With Thanksgiving coming in a little over a month, I think it helps to remember who owns everything. The greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty belong to God. Too often we want the greatness – and then we will be thankful. However, there is more to be thankful for when we realize despite the fact that we deserve nothing but punishment, God still wants to have a relationship with us and bestow good gifts on us (James 1:17).
God is so good.
Life is full of various challenges. We face the trial of living in a sin cursed earth which includes our own sin nature as well as that of others. I find as I wade through the muck and mire of difficulties that I can feel weighed down with negativity. As God teaches me to pray, He sends many hugs. The hugs don’t get rid of the effects of sin, but they help me through.
One hug God has sent me this summer is through hummingbirds. I have a hummingbird feeder on my deck. I don’t often see them, although the sugar water levels have consistently gone down. A few times in the evenings and on the weekend I have seen a hummingbird come up to the feeder and take a drink. One night the hummingbird even flew towards my back door where I was standing and watching. It was amazing.
God often sends blessings through people. One such blessing came from friends of mine. I was chatting with a couple of friends while one member of the household was working on a car. When he brought in an old license plate from one car, I joked about the Vikings license plate cover on my car. I wanted to remove it, but hadn’t gotten to it. I’m not into football and I didn’t want to look like I was a Vikings fan. About 5 minutes after the conversation, he comes back into the house with the Vikings license plate cover. This is one of those “little things” that may seem silly, but is still fun. I like my car much better without the Viking logo on it.
Friends, I know life can weigh us down and blessings seem few and far between. However, the more I watch for blessings the more I believe God shows me. If I am willing to receive as God chooses to give (knowing what is best for me), I will gain more. I pray you see the many blessings (hugs) that God sends.
On Mother’s Day, I introduced the title of Mother Sister Daughter, based on my relationships with many sisters in Christ. Now that Father’s Day is here, I want to talk about my spiritual brothers.
In order to keep relationships appropriate (a concept that can be lost by misuse of Christian liberty), I have to approach this differently. The Father concept is pretty easy. I have “dads” in my church. If you read back through some of my blog stories, you will see fatherly care (this could also be considered brotherly love). I have been blessed many times where guys in my church have helped me out – from mowing the lawn, to car care, clearing snow, roofing, relighting the pilot on my hot water heater (amidst jokes about blowing up my house), installing dead bolt locks, installing carpet, etc. 1 Corinthians 12 talks about serving; each member has different strengths. I can use tools, but there is a point where home-ownership projects overwhelm me. I am thankful for godly men who are willing to help me with projects that fit their strengths.
My stories about the help I have received can easily fall under the father and brother category. Now for the son portion – I have a mama bear personality. With the guys in my church I have to show it in a different way. As I have learned more about prayer, I am finding more ways to show appropriate Biblical love. Ultimately, God takes care of those things any way. I am simply His tool to use in the lives of those around me.
So on this Father’s Day, I want to thank the Father Brother Sons in my life. We don’t tend to verbalize thanks as much with the guys, but they like appreciation, too. So thank you – I appreciate your work and investment in my life.
Everything we do should be for the purpose of honoring God.
Yes, everything. God said so and He is worthy.
Praise His name!
During the thanksgiving season we often take time to reflect on the blessings that God gives. I have thought and prayed about thankfulness and praise in the last few years. Grumbling and complaining come more naturally. However, no matter how bad life gets, God is still good. He still gives good gifts.
Praise His name!
I started writing over 15 years ago. I wrote because I felt compelled to. Blogs weren’t on my radar then and I wasn’t brave enough to share my writing until a little over a year ago.
I started sharing this blog with much fear and trepidation. However, I have been blessed by the response. So thank you to all who have supported me. I pray that I may honor and glorify God through writing.
A while back I shared my story about “Contentment with Flooding“. Today I want to share about another challenge that God put in my path and how He has used it to my benefit.
