in everything give thanks...

at church today, my pastor started the sermon with a story. there was a widow... very poor and survived on her own... in a tiny little hut. She would not miss Sunday worship services for anything... there was nothing in her life that others would want... but her eyes were ever sparkling with joy and excitement... for every thing she would lift her hands up and shout 'praise the Lord'...

once a pastor from another church was visiting... leaders and the pastor of the church didn't want to be embarrassed... so they called this lady... told her not to shout during sermon... and promised her a woolen blanket in return... she agreed.

...it so happened that when the visiting pastor was preaching... this dear lady was so touched... could not withhold the joy she felt within... the gratitude that was bubbling within... so she stood up... lifted her hands towards the heaven... and shouted at the top of her voice... 'i don't care whether i get the blanket or not i will praise the Lord'...

very often  we are consumed by the circumstances of life... that clouds our spiritual eyes from the view of the greater good that God has instored for us... from the bigger picture. the degree of our thankfulness and gratitude is so influenced by the world around us... the broken relationship... the wants and lacks of our life... they make it so hard to give thanks and praise God... but did we know that God wants us to give thanks in all things... in good times or in bad times... its in concentrating, keeping our focus on the awesomeness of God, praising Him for who He is, that takes us beyond life's wind of adversities. what He has for us is far surpassing what we think we need, what we think  is good for us.

i love the fact that our God is ridiculously generous... the Bible says so!!  He doesn't look at us and say 'you deserve only this much'... He says 'its all here for you... endless treasure'... He says... 'ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it shall be opened unto you'... 'delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart'... 'ask of me and i will give you the ends of the earth for your inheritance'... see He is super generous!! He has abundance of JOY,LOVE,PEACE... spiritual or physical needs... name it... He has them all... the point is, most of us need to 'reset' our heads and our hearts as to the generosity of God. and remember what He says He has for us... and trust Him and praise Him...

this lady in the story sure did set her focus not in her situations but where she was headed with God... there is no lack... no toil... no hurt... no fear... no confusion... no poverty... no broken hearts there...  there is abundance of all that she needed as promised in the Bible. so when we don't find enough reason to thank God for... we need to turn our eyes away from the world... turn our eyes upon Jesus... we need to retreat to the 'heart of God'... spend time worshiping Him... thanking Him for who He is... just retreat into His unconditional love for us. and lift our hands up high and say 'praise the Lord'....

 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you - 1 Thessalonians 5:18

have a great great week ahead sweet friends... God has great things for us this week!