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How many things can you thank God for today?

Arise, shine; for your light has come! Isaiah 60:1

Relax! It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect

For to you is born today, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this is a sign to you. You will find the babe wrapped, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.  

Luke 2:11-14

I was once told that it isn’t Thanksgiving without green bean casserole.  As if green beans, mushroom soup and fried onions make us thankful.  Could we not be thankful if we gathered around pizza or hot dogs? 

I think the lack of celebrating Thanksgiving in its purest sense by being deeply grateful is what leads people straight into having a materialistic Christmas. If we don’t acknowledge our thankfulness for all we have then we feel we need more.  And more and more. 

There’s even a current commercial being run that boasts it can give you “more Christmas for your money.”  We are being sold the lie that Christmas means having as much as your credit card will allow.  And when we buy it then our focus on what’s truly important becomes very fuzzy. 

We can get so caught up in the rituals and traditions that we forget the true meaning of the holidays.  Green bean casserole is nice (so they say!) and so is turkey.  Gifts are wonderful and so is spending time with family. 

But so much emphasis is put on having the picture-perfect Rockwell holiday that many feel left out when they can’t live up to those expectations.  And that’s when people become depressed during the holidays.  I know.  I’ve spent a number of holidays that looked more like a Picasso. But Picassos are beautiful, too, you just have look a little deeper and remember...

it’s about the Lord, not us. 

Christmas is about celebrating the birth of the Christ Child.  The Savior of all mankind came to take away the sins of the world!  How awesome is that?! Celebrating Him begins in our hearts, not on a Martha Stewart dinner table and not with a lot of charged-up gifts under a lighted tree that will take half the next year to pay.

No matter where we are, no matter what’s going on around us, if we have family or not, if we have money for gifts or not, we are the richest when Jesus lives in our hearts and we celebrate Him.

And if we have spaghetti for Christmas, so what?  Have it with gusto and thank God for it!   After all, Jesus’ birthday wasn’t picture perfect, either.  But the joy in the stable and beyond was immeasurable. 

If you’re having a difficult time this Christmas and you’d like some prayer, I’d be more than happy to pray for you.  Just leave a comment or send me an email.  Or you can click on A Place for Prayer Requests at the top. 

God bless you!

Dorci

Suffering with Purpose

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ,

so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. 

1 Peter 4:12-13

I’ve been reading a devotional called The Gospel According to Job by Mike Mason.  I may have mentioned it once or twice.  It follows the story of Job and his sufferings and compares them to Christ and the lessons we learn in the Gospels. 

Job suffered in every way imaginable way including having to put up with the insufferable and ignorant advice given by his so-called friends.  They accused him over and over.  But because we were given a peek into the conversation between God and satan that led to Job’s sufferings, we already know that God considers Job a righteous man. 

But Job is caught in the middle between God and the men who came to impart their religiosity.  And in the end, God instructed the men to offer their sacrifices to Job, saying that Job would pray for them and He would hear his prayer and forgive their sins. 

Job is given the position of being a type of messiah, a foreshadowing of the mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ.

At the end of the story, we know what happened to Job.  God blessed him more than at the beginning, much like Christ received back His throne and rightful place at the right hand of the Father in heaven, along with all the souls that were saved, once His work here was done.

But I wonder what happened to the three men when all was said and done.  Once God told them they had sinned, once they offered their sacrifices and were forgiven through Job’s righteous prayer, I wonder what happened to them when they went back home. 

Were their hearts changed?  Did their encounter with the Living God, and with a true man of faith, dispel the incorrect beliefs they had previously held about God?  Did they change from men of religion to men of faith?  Personally, I don’t see how they couldn’t. 

And if their hearts were changed, if they believed, did they go back to where they lived and tell their family and friends?  Did they go back and preach faith rather than religion?  And did word of a just but merciful and loving God spread throughout the land? 

Could it be that along with millions of people throughout the centuries who have been comforted by identifying with Job and his intense suffering, those fiery trials were meant for his present time as well?  Could God have used a righteous man’s faith and steadfastness during suffering to change the very hearts of those around him (including his wife’s)? 

Just as Jesus Christ, an innocent man, suffered for the purpose of salvation of all people both then and now, could the mystery of Job’s seemingly unwarranted suffering be made clear in a similar purpose: to spread the good news that in faith in God alone there is righteousness?

