Thankfulness: The finale!

But really, it should never end. Our thankfulness will go on and on into eternity! Thank you, Lord!!

#6 Way being thankful helps when our world just doesn't seem right:

As soon as you are thankful, your human relationships get healthier because they are shaped by faith. You become more dependent on God and less demanding of others.

Often we are demanding and judgmental with others, fearful and easily hurt because we are controlled by our relationships with people, instead of focusing first on our relationship with God. We always have to start with the Lord and His redemptive purposes before we think about the people in a particular situation. If you can understand God's good purposes for you, what you expect of people and what you fear about them both diminish. As you rest in the Lord, your heart is softened and strengthened at the same time. This gives you a greater strength to work through hard things, and a greater desire and ability to love and serve others.

My thankful list for today:
1. For my pastor, Arie, who preached a timely and timeless message on humility yesterday. I needed to hear it; I always need to hear it.
2. For my Sr. pastor's wife, Daryl, who courageously testified through tears of God's strength in her weakness, of God's mercy and blessing in a season when she anticipated and experienced hardship, and who perseveres in doing good to her husband and family when anyone would more readily throw in the towel. Thank you, Daryl, for your example!
3. The opportunity to pray for a friend this morning.
4. The privilege of caring for and comforting all the men in my humble abode while they are sick.
5. An honest and affordable mechanic who has been spending a lot of his own time working on our Honda's. Thank you, Lord, for Ken!
6. The kind compliment my husband paid me this morning via email.
7. A nice warm shower that I'm about to take. :)

Thankfulness: Part 5

#5 Way being thankful helps when our world just doesn't seem right:

As soon as you are thankful, you start to see not only your situation but yourself--your own heart--through God's eyes. For the Christian, this means that you learn how to apply what Jesus has done to the specifics of your life.

For example, I Peter 1:3-5 says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." That is the big truth; next comes God's personal understanding of your needs and his plans for your growth. "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (I Peter 1:6,7).

When you have a thankful heart, you affirm that, because of Jesus, God is up to something good in your life. When you do that, have you ever noticed that you can admit you are weak, but still feel safe? That you can confess your sin, and be confident of God's forgiveness? You are humbled, but not shamed. You are more willing to be taught and corrected because you can see God's loving intent behind it (James 1:2-4).

My thankful list today:
1. a faithful and giving friend who took the boys for a couple hours so that I could have lunch with some caregroup ladies.
2. the birth of Luke Steven Chambers!!!
3. sales on some special food items I needed to make an appetizer for caregroup this week.
4. the sunshine. What mental health it brings my way!!
5. my mom, born (i won't publicly say how many years ago) today! Thank you, Lord, for my ma!

Thankfulness: Part 4

#4 Way being thankful helps when our world just doesn't seem right:

As soon as you are thankful, you begin to link your life to God's promises. You learn how to see your circumstances through the lens of God's Word, instead of interpreting God's Word through the lens of your experiences, which always dilutes, devalues, and diminishes God. It's like looking through the wrong end of a telescope.

This is what happened when the nation of Israel was on the outskirts of the Promised Land (Num. 14). Moses sent twelve men to scout it out before they went in to conquer it. They all agreed that it was a wonderful land, just as God had promised. Yet ten out of twelve concentrated on the dangers they would face if they tried to conquer it. They instilled such fear in the people that they wanted to turn around and go back to Egypt!

The Lord responded, "How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?... Not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed...will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it" (14:11, 22-23).

God made promises to Israel that he was committed to keep, and he kept them. In Christ, he has made many more promises to us, and he intends to keep them as well. He wants us to believe him! He is a person--and when we trash our relationship with him in unbelief, it matters! Being thankful helps us to interpret our lives in the light of his faithfulness.

My thankful list today:
1. The Holy Spirit who stopped me in my tracks today with my complaining.
2. my pastors' wives who creatively plan, pray and work hard for the women at Chesapeake.
3. my boys have buddies who live very close by who they'll be able to play with on rainy days.
4. a good report at the doctors yesterday! Thank you, Lord, for your mercy!
5. my mom who loves to lavish as many material blessings as she can afford on us, in addition to all the spiritual and emotional blessings she generously bestows.

Thankfulness: Part 3

#3 Way being thankful helps when our world just doesn't seem right:

As soon as you are thankful, you defeat Satan's efforts to control your interpretation of reality. Satan always wants us to doubt God and turn away from him. This has been going on since the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:1). And without the Lord's help, our own hearts are predisposed to this kind of thinking. Because of sin, doubting God is our "default mode." It's our natural assumption.

I once spoke to a woman whose fears had completely taken over her life. I said to her, "It's like your fears are on speed-dial. They are right there, fully developed, with the push of one emotional button. You don't even have to go to the trouble of thinking about them. " And because she had thought them so often, they felt very real, very natural, very authentically "her." She trusted them because they were familiar and they came to her so easily. But they were lies that were destroying her life.

