Thankful For The "Little Things"

What does Thanksgiving mean to you?  It is our Nations celebration for the bounty that God has blessed us with.  It is our personal Thanksgiving for the many blessings in our lives, our God, family and our country.  It is our thankfulness for the health of our family, the bills being paid (no matter how much is left over), a warm bed to sleep in, plenty of food, enough clothing to set up a small shop, etc….

What about the “other” blessings in our lives?  What about the blessing to talk, see, touch, feel and move our bodies whenever we want to?  What about the blessing to be able to feed ourselves, dress ourselves and comb our own hair?  These are the most basic blessings in our lives and we take them for granted. 

My grandson Jason is paralyzed from the neck down.  Although he is content and for the most part a happy little boy he doesn’t have these blessings.  Although he rarely speaks about using his body I know he thinks about it all the time.  What he wouldn’t give to just be able to get up out of his chair and walk again.  What we wouldn’t give for him to be able to use and feel his body again!!!  When I asked him what he wanted for Christmas this year he said “to use my body”.  I’m telling you my heart just broke right then and there.  If I could buy that for him I would do it in an instant no matter what the cost.

This Christmas when your family is gathered together remember Jason and say a prayer of Thanksgiving to the Lord for the blessing of the use of your body.  Remember our bodies are His temple and we should treat them with love and respect and use them to glorify the Father. 

Someday Jason will be able to use his body again.  I have faith in God and I believe my fervent prayers will be answered, in His time!  God will be glorified as Jason takes his first step and every step there after!!  Glory to God!!

Scripture

One day Jesus told His disciples a story to illustrate their need for constant prayer and to show them that they must never give up.  Luke 18:1

The LORD has heard my plea; the LORD will answer my prayer.  Psalm 6:9

Beautiful The Way We Are

We pour out our miseries. God just hears a melody.  Beautiful the mess we are.  The honest cries of breaking hearts are better than a hallelujah. 

Did you know that we are beautiful to God just the way we are?  We can never be smart enough, rich enough, famous enough or anything else enough to earn God’s love.  It’s not something we earn.  It is given to us freely and abundantly.  God is never far from the brokenhearted, down trodden, desperate, lonely, etc.  God will meet each of us where we are if we only call out to Him and seek Him with all our heart.

Even when we are going through the fire there is joy in the knowledge of how God uses events in our lives to bring about a better ending for us.  Do not be afraid or discouraged because God made us in His image and every trial and every tribulation brings us closer to Him and makes us even more beautiful than we already are.

Scripture

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. James 1:2-3

O Lord, you are our Father.  We are the clay, and you are the potter.  We all are formed by your hand.  Isaiah 64:8

So if you are suffering according to God's will, keep on doing what is right, and trust yourself to the God who made you, for he will never fail you.  1 Peter 4:19

2 Chronicles

I am very upset about the current events of this world.  We have the first ever President to be anti Israel, we are fighting two wars simultaneously (three if you count the war on terror), our dollar is falling, our debt is rising and if we don’t wake up and do something about it, life as we know it in America will cease to exist.

The first thing that needs to happen is for our Country to get out of our comfort zone.  Out of the world of “population one” and see the world for what it is…lost.  The government is working diligently to diminish our rights as citizens of the United States and as children of God.  Christianity is being attacked on every front with no sign of letting up.  Things are only going to get worse unless we do something about it. 

Christians can no longer be the silent majority.  We need to make our voices heard if we want real change in the world.  We need to unite and commit to pray for our Country, our government officials, our troops and our citizens.  Pray for restoration of our Nation that can only come by the grace of God.

God has always blessed America, it’s time we thanked Him!!!!

Scripture

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed .  The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.  James 5:16

Till Death Do Us Part

67 years, 8 months and 29 days.  This is what my Aunt Marie told the pastor when he asked “how long have you and Loran been married”?  Not that she was counting or anything.  When I stooped down to hug her neck she told me about the morning my uncle died.  She said “I went over to hug him goodnight and he held my hand.  He said in a small weak voice “I’m dying.  I love you, I have always loved you”.  I told him that I have loved him since the first time I laid eyes on him.  I layed down and slept for a few hours then I got up and washed my face.  About 30 minutes later I heard a little gurgling sound and he was gone”. 

My uncle had been pretty much bed ridden for the past several years and my Aunt catered to his every need.  When she said “in sickness and in health till death do us part” she meant it.  Like every married couple they had their share of hard times but they pulled through it.  They pulled through it because they relied on God and their shared faith in Christ. 

Death is as much a part of life as living is and it’s going to happen to each and every one of us.  My uncle knew his time was near and he was not afraid.  He was going home where he would wait for his bride to join him.   His death did not catch us off guard because of his lengthy illness but sometimes death comes quickly and unexpected.  What do you do when death knocks you to your knees and you can’t seem to pull yourself up?  When it seems like nothing makes sense anymore and the world around you is crumbling in?  What do you do then?

Turn to God!  When you are broken hearted and it seems like there is no relief in sight turn to God.  He is our comforter, our strength and our hope.  He understands our pain and He will see us through ours.  Our lives are full of what seems like impossible situations…..but this too shall pass.  As believers in the risen Christ our hope lies in the promise that death in this life is not the end but the beginning. 

Scripture

And I have a hope in God, which these men themselves also accept, that there is going to be a resurrection, both of the righteous and the unrighteous.  Acts 24:15

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.  1 Thessalonians 4:13