If so, can we see that purpose in our own suffering, that as we walk through it in faith we are a light to those around us, believers and unbelievers alike?  I think so.  No matter how little we may understand about all the reasons we’re going through whatever we’re going through, we can always rest assured that it is for the purpose of glorifying the Lord.    

Job had no idea of the impact his trials and tribulations--and his faith in God--would have on the world.  And we also have no idea how God wants to turn the world around us upside-down for Him as we walk through our own shadows with faith. 

Giving Thanks For the Greatest Gift

"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,

and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Ephesians 2:1-10

I shudder to think what my life would be like without the Lord.  What I would be like, or if I would even be. Before Christ I was on a one-way track headed for a collision with...something.  Any number of things could have ended my life.  And I'd have faced a just and holy God with no payment for my sins.  I'd have faced an eternity without His goodness and light and love. 

"But God...."

God came rushing in when all others had rushed out.  He showed His mercy to me by preparing me all my life to receive His offer of faith and belief in His Son, Jesus.  And on a day I thought was a simple visit to a church, having no idea there was more to this life than my eyes could see, He touched my heart. 

He showered me with grace and the rain has never ended. 

And so, I am thankful for the most precious gift I have and will ever receive, God's gift to me of salvation. 

Thank you, Lord!

Thankful For Lessons Learned

Today I'm thankful for the lessons God's taught me over the last year.  Well, is teaching me...

He's taught me a deeper level of hope, faith, trust, grace, endurance, patience (oh so much patience), and compassion. 

Compassion's been a biggie.  I always felt like I was a compassionate person, but God's taken me to a whole new level of compassion.  And grace.  Grace has to go along with compassion. 

I've noticed that I have compassion for people who seem to be one thing on the outside, like cruel or angry or selfish, but I know on the inside they're really lost and fearful, many times with no one to help them.  I see beyond the rough exterior, through the wall, and into the hurting heart. 

How can I do that?  Because I've been there.  I understand at least some what they may be feeling.  And that's only come from enduring trials. 

Those trials have been my lessons, in many ways. I wish I could have learned an easier way, like, by osmosis.  That would've been much easier than ripping my heart out.  But if heart surgery is what it takes, then I will trust in the great Surgeon. 

And of course when there are lessons there are tests.  Instead of learning compassion long distance--that person in the news or in someone else's life--I've faced some of those people up close and personal.  Sometimes I pass the test; sometimes I fall flat on my face. 

When I pass I know it's only by God's good grace.  When I fail, I ask forgiveness and get back up again. 

It's been a year in the trenches, otherwise known as God's classroom, but I know I'll come out the other side more like my Jesus.

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.  Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult.  On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 

1 Peter 3:8-9  

What are you thankful for? 

I'm So Thankful For God's Strength!

I am so grateful for the strength of God.  There have been days that have melted into weeks and beyond when I didn't think I could take one more step.  In those times it is only by the strength that comes from God alone that I rise and continue on for another day. 

No matter what comes, He is my strength, and for that I am forever thankful. 

The Sovereign LORD is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, 

He enables me to tread on the heights.

Habakkuk 3:19

What are you thankful for?

Giving Thanks for Song (And That God Hears My Heart!)

It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;

To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night,
On an instrument of ten strings, on the lute, and on the harp, with harmonious sound.
For You, LORD, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands.

Psalm 92:1-4

Today I'm thankful for the gift of song.  All we do and say and think is to be done with an attitude of praise and worship.  But God has given us musical abilities just for the purpose of praising and worshipping Him.  He's given our hearts the desire to worship and when our heart can hold it no longer, we can sing out our worship with the gift of song.  

We have voices that are made to worship in melody and harmony, to sing a tune of notes and words that, when formed together, shout the gladness of our hearts at the greatness of our God.  

We may not always feel like it because difficult circumstances have left us wondering...  But we sing out anyway as a sacrifice of praise because we know that He is still worthy.

Our rhythmic voices join us together as a family as we rise our thanksgiving to the heavens and to the very throne room of God as a sweet-smelling sacrifice.  And as we join with the Lord, we are filled with refreshment and joy.

Someday my voice will sing as well as my heart (and my heart even more so!), but until then I will keep singing the praises of my God and know that He hears my heart.  Praise the Lord!

What are you thankful for?