197 - Jesus brought us peace

 "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7)

I wrote a verse a while back on how we can be thankful for peace from God - something we've needed a lot of during the current COVID-19 pandemic. 

But recently, during a time of prayer, I was struck by the fact that peace was brought for us with a price. 

Look at Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

"Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death..." (Matthew 26:38)

"And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground." (Luke 22:44)

Apparently, this can happen when someone is under extreme emotional stress. Because He knew what lay ahead of Him. 

"...My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?...” (Matthew 27:46)

The Son was separated from the Father. 

He experienced the worst pain and anguish possible - to be cut off from the God of peace and joy. 

He did it - so we would never be. He made a way to God - to the peace that surpasses all understanding.

He was forsaken so we could be chosen. 

He was in anguish so we could have peace.

196 - God never hurries

"God is never late and rarely early. He is always exactly right on time--His time."
Dillon Burroughs

Nearly two years later...guess who's back?

Life gets very busy and things get dropped. Thank goodness God is not like us.

I'm currently reading a devotional called 'The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry' by John Mark Comer. Very good - and I only started it today!

In the study, it is pointed out how Jesus had a busy life, yet He was not in a hurry.

It made me think about how God never hurries- and how that can be both a challenge and a blessing.

We live in a fast paced world that's always hurrying. Instant coffee. Fast food. Car horns beeping the moment the light goes green. (And don't even think about getting in someone's way!)

What does it mean, then, to follow an unhurried God in an 'instant' world?

It teaches us trust and patience when we feel like we need to know the answer now! What will happen? Will I get that job? Will this date be successful? Will these test results be clear? Will my friend ever be saved?

God never gives us the answer ahead of time. Only in His time.

We can't twist His arm. All we can do is learn to walk in step with Him, lean on Him & say 'OK God. In your time. Help me trust you until then.'

God's unhurried nature is also a blessing.

He always has time for us.

In the study mentioned above, it is pointed out how Jesus stops to speak to the woman who was bleeding internally and who was healed when she touched His robe.

He didn't have to stop. She was healed and a girl was dying. He could've carried on walking.

But she didn't. He stopped. He spoke to her - she who had been an outcast for years - and He commended her faith. He declared her healed.

Even when we struggle to make time for God, He always makes time for us.

We can be thankful that His plan is unfolding at the right place. We can be thankful He doesn't hurry because He knows the right time for everything.

And we can be thankful that in the middle of a universe He holds in perfect balance, He wants to spend time with us. To draw near and speak to us. Amazing!

195 - God using the crooked things

Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? (Ecclesiastes 7:13)

Life ain't easy.

Our family, for example, in just this month, have seen

- Broken appliances
- Faulty cars
- Ended relationships
- Jobs being made redundant
- The threat of ill health

I don't say this to moan, to say look at how hard we have it.

I say it because the verse I quoted at the top of this post was a verse I heard in a very timely sermon.

A sermon that reminded us God is sovereign and His way is best.

That reminded us He uses crooked and imperfect things in our life to work out His perfect will.

We would like life to be simple and straight-forward.

We would like to glide from one job to another without the uncertainty of unemployment.

We would like easy relationships with mutual feelings and no drama.

We would like perfection now, with no work at all.

But that's not how God works.

It's when fear tries to grip us that we learn how to pull out of its grasp and cling to the Rock who never falters, Jesus Christ.

It's when the things we lean on are whipped out from under us that we realise God will catch us even when we think we have been left without support.

And it's when the things we try to find our happiness and identity in our removed, we realise one thing is true.

We are God's children.

He will never change. So that will never change.

His ways are higher.

His methods may seem confusing. Unfair.

But when we look at His dying Son on the Cross, we can be sure.

We may not know what He is doing with the crooked things.

But He loves us.

Because His Son endured it all first.

Thank you God for using the bad to create the good.

194 - Tears

'You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?'  (Psalm 56:8)


And I'm back! First post of 2018. Whoops...

Tears may seem like a strange subject to start with on a blog all about being thankful. After all, what's good about tears? Your eyes go red and blotchy, your nose runs, your cheeks are wet and your voice is all hoarse.

Well, it's because they are a kind of release. A way of being honest.

Tears say 'No, I'm not alright. I can't pretend I'm alright anymore.'

Tears get rid of that tight ache in your chest and the overwhelming misery in your heart.

The Bible assures us that God sees and cares about each tear we shed. When we hide in the bathrooms and feel like no-one else sees or cares, He does see. And He does care. Oh, He cares so much.

He weeps with us.

But He will do more than that.

The Bible promises us that there will be a day when we shall never again cry tears of grief. God Himself will personally wipe them away.

And if we do cry again, you can bet it will be tears of laughter.

193 - Constantly amazed by Nature

'For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.' (Romans 1:20)

Isn't it amazing that the world we leave in is the same world, every day, and let there are still aspects of Nature that never fail to amaze us?

The other day, I was coming back from work. It was raining and the sun was setting. I was standing at the top of the hill we live on and see the sun's light against the rain clouds - the rays falling in beams across the horizon - the pinks and the golds. And it was beautiful.

I must have seen hundreds of sunsets in my lifetime. And I imagine I'll see many more.

And yet they never cease to amaze me with their beauty.

Why?

Maybe there's something a little different about each one. Or maybe its the was y God uses the objects He created to work in a way that reflects His glory.

Maybe its the appreciation of beauty that He put inside us. Or the recognition that Nature is a pale reflection of something better yet to come - Heaven itself. 

So admire the sun on morning dew. Stare up at the stars. And be thankful that God made a Creation that constantly amazes us!

192 - Size of the Universe

'When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?' (Psalm 8:3-4)

Apparently it's estimated that there are around 400 billion stars in our galaxy alone. Just our galaxy. 400 billion stars.

Estimates also say there are 350,000,000,000 galaxies. If all those galaxies, contain the same amount of stars as our galaxy, then that's...a lot of stars.

Planets, black holes, suns, nebula and more.

The Hubble Telescope has only captured a tiny portion of our universe.

And Earth is just a tiny blue planet among it all.

Have a look at the Pale Blue Dot picture. It says it better than I can.

So, why is the Universe so big? Why are we, as far as we know and as the Bible tells us, the only beings made in God's image in this massive space?

Maybe it was to remind us how big God is (big is putting it mildly).

Maybe it was to remind us how small we are (small is also putting it mildly)

If we ever need to put life into perspective, we can look at the Universe. 

It humbles us when we're getting too arrogant.

We can remind ourselves that the One who made this enormous and beautiful Universe is the One who also made us and loves us deeply.

It doesn't matter how small we are. The infinite God knows each of us. And He has a plan for each of us.

That's something to be very, very thankful for.

191 - Fostering

'Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy;deliver them from the hand of the wicked.' (Psalm 82:3-4)

Written in tribute to my amazing sister and brother-in-law who have recently ended their time as foster parents, due to their choice to adopt the children in their care!

Foster carers are incredible people.

There are so many children out there in desperate need of safe homes and loving families. Children who have endured things no child should have to.

Foster carers see that need and do something about it.

They take children into their homes, families and lives, sometimes risking having a very troubled young person in the house.

They endure well-meant (but sometimes annoying) remarks.

Some single foster carers raise several children alone.

And they say goodbye, over and over, as the children they've protected and loved move on to new homes.

Were it not for fosters, there would be many more needy children in the world today.

Thank you God for the kindness, sacrifice and love of foster carers.