Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. - Philppns 4:6
Tomorrow's the day! We're gathering at the Ponderosa (the current name for our new home) and celebrating God's goodness. I mean it. Yes, we're going to stuff ourselves with all sorts of turkey, pudding, bread, gravies, and especially mashed potatoes, a personal favorite of mine. (I truly believe that one corner of Heaven will have a factory for making mashed potatoes. I'll bring the butter and seasonings somehow.) But most of all we are going to celebrate God's goodness with a true time of thankfulness.
Look at the word thanksgiving in the verse above. The word is "eucharistia" in the Greek and means the giving of thanks from outside and from within. The heart is involved as well as the hands. Bible scholar David Guzik says: "We really can be anxious for nothing, pray about everything, and be thankful for anything."
So, for what are we thankful? Hey, it's easy for me to thank the Lord for my wonderful family, our new home, good friends and neighbors, and a wonderful city in which we live.
But I also am reminded that it is good for me to thank the Lord for the challenges in life.
When I found out a dear friend had slandered me last month.
When I lost my job years ago, and having to scrape in finding other odd labor.
When we realized that Jill had fibro myalgia, and my thyroid was dropping me into deep periods of depression.
When I was hospitalized.
...and many many other seemingly "disappointments" in life.
Let's face it... I obviously don't see the Big Picture, but I do realize God prepares me for the greater steps in life by training and exercising parts of my life that may hurt.
And for that, I can honestly say "thank you, Lord Jesus."
