For the One who longs to hear it and to the ones who need to hear it

Oh goodness…I just realized it’s been two weeks since I’ve recorded my joys and thanksgivings.  It’s been a whirlwind the past couple of weeks.  It’s so early in the season and so much filling the calendar space already.

My word for the rest of this year is BALANCE.

 

Yet at the moment, it’s beginning to look like I have a thin balance beam to walk across.

I need to balance so I can make time to thank God. 

In the once-again quiet house now that school is in session, with a joyfully quiet sigh, I plopped down on my quiet time sofa and just took in a deep breath of quietness.  The fingers felt good flipping through the thin pages and the crinkly sound of the gold rimmed paper turning, and I find Luke 17:14-19 in The Message.  It’s about ten lepers who saw Jesus and his disciples walking down the road. They all cried out for mercy to Jesus, asking for healing.  And Jesus did.  Nine ran into the nearby city filled with happiness to show others Jesus’ holy healing power, yet only one turned around and ran the other way. 

He turned around to thank Jesus.

    “One of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God.  He kneeled at Jesus’ feet, so grateful. He couldn’t thank him enough.”

Am I like the one or one of the nine?

Am I stopping in my tracks before I run into the world each day, thanking Him for simply showing up, for answering my cries for mercy and forgiveness, for my family, for the opportunity to wash dirty clothes in our clean washing machine, for a sink piled high with dishes that need to be washed, for a mini van that gets us around town, for the time I have to read and write?  

Or am I one who might take for granted the gifts God gives me?   Or am I still thanking God if the healing doesn’t come or if struggles just won’t go away or hope is hard to hold onto?

Remember though: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  (1 Thes. 5:16-18)

 

Yes, let’s go out and share the good things that happen in our lives, but take the time to THANK GOD FIRST…for everything. 

 I want to be like that ONE who can’t thank God enough in the middle of this world, our country, and my community.  In the balance beam of life today, we MUST make the time to “shout our gratitude” to the One who longs to hear it and to the ones who need to hear it.   I challenge you to be like that one who thanked God first.

 

And here’s the list of gifts I’m thanking God for from the past couple of weeks:

#1616  wearing a light jacket on morning walk…in August

#1617  open windows… in August

#1618  Libby’s love to have a bake sale for Feed The Hunger

#1619  $105 daughter raised to buy school supplies for other kids in need.

#1620  back to school!

#1621  good teachers for our kids this year

#1622  a long weekend beach get away with family

#1623  16 month old grins

#1624  rusty things that make you wonder the stories that go around them

#1625  not having lost the desire to ride the waves on the boogie board (or what used to be a raft)

#1626  surviving after an out-of-control tumbling under the water in powerful waves

#1627  the power of God in a wave literally takes your breath away and teaches you a lesson

#1628  the next day calm waves to lie on the board and float in the water

#1629  revising Margie and Rays restaurant

#1630  our in-laws gift of inviting us to a weekend at the beach

#1631  finding a perfect sand dollar which isn’t easy to do

#1632  crumbles of broken seashells

#1633  waking up naturally each morning at the perfect time to see the sunrise

#1634  different sunrises every morning over the Atlantic Ocean.

#1635  the heart cloud as the sun rises that’s God’s way of saying to me, “I love you”.

#1636  flying a kite on the beach

#1637  feeding seagulls

#1638  the surprise visit from a horseshoe crab

#1639  fun in the ocean!

#1640  on the beach, catching up from the past year with with a dear friend

#1641  Beach umbrellas

#1642  Sand underneath your feet and water rushing around them

#1643  Starting the study Good Morning Girls

#1644  over 70 people from our church baptized at the lake and celebrated with a party

#1645  hard eucharisteo -  opportunity to share  from the heart even though I don’t like to.

#1646  recommitment

#1647  last minute conversation meeting with a beautiful woman of God at the coffee shop.

#1648  Before this friend knowing what I was going to tell her, she pulled out a book that was just. right. for me to read.

#1649  the book: Anything by Jennie Allen and the pages are more highlighted than not.

#1650  thoughts that Christ puts in your heart that could be a calling

#1651  seeing the shadow of a hummingbird flying by on our sunroom wall as if it was the shadow of a little fairy like you see in Peter Pan.

#1652  finally stepping out of my comfort zone, which has been a fear of mine.  It strangely feels good.

#1653  the excitement of starting a new bible study with a beautiful group of women.

 

What can you thank God for first today?  How about sharing it below in my comments?