As a friend and I closed our phone conversation the other day, she said, “Oh…oh…oh.. I have to ask you something somebody asked me the other day.”
She paused for a thoughtful moment and then shot this question through the airwaves.
“If you woke up tomorrow to find only what you thanked God for today, what would you have?”
It took me a minute to process her query.
When I finally understood the question, I ran to my journal, because my brain couldn’t remember what I had written only a few hours earlier. I was thankful that I had written down my prayer that morning.
The beauty of ink. Permanent of sorts.
It’s funny how you can forget something that was paramount three hours earlier. But I had. I was even surprised by my words. I hadn’t started the penned prayer with my usual list of thanks: blessings, family, home, Jesus, friends, etc. These were my words:
Thank you, Lord, for forgiveness. Thank you for that word this week. Thank you for the freedom it brought me. It released me from me. It released me from my own pride and self-conscious pain. It was supernatural how quickly it brought peace to my heart. I’m not sure why except for You. Your ways are mysterious and can’t be explained in the deep places.
I was elated to think that if my friend’s question actually came to be, I would have forgiveness. That’s all. It was strange how that thought gave me peace. I would miss terribly the wonderful blessings I have in this world, but I would have the most important ticket to enter the throne room of grace.
Thankfully, His forgiveness is not dependent on my daily thankfulness. Mercy and kindness are in His DNA and Jesus has paid the price–I can’t earn it. But I will ponder this question about thankfulness for a few days. I pray I never take any of my blessings for granted.
This is a week when we focus on thankfulness. A week when our country sets a day aside to eat too much, spend time with family and friends, and say thanks before we hit the stores for the Christmas shopping frenzy.
So, since it’s a week of thanksgiving, let’s study scriptures about thankfulness.
Meet me on my Facebook timeline for our morning fellowship, my daily broadcast. It’s a little shot of faith as we unpack the “Bite” of scripture for the day. I go live at 8:20 AM ET, but you can friend me or follow me and watch at anytime during the day. I’ll only be broadcasting Monday-Wednesday this week. And today, Monday, I’ll be drawing the winner for the giveaway contest we had Friday. You don’t want to miss who will win Living Prayer by Robert Benson.
Now it’s your turn.
[bctt tweet=”If you woke up tomorrow and found only what you’ve thanked God for today… what would you find?” username=”wordsbyandylee”]
Jesus Loves You,
Andy
So very thankful for His love, mercy and healing power with peace.
Amen, Janice! I hope you’re feeling better. Thankful for the peace you’ve experienced through this hard time.