Tag Archives: Give thanks to God

Your Golden List

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“If you are not grateful for small things, you’ll never be grateful for the big things.” The Ultimate Life

Red Stevens character was just waking up in the railway boxcar he hitched a ride on the previous night. His fellow traveler was standing at the open door of the rail car, counting. Red asked him what he was doing. He said he was making his Golden List for the day, something he does every morning. “What’s a Golden List?” young Red asked. The man told Red it is a list of ten gifts for which he is thankful to God. The list might change day to day but every day begins with telling the list to God.

Part of his list this day included:
Friendship
Family
Gratitude
Being able to give to others
Waking up to a new day

What ‘gifts’ do you have to thank God for?
Does someone love you? Respect you?
Do you have someone you love?
Do you breathe without coughing?
Do you have a place to sleep?
Protection from harm?
Freedom to worship as you choose?
Something to eat at least once a day?
Clean water?

I’m guessing your list, like mine, goes on and on. I wonder how your life (and the lives you touch) would change if your every day began (and ended) with your Golden List. Even in the face of difficulties there is much for which to be grateful!

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” Psalm 136:1

God is good . . . all the time

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Corrie ten Boom is remembered for her faithfulness during WWI? She provided a secret hiding place in her home to protect and free scores of jews who were persecuted by the Nazi police. For her efforts she was incarcerated at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. There she suffered many atrocities, along with her fellow captives.

The story is told that years later, after coming to America, a man came to visit Corrie in her home. “Corrie, he commented, “Certainly God is good to provide you such a nice home.” Corrie replied, “God was good when I lived at Ravensbrück too.”

What is the condition of your heart today? Is it able to see God’s goodness in times of trial and suffering as well as in times of blessing? God doesn’t change. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He will never abandon you. God is good all the time and all the time God is good. Blessed are those who are able to see God’s goodness as always present in good times and in bad. It is from this perspective and reality that his light shines into the darkness of your life and the lives you touch.

“Give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever.”
Psalm 107:1

Shipwrecked

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The book of Acts describes an account where Paul and others were shipwrecked. I’ve been in some scary situations, this battle with Leukemia being one of them. But to be shipwrecked has to be one of the worst. Furthermore, the situation doesn’t unfold with an orderly line up to get on the comfortable life boats. Nor is there a miraculous intervention by God where He suddenly transports them to a warm dry beach. No, the survivors are left clinging for their lives to a ship’s mast, a piece of timber and whatever they could grab onto.

Maybe there has been a time in your life when you have felt ‘shipwrecked,’ when your very footing washed away from under you; a time when in one moment everything was well to the next where you were tossed into the depths of a dark sea, unsure of your future. All resources to save yourself or even cope are lost and unavailable. Is your faith strong enough to keep you afloat during times like these? The time to build your faith is now, when your ship is still afloat. Start right now and give thanks for how God has already blessed you AND for how He will continue to bless you even in perilous situations.