In Everything Give Him Thanks

Towards the end of the rehearsal the choir director asked if anyone would like to share something about one of the songs we had been practicing for our cantata.  I offered to tell about something exciting that happened a few days earlier.

I woke up depressed, not wanting to go to church. I didn’t want to be around people. I just wanted to stay at home. And I would have except I taught a 3rd grade Sunday school class so I had an obligation to fulfill. My heart wasn’t in it but I got ready anyway and decided that I would go, teach the class, and then head home after it was over. I wasn’t going to stay for the worship service. As I was leaving for home after Sunday school I passed the room where the choir was getting ready for the service.  I had forgotten that we were singing. I didn’t feel like singing. I just wanted to go home.  But I was a member of the choir and I had an obligation to fulfill so I decided that I would stay to sing the special music with the choir then slip out the back after we finished. No way was I staying for the rest of the service. Then I realized we were singing “In Everything Give Him Thanks” by Lanny Wolfe. Of all songs why this one?

                In the good times praise His name

                In the bad times do the same

No way was I going to praise God’s name for the good or bad times. I just wanted to get it over with so I could go home and continue in my misery. Sometime, somehow during that song God took my sad, pathetic, ungrateful little heart and turned it into a happy, thankful heart that was praising Him. I was totally amazed! How did He do that?

                When trouble comes

                And there’s no one around
                Satan tries to tell me
                That God’s let me down
                Through ev’ry dark hour
                The best thing I’ve found
                Is to give God the thanks
                For He has never never
                Failed me yet
                So why should I start now
                To worry or fret
                In everything I won’t ever forget
                To give God the thanks

I stayed for the service.

                In the good times praise His name

                In the bad times do the same
                In everything give the King of Kings all the thanks

He’s never, never failed me, ever!  (November 21, 2012)

In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. I Th. 5:18 (NASB)

The Road Not Taken

Reality smacked me the other day. It wasn't pleasant. Although not a surprise, as I knew it was inevitable, it was still a hard hit. Foolishly I thought I could avoid it. So here I was at the edge of the road I had taken realizing that I couldn't go any further.

There was no way across and I couldn't get down. Months before I had made a decision hoping that things would work out the way I intended. It was the right move; I am sure of that. Facing the vast expanse before me I looked for a different way. There it was; another path. I didn't particularly care for it as this direction would require me to unload a few things that I had accumulated. Things of no importance in the end but nonetheless had been acquired through dreams and hard work of life's travels. As is my custom I immediately began making plans; realizing it would be easier, although still difficult, with the lighter load. Unbelievably, in the mist of all this another path became visible.

It too was one of difficulties. Whereas the first path required loss right from the start the other one's loss would take place further down the road. Both seemed impossible. But much like Ann Kiemel I love the word "impossible"! When things are impossible I know that I will have opportunities to see God at work in my life. That doesn't mean it's going to be easy or go smoothly. I will still have branches in my way, debris on the trail, boulders to climb and some rain along the way. For some strange reason I have always appreciated the storm. Perhaps because I know after the rain will be growth.

Which path will I take? I'm not sure and to be honest I don't believe it really makes a difference. All I know is as I meet others on this journey I want to give them shelter from the storm. And it's not my shelter that I want to offer for that would only be a 'lean-to' but the shelter I want for others has a sure foundation that is strong and will give them hope during the storm. (November 9, 2012)

The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house, and it didn't fall, for it was founded on the rock. Matthew 7:25 (HNV)

Who Are You?

Recently I was reading a book that mentioned how the Lord God is named by His character qualities.[i] Below are the names of God in the Bible. Some are mentioned many times (Yahweh occurs 6,519 times) and others less or not that often or only once.[ii]

     El Shaddai (Lord God Almighty)

     El Elyon (The Most High God)

     Adonai (Lord, Master)

     Yahweh (Lord, Jehovah)

     Jehovah Nissi (The Lord My Banner)

     Jehovah-Raah (The Lord My Shepherd)

     Jehovah Rapha (The Lord That Heals)

     Jehovah Shammah (The Lord Is There)

     Jehovah Tsidkenu (The Lord Our Righteousness)

