the way, the most meaningful ones happened in private decisions that could seem utterly unremarkable from the outside (and which I admit are notoriously awkward to talk about). Of course, we had to pay our bills during those low times in 2024 (essentials like electricity, etc.), but how would we handle our donations? Our church and nonprofit experience had shown us up-close the vital work around the world and in our local communiy that was possible through charitable giving, which had been a long-standing value in our marriage. We just had no idea how we would be able to do it. Having lost every bit of cushion in our family budget, even giving a tithe3 was a nerve-racking step of faith. But during very lean times, we were stunned to see again and again that when we had the will and courage to give, the Lord worked the impossible, enabling us to continue supporting the causes that mattered most.

To be clear, we weren’t (and aren’t) giving spectacular amounts of money–and we hate to think that we’d ever tell, even if we were. We also were not in truly dire straits. Cash flow was a zigzag, and we had emergency savings. But we did have to make choices. We moved some organizations to the back burner. We canceled some recurring gifts. We gave less, but with the Lord’s help, we were able at least to maintain the discipline when it took courage.

We found ourselves gratefully regarding every small donation that we sent out as evidence of God’s ongoing and growing supply. Twenty bucks for a kid at church raising funds to go to camp? Suddenly it wasn’t just a token but clear proof that the Lord had given us twenty bucks more than we had needed that month. “Thank you, Lord,” we’d find ourselves breathing with satisfaction around the edges of the day.

Isn’t that a nourishing perspective? The quiet joy in those small victories caught us by surprise. How true it is that faith grows as it is exercised! Thanks be to God, who both provides and teaches!

Values
We also experienced in new ways the truth that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”4 Our hearts were tested along with our treasures last year.

As we worked through our tenuous month-by-month money matters, the Lord took the opportunity to refocus our values. We had to consider carefully what spending and giving best supported our true purposes. The Christmas season of 2024 was the first time in many years that the literal gifts we placed under the tree for our family felt right-sized and rightly-focused, given not in indulgence but in mindful representation of the long-awaited, indescribable gift of Christ Jesus himself.

Though we’ve recognized areas that still have room for improvement, we’ve been happy to observe that our budget is a better reflection of our values now than it used to be. Our treasures and our hearts are becoming better aligned.

Partners
Finally, during our challenging season, we were more excited than ever to see God’s purposes be accomplished through organizations we love. We were encouraged to know that others were giving in ways we could not. And though the timing of our surge of tenderness toward the fundraising needs of charitable causes was almost comical in light of the circumstances,5 we were earnestly praying fundraising prayers, asking the Lord to stir up more people to give to the nonprofits that needed it.

We believe that this kind of prayer resonates with many of you who share our commitment to supporting non-profit work. If you’re still considering where to give before year-end, or if you appreciate personal recommendations, we’ve put together a list of links and descriptions for some of the people and efforts we have supported this year. We include why we love them and how you can contact them for more information or to make a gift. If they resonate with you, too, we’d love it if you would join us in supporting them, and we hope you’ll share the info with anyone you think might be interested. Thank you for taking a look!

Refreshment
I began this letter with Proverbs 11:24-25, a passage that has been hanging in a frame on our living room wall since 2008, when Scott began raising funds for fresh-water projects with World Hope International.6 Beside it, we have a painting of four children playing in a stream. That paraphrase expresses the verse as, “Those who water others will be watered themselves.”

Friends, we have been well-watered this year, and we are thankful for the ways that your lives have watered ours. We pray that as you continue to pour yourself out on behalf of others, you will find yourself and all the good seeds that you are cultivating with your resources to be watered well, too.

With love and thanksgiving from both of us,
Elizabeth and Scott

Our List of 2025 Favorites

For the full list of our 2025 Giving Favorites, click here.

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Notes

1. Scott’s estate planning focus includes trusts, wills, and charitable gift counseling. See Drury Law at www.drurylaw.us.

2. Through a Dave Ramsey course at our church in 2012, we made huge changes to how we thought about and handled money. We established six-month emergency savings, aggressively paid off debt, and rejected a credit lifestyle (that is, now we save up before we pay). The results have given us far more freedom and traction than we could ever have imagined, and believe it or not, it is doable for anyone. We highly recommend his course, Financial Peace University, especially if you take it with a live class in person or online. Financial Peace University – Ramsey https://share.google/2Fehfuz1WPmryQKUc

3. A tithe is a tenth of one’s income, based on instruction in the Old Testament for Jewish and Christian adherents to support their faith organizations financially so that they can carry out activities of worship, benevolence, and the like.

4. Luke 12:34 NIV

5. Dare I say? Apparently, you can take the family out of the fundraising, but you can’t take the fundraising out of the family.

6. World Hope International is another outstanding organization offering opportunity, dignity, and hope in the name of Jesus and in partnership with the church around the world. Learn more at https://worldhope.org/