A word from Nancy:
Who else but a Christian can thank someone for a good meal, a good time, or a good effort, knowing that this has not just been a gift to us from another person but ultimately comes from the living God?
I love knowing that He cares and provides for me, not just air to breathe and food to eat, but countless extras that simply flow from His generous heart.
And I don't want to miss thanking Him for a single one of them.
When my eyes are opened by gratitude to these boundless examples of grace, only then can I see clearly enough to press on in this broken world.
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We need the divine blessing on everything we have and everything we do. Surely there is no work, no plan, no undertaking in all the range of the possible things we may do in the longest and busiest lifetime, on which we so much desire God's benediction as upon our home. In nothing else are so many sacred interests and such momentous responsibilities involved. Nowhere else in life do we meet such difficult and delicate duties. In nothing else is failure so disastrous.
Been thinking for the last couple of days on this verse that I have on my dresser as my constant counsel. My words, whether from my lips, pen, or keyboard flow from the meditations of my heart. Too often my meditations and resulting words are not acceptable in his sight. This has been true this week. And yet... He is faithful and just to forgive and redeem. True thankfulness requires a "you" to say "thank you" to. And to be thankful to the living God implies a corresponding level of trust in Him that can only reside in a believer's heart.
Nearly everyone defines sin as breaking a list of rules. Jesus, though, shows us that a man who has violated nothing on the list of moral misbehaviors may be every bit as spiritually lost as the most profligate, immoral person. Why? Because sin is not just breaking the rules, it is putting yourself in the place of God as Savior, Lord and Judge just as each son sought to displace the authority of the father in his own life.What both brothers, and both types of people, need is Jesus, whom Keller presents as "the true elder brother," the one who comes to our rescue at his own expense.
*1 Corinthians 16:8-9, 2 Corinthians 2:12-13, Colossians 4:3On the basis of these *passages, we can make the following conclusions about the place of open doors in guidance and decision making: (1) the term door refers to an opportunity, usually related to the effective ministry of the Word; (2) opportunities, like everything else, come through God's sovereignty; (3) most of the time open doors should be utilized as part of wise, resourceful living for the Lord (Eph. 5:15-16); (4) if a greater opportunity or more pressing work is at hand, it is proper to pass by the open door; and (5) an open door is not a providential command from God. Doors facilitate entrance. It is foolish to climb through a back window or tear down a wall when the front door is open.
A final word on so-called "closed doors." The need for open doors certainly implies the existence of closed doors, though Scripture never uses the term. Paul did not have a "closed door" mentality. If he was sovereignly prevented from pursuing a sound plan, he simply waited and tried again later. He did not view a blocked endeavor as a "closed door" sign from God that his plan was faulty. He accepted the fact that he could not pursue that plan at that time. Yet he continued to desire, pray, and plan for the eventual accomplishment of the goal. This approach is clearly demonstrated in Paul's attempts to visit Rome (Rom 1:10-13).
Gratitude is a lifestyle. A hard-fought, grace-infused, biblical lifestyle. And though there's a sense in which anyone can be thankful--for God has extended His common grace to all--the true glory and the transforming power of gratitude are reserved for those who know and acknowledge the Giver of every good gift and who are recipients of His redeeming grace.
From the time of creation until now, gender and sex, manhood and womanhood constantly display truths about God. God wrote His story on our flesh. In who He created me to be as a woman and in who He created you to be as a woman tells a story about God. Paul says that people are without excuse because God's story is displayed everywhere, and it is even displayed on gender and His creation.
Ephesians chapter 5 connects all the dots and indicates that manhood and womanhood, marriage and sex, all point to the story of the Bridegroom, the Son of God, who loved and gave His life to redeem His Bride, the Church. Gender exists to tell the love story of the gospel, and that is why God created male and female.
God had the story of Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom, the Church, His Bride, in mind before the foundation of the earth, and it’s that story that He had in mind—the love story of God that He was thinking about when He set His hand to create male and female, when He said, “Let us make man in our image” and created man, male and female.
So with this larger cosmic context in mind, we’re going to go back to Genesis, and we’re going to observe twelve points of God's pattern for manhood and womanhood. Six points about manhood; six points about womanhood. The truth that God wanted to display between male and female was really important. So it stands to reason that He was very intentional when He created us.
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Much of the most beautiful life in this world comes out of sorrow. As "fair flowers bloom upon rough stalks," so many of the fairest flowers of human life grow upon the rough stalks of suffering. We see that those who in heaven wear the whitest robes, and sing the loudest songs of victory, are they who have come out of great tribulation. Heaven's highest places are filling, not from earth's homes of glad festivity and tearless joy—but from its chambers of pain; its valleys of struggle where the battle is hard; and its scenes of sorrow, where pale cheeks are wet with tears, and where hearts are broken. The God of the Bible—is the God of the bowed down, whom he lifts up into his strength.
J.R. Miller ~ Grace Gems
Another way to help children understand the meaning of Thanksgiving. Sixteen pages with simple text portraying the first Thanksgiving in the New World and today’s family celebration.
Nancy shows us the need for building a life based on thankfulness. Gratitude is a choice that brings our thoughts to the benefits and blessings of our wise and caring God. As Nancy says, it's our journey to joy.
I'm continuing to read through Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches by Russell D. Moore. Reading slowly because there's so much there to ponder. It's not a book just for those of adopting age. It's also for those of us who want and need to support families who are in the procreation time of life, who are adding to their family, either biologically and/or through adoption. It's for those of us who need to understand the whole concept of our own adoption into God's family, if we are followers of Jesus Christ. It's all intertwined.Satan always uses human passions to bring about his purposes. When new life stands in the way of power--whether that power is a Pharaoh's military stability or a community leader's reputation in light of his teenage daughter's pregnancy--the blood of children often flows. Herod loved his power; so he raged against babies. In the middle of all this stood Joseph, an unlikely demon-wrestler.--------------
It's easy to shake our heads in disgust at Pharaoh or Herod or Planned Parenthood. It's not as easy to see the ways in which we ourselves often have a Pharaoh-like view of children rather than a Christlike view. What God calls blessing, we often grumble at as a curse--and for the same reason those old kings did, because they disrupt our life plans. Our "kingdom" may be smaller than that of those old kings, our pyramids and monuments less enduring; but it's all still there. I'm not arguing that parents should have as many children as biologically possible. I'm not arguing that every family is called to adopt children.
I am suggesting, though, that we look at some of the ways in which we refuse to see blessing in something as noisy and frustrating as children.