     Jehovah Mekoddishkem (The Lord Who Sanctifies You)

     El Olam (The Everlasting God)

     Elohim (God)

     Qanna (Jealous)

     Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Will Provide)

     Jehovah Shalom (The Lord is Peace)

    Jehovah Sabaoth (The Lord of Hosts)

Each of God's names tell us about Him, about his personality, about who He is. In Kyle Idleman's book he asked a question which made me smile and cringe at the same time.  "Wouldn't it be interesting if people were not only called by their given names but also by their most dominant personality traits?" I couldn't help but think of a name that my father often called my mother....the great manipulator. That name was not too flattering but we could not deny that mom was always manipulating things to her advantage even if it was for a good reason. What would your name be if you were to be called by your most dominant personality trait? Would it be a name that honored God?

---

[i] Gods at War by Kyle Idleman

[ii] Blue Letter Bible

2016

The LORD'S loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning; Great is YOUR faithfulness.

"The LORD is my portion," says my soul, Therefore I have hope in Him."

Lamentations 3:22-24

Blessed New Year!

Fresh beginnings are always nice to have and I feel for 2016 a new beginning has latched on to me. I'm not saying that there is going to be a turn-around in my situation but a turn-around in my attitude and how I approach disappointments. I have to admit that I have been waddling in self-pity for the last six years and it's time to get out of that swimming pool! According to the host and callers from the radio program I was listening, it appears that 2016 is going to be catastrophe. Tough times are ahead, I'm sure, however there is one thing I know; God is faithful and He is always with me. He has always brought me through tough times, even when I have a poor attitude. I don't deserve His love and compassion but He gives it to me just the same. So, in 2016 I will forget the former things and will not dwell on things of the past. The Lord is doing a new thing in me (Is. 43:18-19) and I am ready, willing and stepping out for my King!

Grace to you

You Can Run, But You Can't Hide

House of Cards was a movie in the 90s with Kathleen Turner and Tommy Lee Jones. Kathleen Turner played the part of a mother who's young daughter was traumatized when she saw her father fall to his death. The little girl starts to display unusual behavior and so her mother takes her to see an expert in autism, played by Tommy Lee Jones. One scene in the movie has the little girl in a room while being observed by the expert. She is painting her arm instead of the paper on the table. Someone comes rushing into the room due to an emergency with another patient and so the expert runs out of the room. Upon his return, he notices that the little girl is not there. He immediately goes into the room where she was painting, looks all around but does not see her and starts to go out the door. However, he stops and turns around. There is a large tree outside the window and he can just barely see the outline of the little girl in front of the tree. She painted her entire body, blending in with the tree.

I couldn't help but cry out "That's me!" When I saw that scene. I never wanted anyone to see me. I always tried to be invisible. I even tried to hide from God. It's not difficult to be unnoticeable with people but you can't hide from God.

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways,

Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"

even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place,

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, God. How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand -- when I awake, I am still with you.

Psalms 139:1-18

It can be scary to think to think that there is no place to hide from God; that he knows everything about you. I find this Psalm to be comforting. I don't want people to know me. I don't want them to see the real me. But God He knows all about me. He knows the real me and He loves me so much that He sent His Son to die for me.

One is the Loneliest Number

The other night someone told me that they didn’t know how I did it; that they were really impressed with me. “Hmmm how so” I asked only to find out it had to do with living alone. Living alone apparently = loneliness. The more they went on about being alone, the more depressed I became. Having been only “me” for so long and not “us” I realized I ...had taken my oneness for granted.

