Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Check!

*This is a post I started a few weeks ago and just finished. :)

So, my grandparents came into town last night. Since my Grampa isn't one to sit around, he volunteered himself (and my brother Nathan) to come over and work on projects around here all afternoon. Oh, my goodness. I cannot imagine how long it would have taken us to get all these things done. In addition, (while he was replacing light bulbs in the Jetta) he noticed the oil was very low, almost empty. Who knows what sort of car catastrophe we just avoided?

I feel like a miracle just happened in our lives. God answered our prayers and kept us safe and cared for, in ways we didn't expect.

Maybe I see it this way because of something I read in my Bible time this week.
In Deuteronomy 29, Moses is talking to the Israelites about their journey to the promised land.

"Your eyes have seen all that the Lord did in Egypt to Pharoah, to all his officials and to all his land. With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those miraculous signs and great wonders. But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear. During the forty years that I led you through the desert, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet. You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the Lord your God."

They had just lived through some of the greatest miracles of all time, and they didn't even see them! You'd think at some point they would notice these things. But, how often do I go through life and not see the blessings all around me?

I have become convinced that the only way to survive good times in our lives is to be thankful people. By that I mean, when things are good, we tend to start to take the credit. I know I can get prideful and feel that I have had something to do with the good things in my life. It's easy to pull away from God until I "need" Him again. At that point, I crash and burn and start the process again. :) But, what if we could remain dependent on God, and thankful even through the good times? To surrender to God not only the things we can't control, but even the things we think we can! Talk about living God's will for our lives!

We've all heard the "attitude of gratitude" pithy sayings. I hate those. But, I'm talking about seeing everything in my life as a blessing. The turquoise Jeep with the cracked windshield we bought from my sister and her husband because we couldn't afford anything else? Well, it got us safely to church and back, down our little dirt road in 6 or 7 inches of snow today. This rather run-down house in the woods that we "happened across"? I feel like a queen in a castle with the snow outside, the candles burning, and a fresh carrot cake baking in the oven. My little girls are a ton of work, but today both of them said "I love you" to me, without being prompted, for the first time. Yes I know, Audrey is copying Hannah, but I don't care. Hannah saying that to me and then laying her head on my shoulder was the best gift I've had in years.

As easy as it is to be discontent (I know LOTS of discontent people, and struggle with it myself), we all need to be praying for "a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear" the miracles that God is working in our lives. God answers prayers like that. As I have begun to pray this, I feel more content than I have in years.

Maybe as recently as a few months ago, I always felt that God was out to get me somehow. Maybe He was waiting to make my life really hard because it was "good for me." I doubted His heart toward me - doubted that He really wanted the best for me. The thing is, He says He wants the best for me, that He has a hope and a future for me. If He says that, then I can take my wandering thoughts and emotions and set them on that truth, trusting the truth over feelings. That kind of trust allows me to be truly thankful and content, without fear of the future.

It's a process, but this is what I'm learning right now...

2 comments:

  1. This is, indeed, encouraging. Wonderful post! Thank-you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just what I needed this morning!!

    I have a new blog!

    ReplyDelete