Being thankful breaks that cycle. It is one of God's ways to reset our default mode, to renew our minds and put us in touch with our new heart, which knows that God is good. Romans 8:32 says, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, gracioulsy give us all things?" This needs to be our default mode.
Many people have a descending staircase of negativity that has operated in their heads for years. Once they have thought the first negative thought, they know exactly where they are going to end up--all the way at the bottom. They know ahead of time what each and every thought is going to be. And again, because the thoughts are so familiar, they seem powerful and irrefutable. If that's true for you, remember: Being thankful is a way to step back from those thoughts and turn to the Lord, to trust what he has to say about your life. Over time, this will become what feels real and natural to you.

I could have very well been the woman Susan Lutz, author of this booklet, was speaking about. How the description above depicts my history and to some degree, my present day posture still.
BUT, I am thankful today that God is changing me by His grace.
I must also give thanks for the husband He's given to me to patiently endure and lovingly persevere in not only shepherding me through this change but also for having faith in God for this change to take place in my heart and life, as it has not been easy coming.

What are you thankful for today?

Thankfulness: Part 2

#2 Way being thankful helps when our world just doesn't seem right:

As soon as you are thankful, you start to see your life differently, through God's eyes. You are no longer problem-centered, but God-centered. That in itself is an incredible relief. Some situations are so difficult and painful that it seems as if you can't look anywhere. You can't look "behind" you to think about what happened in the past. You can't look to one side and think about what is actually happening now. You can't look on the other side, either, to think about what could have been--and should have been--happening now. You can't look in front of you to think about what lies ahead. It is all too overwhelming without God. You can't see how anything in your situation connects to the "big picture" promises that Go makes in His Word. You feel as if all you can do is concentrate on the very next, small step in front of you.

But stop for a minute. In that small space of the next step you need to take, find something for which you can be thankful. Find something that reminds you that God is with you. There will be something--a verse, a phone call from a friend that reminds you that God has not forgotten, a specific answer to prayer. Thank God specifically for that reminder of His presence. Let it shape the way you take that next small step. God wants you to see that nothing happens in your life that he cannot use redemptively, which means that he can use it for good, to bless you and help you to grow in your understanding of Him. That's saying a lot, but it is God who is saying it! Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." God is on the throne, and the events of your life--even the bad things--are not beyond his reach. We don't need to give thanks for evil, but we are meant to give thanks for God's ability to overrule evil and use it for good.

In the Old Testament, Joseph realized this when he confronted his brothers, who had betrayed him, sold him into slavery, and set in motion all kinds of evil in his life. "You intended to harm me, " he tells them, "but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Gen. 50:20).

When you are thankful, it helps you to realize that you are not defined by your problems or your circumstances. God has preceded them and he can overrule them. If you belong to Jesus, you are not defined by your failures, your sins, your weaknesses, or your enemies. They will not have the last word. God will.

My thankful list this morning (in part):
1. healing of my back and knee yesterday; it was from God for certain.
2. my husband who is always seeking to shepherd my heart and grow in loving and serving me as Christ loves the church.
3. a newly found grace and love for intercessory prayer.
4. new friends via blogs and email.
5. two beautiful boys who love to hug and kiss mommy all day long.
6. my friend, Carole, who speaks boldly yet lovingly wise words of truth and encouragement into my life.
7. the amazing women in my church who faithfully care for Carol Turek. Thank you, God, for these women.

Thankfulness

It was right before Thanksgiving vacation that I recall asking one of my pastor's and his wife to come and pray for me in my home. The twins were about 3 1/2 months old; I was experiencing a lot of discomfort nursing them and battling infections one after the other due to a supressed immune system that just did not want to fight anything off on its own. My physical body was depleted of much needed energy, and my spiritual body was depleted as well.

One of my pastors, Jimmy, with his wife, Abby, came to pray for healing, but they also brought with them a heart to encourage and a few resources to leave with me so that I would continue to be encouraged in the days to come. One of the resources they left with me was a tiny little booklet entitled, Thankfulness...Even When It Hurts by Susan Lutz. This booklet is one of many a part of Resources for Changing Lives published by Christian Counseling and Education Foundation.

I picked up that little booklet recently and have been freshly encouraged and challenged by its timeless truths. I thought that I would take the next week or so to include portions of the booklet on my blog, not only as a way to reinforce these truths and challenges to my own heart and mind, but God willing, as a way to encourage any of my readers as well.

In the introductory sections of this little booklet, Susan reminds the reader that the created world is always giving thanks to the Creator. As she states, "Praise and thanks to God seem to be the natural, authentic, and spontaneous response of the rest of the created world. Human beings are the notable exception. Basically, we're not normal! If we saw things as they truly are, praise and thanks are apparently what we would do all the time."

Susan lists six ways that being thankful can help in times when our worlds just don't seem right (which has been a lot for me recently). I will list those six ways over the course of the next week. And, in addition to her remarks, I may make a list of the few things I'm thankful for on that day. Feel free to add your own list on your comment.

#1 Way being thankful helps when our world just doesn't seem right:

As soon as you are thankful, you enter the presence of God. You instantly are reminded that you are not alone in your situation, isolated, feeling as if you've been left to fight your battles on your own. When you are thankful, you remember that you are living your life in God's presence. Being thankful is not just a technique in which you talk yourself into a positive frame of mind. Thankfulness reminds you that you have a relationship with the living God. He is listening and involved. He is there with you. You are thinking like heaven, even if your circumstances seem more like something else.