Seriously, though, I do get lonely at times but you can be lonely with two or three or 500 people around you. I have always been a “loner”. For goodness sake I’m an introvert! I often joke that “I live in my own little world” but “that’s okay because they know me here.” 
Okay so I’m not really “alone”; I have two handsome dudes that live with me, Cody and Charlie. No person can top the greeting I get from those two guys whenever I come home! They share in my happiness; they comfort me when I’m sick or sad. It only takes a tail thump to remind me that I am not by myself.
And then, of course, there’s someone else who tops even the best doggie kisses. He’s always there for me. For example several years back I was facing a drastic job change; unemployment. I wasn’t taking it too well. Months earlier I had lost two of my dogs. It was not a good year. I came home from choir practice this one particular night very down. I even wrote a poem. Those creative juices just seem to flow when I’m sad. Not that they’re good or anything. I wrote a short little verse.
         "When it’s quiet and the lights are out,
           The loneliness and the fear steps in.
           It only takes a little doubt,
           And then the tears begin."
That night I had tried to go to sleep but the eyes would not close or the mind stop thinking. I thought about how in a few months I would be out of work and facing the age of 60. I thought about how many other people were already out of work and how difficult it would be for me to find a job. I thought about what I had planned to do when I finally retired. Could I start those plans early? But what if I failed? I thought about losing my home and everything I had worked so hard for. I had struggled all my life. I thought my struggling years were over. I cried and cried and cried some more. I couldn’t stop crying. Then a faithful God reminded me of a time I cried in fear as a young child crouched under my school desk during an air-raid drill. He reminded me of the time my husband was arrested and sent to prison. He reminded me of the time my father-in-law told me that his eight-week old grandson and I were no longer welcomed in his home. He reminded me of the days I had no money for food. He reminded me when I lost my husband to someone else. He reminded of the difficulties my son and I faced. He reminded me when I lost someone very close to suicide. He reminded me that during each and every time He was there for me. I could not have faced life without His strength to get me through a moment let alone a day. It was that strength that got me through that time in my life and all the other times before and all the times that are ahead of me now.
Loneliness comes from fear. I am not alone. Do not be sad for me. Nor be impressed with me. For the great I AM is the one who completes me and makes me more than just one.

The LORD is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid. Psalm 27:1 (HNV)
October 23, 2012

Temptation

I have dreamed of riches and have feared poverty.

I have had more than I needed and less than I desired.

“Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.” Proverbs 30: 8b-9

When I lived on the Eastern Shore, the manager of the store I worked asked me to keep an eye on another employee for fear she would steal from the cash register. My co-worker and her husband were having financial difficulties. Immediately I wondered if she had done the same for me.

Interestingly the year before we moved there I had two neighbors who were thieves. The one would steal just for fun. The other would steal a can of tuna from the little store next to our apartment complex to feed her baby. At that time I had no idea that I would be in such a financial situation where stealing might be considered an option. Working as a cashier did give me opportunity but I never once thought of taking from that register. It wasn’t an easy time but our needs were met and the experience drew me closer to the Lord.

During our financial crisis my husband and I had no money for food. Dave Ramsey will tell you that food and shelter comes first then the rest of the bills fall in line after them. We didn’t know about Dave Ramsey back then but my husband did know how to fish.  He would dig up some worms then head out to catch us our meals. We ate a lot of perch, had some rock, some blue and some flounder. We also would have crabs and invite the neighbors over for dinner.

There was this one place he liked to go where I would spend the day reading on the beach while he was out on the jetty fishing. Even though no one else would catch any fish we always had plenty to take home.  One time a couple of guys who had been fishing near him gave up early. As they walked by me one of them said as he was shaking his head “Your husband is the only one out there that is catching anything.” I smiled at him knowing that it was the Lord who was providing for us.

One day my husband decided that if I helped him fish we could have twice the amount that he usually brought home. I’m not a fisherman but I agreed to do it. So out on the jetty we both go. He cuts off a tiny piece of worm and attaches it on my hook. The rod I was using didn’t have a reel so I just dropped the line in the water. Before he could cut off a piece of worm for his hook I had a fish. So he pulled the fish in, took it off the hook, put another tiny piece of worm on my hook. I dropped it in the water.

“I’ve got a fish! I’ve got a fish!” I cried before he was able to cut a piece of worm for his hook. He pulled in the fish, took it off the hook, put another tiny piece of worm on my hook and I dropped it in the water. 

“I’ve got a fish! I’ve got a fish!” I cried again. “Go sit on the beach” he barked as I happily went back to reading on the beach. I felt as though the Lord was telling us, just as He did the Israelites in the desert with the manna, that we were only to have what we needed.

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. I Cr 10:13 NASB