“Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 NLT
No one is super proud of their weaknesses. It’s just not our human nature to say, “Look Mom! I failed the math test!” Or “Wow, I am so proud of myself for getting impatient with the slow cashier.” Uh…no.
Paul is writing to tell us that it’s not what our weakness does for us but it’s what Jesus can do through our weaknesses. Every time we are weak it’s an opportunity for us to surrender to Jesus and say, “Okay, I’m not very good at this, but I know You are greater and can make all things possible. Please use me and help me, Lord ”
The best way to tap into God’s grace when we need it in our weakest moments is through stopping, taking a deep breath, and praying. Prayer allows us to focus our attention on a Father who always has a helping hand stretched out when we need it most.
I pray today you realize your weakness isn’t about you. Your weakness is about giving Jesus the wheel and saying, “You’ve got this better than I do.”
Our memory verse this month has been Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.”
Where is your treasure? Where is your mind’s eye? What has your heart?
What thing or event or problem or worry or person or approval do you keep coming back to over and over? What do you think of when you wake up and as you go to sleep?
We’ve already started watching our favorite holiday movies. If you’ve seen A Christmas Story you know, Ralphie wants, “an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!” But would you say Ralphie was happy – of course not! In all his longing and scheming and obsessing- he was miserable.
You are probably not longing for an air-rifle…. Maybe not even a thing at all. Maybe your heart is heavy with grief or your thoughts are drawn to concern over your children and their hearts and their futures… like mine…
Yes, God gave me these amazing humans to raise, but if I think about them – oh, the anxiety! However, if I think about God, the sovereign, omniscient, omnipresent, creator king who loves me, died for me, and provides for me- WOW! It all melts away. They are His! I am His! You are His!
For the director of music. According to gittith.[b] Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.[c]
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.[d]
7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.
8 Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob.
9 Look on our shield,[e] O God; look with favor on your anointed one.
10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
12 Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.
November is the month where most people concentrate on giving thanks all the way up to Thanksgiving Day. On Thanksgiving Day there is a high possibility most people go around the table and say what they are thankful or grateful for or if nothing else an attitude of thankfulness is present in some way or another. Today is the day after Thanksgiving and we are nearing the end of the month of “thankfulness”. We are getting ready to shift our minds to the busyness of Christmas and all that comes with it, but let’s all just stop now and remember our thankfulness and gratitude should not just be a seasonal thing but a part of our daily lives.
Do you ever wonder if there is a difference between being thankful and grateful? I mean they usually just go hand in hand.
Both are most definitely an intentional choice. The definition of thankful is the expression of gratitude, especially to God, for us christians. It is an earnest and thankful prayer expressing gratitude and relief.
Gratitude is the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and return kindness. So I know it’s a bit of a stretch but to me I feel like to be thankful is a feeling and to be grateful is more of an action we can take. It is a way to show thanks for the things we have been blessed with and in turn we bless others. This is pleasing to God because being thankful and then showing gratitude is a part of God’s plan for us. When we have a true relationship with God, He actually expects it of us.
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Thessalonians 5:18
So how do we show God our gratitude? We should walk in love. We should live in peace and forgiveness and use every breath that we have to praise God. He wants us to spread His word so that no one should perish without Him. We need to show compassion and humility and be patient and gentle with everyone we encounter.
When we have these characteristics we as christians will draw people in. People see and want to know more about why we have peace, thankfulness, and gratitude in our lives even in the midst of trials and tribulations we may be facing.Have you ever been having the best day and encounter someone who is constantly negative and critical? It kind of brings your mood down a little, right? That is why we have to choose to walk in gratitude and be mindful as to not turn someone away from the gospel by our attitude in the moment.
When we have a spirit of thankfulness and praise to our Heavenly Father it produces Godly actions that others can see.
Remember we have a Creator that created us to carry out His plan. He created each and every one of us for a unique purpose. We belong to Him and when we let His peace rule our hearts we should have nothing but gratitude. Our hearts will be full of love and we will want to tell everyone that we cross paths with. If this doesn’t cause you to want to scream Hallelujah then nothing will!! Praise God!!!!
