Acknowledge gifts from the LORD and thank Him...

On Sunday, Hettie and Eirwen's gratefulness and expressions of praise and worship were woven throughout each question answered and topic discussed. The faithfulness of God. The kindness of God. Wonder and amazement at His care in the details. Expressions of faith and excitement in things to come and the power of God...all because of His character- and then words of adoration would follow.

Without really saying much about thanksgiving or a grateful heart, Hettie and Eirwen taught me so much. When we recognize something as the providence of God, or His mercy...instead of just seeing it, we would do well to imitate their example and turn our hearts to praise and gratitude. Not a long-winded "fluffy" prayer, but even the quick but deeply felt, "Thank you, LORD" is good for our hearts. (And it is so good for me to remind myself that He is involved in the intimate details of my everyday life.)

Even as I type, I am reminded of the story of Hannah in the Bible. She wanted a baby SO badly and wasn't able to have one. After casting her cares on the LORD and leaving them with Him, she later became pregnant...and her prayer of "praise" is longer than her prayer of petition and request.

If you were to make a diagram of my prayers of thanksgiving compared to my prayers of request, I would be horribly ashamed at the result.

Monday, on my drive home from work, I gave it a go. Since I've purposed to dedicate my commute to intentional time in worship or prayer (for our teens discipleship group) for this month, I took the opportunity to implement one of my recent lessons.

I started praising God and thanking Him for different things: people, relationships, this season of life...you know what? It took the entire drive home, and my list had hardly begun. One thing lead to the next, which lead to the next...I was overflowing with joy and practically giddy in my car. When I start to recognize gifts as from the LORD...I start to see them everywhere!

I find it gloriously mysterious that the righteousness of Christ, even in the area of intercession, is on our record. Praise God.

So, how 'bout you? What are you grateful to God for?