Thankfulness

All things

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And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28

This was a bad week for us from our small perspective. One close friend died and we got news that another couple we loved were getting a divorce. Then yesterday I was in terrible pain from a small workplace accident. We were talking about going to the emergency room but decided to pray and wait for morning. My plans seemed to have come apart and yet as my wife prayed for my badly bruised ankle a peace overtook me. In spite of all I am overwhelmed by gratitude for the life God has given. Today is the day we celebrate the birthday of our oldest son! We have each other still though 44 years to pray together as we pass through deep waters. Just like you I do not understand in the heat of my painful moments why God would allow it to happen like this but he does and then works it all together for good. Just like a corn field needs someone to plow it up then disk it down. Someone has to turn the earth upside down before it can look  good right side up! God is still and always so good!kimg0340.jpg

Thankfulness Challenge 2

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We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly[a] mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ  1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

“What exactly do you love about me?” my wife sometimes asks me. She doesn’t just want an akimg0754bstract lovey -dovey comment, she wants all the little nitty gritty details! Think of thankfulness as a thousand piece puzzle. It takes more than knowing what the big picture looks like to get that thing together. Finishing the puzzle means fitting each and every tiny part exactly into the position for which it was designed! Paul got very detailed about the thanks he was giving for his friends at the Thessalonian church. In fact Paul went into extra innings in his prayer time to remind God with a specific list of their work, their faith and their labor of love.

We might tell our pastor, “Hey great sermon today!” but can we take the time to say, “That part about unshakable confidence being like the mountains really made me think.” If we are to start building a design of thankfulness, let’s make it our goal this week to just fit in at least one tiny puzzle piece. If kimg0749we were blessed by the worship, we could say something like, “When you got to that part about God breaking chains, my heart just felt a breakthrough tonight!”

Saying thank you, may feel awkward and maybe a little strange but God himself can be very specific when he expresses His love for us. He counts our every hair, he bottles every tear and hears every cry. He touched a leper and put clothing on a naked demon possessed man. Jesus had compassion on the hungry, then took the time to count every one in the crowd before he multiplied their bread. He has left us a perfect example that is not only our duty but it is our joy to follow. When we give thanks for what someone has done for us we never know what it will do. Giving thanks is a bit like washing dirty tired feet. Thankfulness means taking the position of servant before our brothers and sisters, so we can walk together into everything that God has designed for us!

He Gave Thanks

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The screen door banged and feet shuffled in at our back door on summer afternoons. The occasion was the silent call of the delicious aroma of Mom’s homemade bread! One by one my friends and I waited in line as Mom cut open the first loaf and slid butter across it as she handed us each our slice.

I don’t remember anyone standing outside the door waiting to be invited in. She never made an announcement and but Mom’s welcome to her kitchen was quietly understood. In Mom’s kitchen we all knew we had one piece of bread with our name on it.

Now of course we went by Mom’s rules that said we had to wait for the bread to cool. We could not expect a second slice and most importantly we needed to say thank you!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God   Philippians 4:6

bread

There are so many things we are asking God for today. We ask for His help with temptations, difficulties, emergencies and financial needs. Yet often we have such low expectations of God’s answer it seems as if we have forgotten the aroma of the grace of God. And on those occasions after we have received an answer to our prayers do we just say, “We give you thanks in Jesus name” without truly being grateful? I am struck with the fact that Jesus, who is the creator of all things, and was there at the birth of our planet, said, “thank you”.  As Jesus prayed for the multiplying of the bread perhaps He smelled the fresh bread being baked in His Father’s heavenly ovens and with great joy and expectancy gave thanks!