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:15-17
I was not feeling very thankful as I spent several sleepless nights with my newborn earlier this year. I was convinced I was the only person in the world awake at times enduring such a struggle. I found myself very discouraged; this was supposed to be a joyful time. I decided to write down Bible verses and prayers on several post-it notes. I placed these post-it notes all over my daughter’s room as a constant reminder to remain steadfast through this short trial. Crazy enough, that sweet baby decided to start sleeping much better within days. Thank you, Jesus!
The difficult seasons provide a clear opportunity to draw closer to the Lord. I’ve found this to be true when I take the time to reflect on my life and what has shaped me as a Christian. Sometimes it takes a season of trial to produce an obvious need for the Lord. A need for the Lord can be found anywhere at any time. If you already follow Jesus, then the difficult seasons can produce fruits of the spirit and steadfastness of faith. We all need Jesus for our hard circumstances. I am thankful for a God that is present and faithful through all seasons of life.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
I decorate sugar cookies. You know, the ones with the pretty icing and the neat designs. This past summer, I had a cookie order due and for whatever reason my icing would not set correctly. I decorated the cookies like I usually did, I waited for the icing to set, and it just wasn’t happening.
You see, usually the icing is smooth and shiny. Crunchy, but not too hard. The icing in front of me was messy, bumpy, and it was not cooperating.
Hold on, y’all, there’s a point to this story.
The order was due two days later, so I had a little bit of time to make it right. I decided to scrape the icing off the cookies. I made new icing and tried it again.
Again, the icing didn’t turn out. It was messy… the cookies were looking flat out ugly. As I scraped the icing off for the second time, the Lord spoke to me. It took my breath away.
I scraped all that ugly icing off the sugar cookie, and it was a clean slate. All of the ugly was gone. Just like the Lord does with us…. He takes all of our ugly and washes it away. We have a new slate.
Every single time we fail him, He forgives our sins. He scrapes all the ugly away. Every. Single. Time.
At the time I was very frustrated that my icing wasn’t cooperating, but the lesson was worth it. How blessed we are to serve a God who is faithful and just to forgive our sins time and time again! Give God your ugly, messy, or imperfect slate—He’ll wipe it clean.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
When my mother passed away four years ago, friends and family enveloped my sisters and me with a love that can only be described as “of God”.
Without that love we would not have made it through the darkest days we had ever encountered.
One friend in particular, wrote a scripture and encouraging yet sympathetic note on a simple index card and gave it to me the day of Mom’s funeral.
Four years later, that index card is still taped to my dresser. A daily reminder of the kindness and love that only God can give. A daily reminder of how important words are. A daily reminder that humans need other humans to make it through whatever life throws at them.
I said all of that to say this: is God nudging you to send someone an encouraging word today?
Do it.
It doesn’t have to be long.
It doesn’t have to be fancy.
It just has to be prayerfully penned.
Write the note. Someone needs it. 💛
17
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
18
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Do we know the power our thankfulness holds? Truly?
The story of the feeding of the 5,000 is a beautiful example.
I don’t know if you’ve ever been responsible for feeding thousands of men, women, and children who were hungry, but I can only imagine the amount of resources it would take to accomplish the task. Jesus and the disciples were presented with five loaves and two small fish as the only source of food to be found amongst the crowd, and their reactions were stark in contrast. The disciples said, “This is all we have! What are we supposed to do?!” (Luke 9:13-14 paraphrased) I have to be honest, I’d be in panic mode just like they were, because that amount of food wouldn’t feed my family of five let alone five thousand. However, it’s not the heart of the disciples we are aiming for…It’s Christ’s.
What did Jesus do when presented with an overwhelming need that he could have allowed to consume him? He gave thanks for what was provided. He could have responded the same way his disciples did. He was human after all. But, He didn’t. What did Heaven do in response to His thanks?
The Father blessed and multiplied the loaves and fish! The disciples saw and focused on the lack of their ability to successfully provide a meal for everyone there that day. And while Jesus saw the same thing, He knew the Father could do much with little. He didn’t focus on the little they had but rather what He knew the Father could do with it, and He was thankful. His thankfulness was the key that unlocked the door to the miracle that happened that day.
