Have you ever been slapped upside the head with a Biblical truth and it just left you speechless? Now anyone who knows me knows I don't have that problem often but Sunday was one of those days. I'll admit, it was one of those days where I said to myself "I'm just having a bad day and don't want to go to church". And God said to me "good, then that's when you really need to go." Well, once again how right He was. My pastor was preaching on how Satan loves to find where God is working in people's lives and families and church families and get in there and cause discouragment and division. Well then came the bombshell. He said "Your spiritual maturity is determined by what it takes to stop your praising God." WOW! I must say that sometimes it doesn't take much. Especially when times get hard and the focus gets on myself. But today I'm changing that and I'll start the praises. I thank God for my little boy who lives life carefree and is such a blessing from heaven. I thank God for my husband who is a rock for me. I thank God for my family who has always been a blessing to me. I thank God for my friends who spur me on to good works for the Lord. I thank God for my church family who have help so many men and women "grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord". I thank God for sending his Son Jesus to die for me, a dirty rotten sinner who does not deserve it. I thank God for the hard times because in those "His strength is made perfect in my weakness". Well, I'm sorry this is so long but I'm so full! So what will YOU praise God for?
10 comments:
Yes, I, too, had one of those days after a week with the scary storms that sent a tornado that tearing through our friend's University with her there. Also, a child turned blue right in front of me as he had a seizure at school...but then I went to church Sunday and heard that a youth in our Sunday school class came to Christ, the Sunday school lesson talked about Jesus calming the storm and healing the demon-possessed man, and then the closing hymn in the service was the very lullaby Mom used to hum to us (The Old Rugged Cross). During the hymn, I watched our friend's mother comfort her as she prayed at the altar--the one who still can't even go back to college yet because 1/3 of the campus is destroyed.
That put it all in perspective for me, too. God was in my face this week showing me He's right there with us.
Psalm 11:1-4: "In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, ‘flee as a bird to your mountain; for, behold, the wicked bend the bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, to shoot in darkness at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?' The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven."
what's that song? "praise Him in the morning, praise Him in evening...."
Our God is great, and greatly to be praised!
Amen! Great post, Martha!
AMEN! to you and the comments posted! GOD is SO good.
preach on!
Martha, I praise God for you. He knew that I needed to read what you wrote - so applicable!
All of your comments are SO encouraging. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it.
I agree with the general sentiment of this blog post, in a vague, "little or nothing to do with any and all of our current activities" kind of way.
That is all. :)
What? No picture of Noah in a onesie with a heart on it? COME ON!
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