Some years ago I had been getting sick frequently. Too frequently. I floundered for a while, but finally wondered if I had food issues due to an article I had read about gluten sensitivity. I also talked to a friend who has Celiac’s Disease and found we had health issues in common. I decided I needed to try eating gluten free to see if that would make a difference. Wow, did it ever! I had more energy than I had in a long time and didn’t get sick as much. I started losing weight (that needed to come off) and could tell I was healthier.
As hard as I tried, I felt it impossible to consistently have good food habits. I am learning to change my thinking about food. Food should be fuel for my body (which is the temple of the Holy Spirit according to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and not used to make me feel good. God blessed by taking away the convenience foods that I tended to run to when life was crazy (which is often). Food is still a battle, but God has blessed in making it possible to get the foods I need and encouragement from friends to have right thinking.
Sometimes blessings come in the form of difficulties. I still struggle counting trials joy (especially when I want pizza), but God is patient and lovingly brings me back to the right path.
God is so good!
Have you ever worried? I certainly have.
I love this picture. Pretty flowers with a beautiful, blue sky background. However, life is not always this pretty. Sometimes it is downright ugly. There is much trouble. But worrying about the trouble (especially tomorrow’s trouble) doesn’t help me. In fact, it can be a great hindrance to what I need to accomplish today. Worry also doubts God’s ability to provide.
I am thankful God has given us passages like Matthew 6:25-34. My loving Heavenly Father takes care of the lilies and the birds. He will take care of me. He has promised. God always (yes, always) keeps His promises.
I am thankful for God’s promises. They are encouraging, but sometimes I still worry. The best remedy I know for worry is pleading in prayer. I know God will listen and provide.
Thunderstorms
Tonight I got to hear one of my favorite sounds. A thunderstorm. This is highly unusual for Minnesota in March. We are more likely to get a snowstorm (which we did – a week ago this past Friday – over 12 inches overnight – but enough of that.) Today God gave us a warmer day with rain and thunder.
As a child I did not like thunderstorms at all. I was terrified of them. Then one day my dad told me that he loved thunderstorms. I’m pretty sure I thought he was crazy. Then he told me that the thunder and lightning reminded him of the power of God. Those of us that have trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior do not need to be afraid of God. We are His children. I had trusted Christ by that point in my life so the words meant something to me. I didn’t enjoy thunderstorms right away after that, but the fear started subsiding. Some years later I found myself loving the sound of God’s power. So tonight I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the sound my Heavenly Father made and my earthly father helped me to enjoy.
No thankfulness challenge could be complete without telling the story of my house from September, 2005.
This story is one of my favorites to tell. God gave me a house. Don’t misunderstand; I have a mortgage – so technically I am paying for it. But there is no way I could be in this situation without God’s miraculous provision.
Point 1: God brought it to me. I didn’t go looking.
I had talked to a realtor a couple of different times, but it wasn’t possible for me to buy a house. So I accepted that I would be renting for years to come. I was content. God had given me a good apartment and a good landlord.
One evening after work I had a message from the realtor I talked to before. She told me there was a new first time home buyer program. She wondered if I would be interested. In my mind I thought, “Sure, nothing will happen, but it will be good experience.” Well, about 5 weeks later I closed on my house.
Point 2: God made the impossible, possible.
I had left a job suddenly in May, was unemployed for about 7 weeks, and only had unemployment benefits 4 of those weeks. Then I started a new job in July that was a lot lower pay. I didn’t think a bank would give me financing with that financial picture. However, the bank was willing to give me the financing and I could manage the small down payment that was expected.
Point 3: God laid out each step to make my path clear.
Monday afternoon I went to see several houses – there were two of interest. On Wednesday we went to a couple more – including a little green house that had only been put on the market that day. I had a coworker with me that day. He looked over the house with an experienced eye and made some positive comments. I was rapidly falling in love with this house. The other two I had been interested in paled in comparison. I knew I wanted to place an offer. The next day my offer was excepted.
From the timing of my job change, to the financing, to the timing of my house coming on the market – God clearly made this happen.
This is my home sweet home.
Pleading in Prayer 