When we are thankful for what we hold and have trust for what HE holds, there’s no limit to what we will BEHOLD.
We all go through hard things. We hate going through them. We question why we have to go through them. And it stinks for a long time. I think that long time is called time on earth.
Because there is rejoicing in Heaven. Oh how I can’t wait to be there rejoicing.
But, in the mean time, we have to be thankful for the cross because even Jesus did not despise the cross. The thing that killed Him. He saw what was on the other side.
I think we have to do the same.
We have to look to the other side.
Tough times are gonna come, if they haven’t already, but we have a hope that is greater than our pain. We have Jesus.
In that hard day, look to the other side. See the joy waiting for you when you get out. See the smile on your loved ones when you finally arrive.
I think of the Angels in Heaven praising our God for every day He gave us. I think of my family in Heaven thanking God for the miracles He made in their lives. And I think of Jesus, waiting to come back to us.
Take hope today, there is good ahead. There is another side to this pain you simply can’t see yet. And there is Jesus.
Think of how a sunflower constantly follows the sun. Where the sun goes, so does the sunflower. Because it knows the sun will provide what the sunflower needs.
So follow Jesus, He has what you need. He knows what’s ahead.
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.”
I Peter 1:6-9
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
II Corinthians 4:16-18
During November, people reflect on what they are thankful for. When Daisy asked me to write this month, I began to pray that God would lead me to a super uplifting post of thanksgiving. I have to chuckle because in true God fashion, He directed me in a way that I was not going. After a few days of praying, God gently reminded me to be thankful for the difficulties. In our seasons of thankfulness, we should be thanking Him for the trials, the difficulties, the sufferings. Ouch! Those are not things we consider in our time of thanksgiving. Have you stopped to thank God for those?
The trials are just that-trials. They are hard. They get us down. The past several weeks have been difficult for me. Yet, God says to be thankful for these times. He is working out a perfect plan that is eternal. These times are building and strengthening me to become what He wants me to be. I have to remind myself to stay focused. I have been through far greater difficulties in life than these recent weeks. During those times, my father reminded me to “not miss what God has for me in the difficulties”. When I go through hardships, I try to remember those words. You see, God’s plans are incredibly beautiful, even in the sufferings, the trials, the difficulties. When we are thankful in and for the afflictions, we are allowing God to do His beautiful work in us.
As we consider the hard times, instead of focusing on the pain, let us focus on what God is doing through the pain. James 1:2-4 tells us that we should “count it all joy when you fall into various trials”. The reason we can count the trials as joy is because God is doing a work of perfection in us. He is wanting us to “be perfect and complete, lacking nothing”. Part of that work is accomplished through trials. During this season of thanksgiving, let’s not forget to be thankful for the hard times. God is working out a glorious masterpiece!
“O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies! Where is there anyone as mighty as you, O Lord? You are entirely faithful.”
Psalm 89:8 (NLT)
Since about August 1st I have been in a funk, and it culminated in a full blown temper tantrum a couple of weeks ago. Everything about my emotions was out of control. Ugh.
The week after my meltdown I went to our ladies intercessory prayer time that we have on Wednesdays. It is always life giving for me, and this particular time was life changing. We always start with people praying and giving thanks.
My sweet friend Michele Harris prayed a prayer about something the Lord had laid on her heart that morning; giving thanks for the small things. She was expressing thanks for having choices about what clothes to wear or food to pack for lunch. It hit me so hard. I knew it was for me and that the Lord was encouraging me in that moment.
I am so thankful that God has surrounded me with people who press in and hear His voice. I am so thankful for the life I have, and even though I failed miserable for a time Jesus was still faithful. He was the good shepherd who brought me to green pastures and told me to lie down. He reminded me to think about Him, how He is in control and that I can rest in that.
I am so thankful that in the midst of crazy, chaotic times I serve a God who is not phased by any of it and is the answer to all of it. ❤️
Rays of Sunshine inc 