May 2 All His benefits

“Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits…”

O Lord, if I took a whole day, I could never list all the benefits You lavish on me. I take so many things for granted. Often I don’t even think about how every breath that I take is from You! And I should be thankful.

Beginning when I wake up in the morning, I am thankful that I do wake up! And that I can breathe clean air in a warm bed, in a secure house, with a family I love, with food to eat and clean water to drink and bathe in. I have more clothes in my closet than some people on this planet ever own in a lifetime! I have many pairs of shoes. It is a choice for me to eat breakfast or not. And if I choose to eat, I have several options of clean, untainted food in a kitchen with running water and convenient appliances to make food preparation almost effortless. My fridge keeps my food cold to preserve its freshness until I want it. Then, at the turn of a switch or the push of a button, I can cook it. Another button and my dishes are washed.

Just this part of my day is blessed far more than most of the people on this earth.

I live in freedom to be what I want to be, go where I want to go, with whom I want to be with. I can choose my career, my husband, my entertainment. I can worship You in the open however I want, read scripture without fear of arrest or imprisonment. I can attend public church services without being detained and beaten, or having my property seized, or my life forfeited.

When I step outside my house, I see a beautiful sky, majestic mountains, flowering trees, gorgeous flowers. We have warm, rainy, windy Springs, temperate Summers, gorgeously colored, cool Falls, and crisp, snow covered Winters – all four seasons in a beautiful and varied environment rich with birds of many kinds, singing their Spring songs and migrating south in the Fall.

On top of all this, You preserve my life, forgive my sins, deliver me from the oppression and deceit of satan. You show me love I did not earn, and pour out mercy and compassion on me I do not deserve. You satisfy my desires with good things, or remove those wrongful desires from me. You answer my prayers, guide me with Your wisdom, encourage me with Your Word, and have promised to take me into paradise with You for all eternity.

Father, help me remember every day to thank You for something. Open my eyes to things I take for granted, and accept my praise for Your goodness. Remind me at the beginning of every month, to come back and read Psalm 103 and spend time “forgetting not, all of Your benefits”. Amen

Psalm 103

Feb 3 Apple or Potato?

Apples

“Hear my voice when I call O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of You, ‘Seek His face!’ Your face, Lord, I will seek.”

Oh Father, thank You that I can know that You do hear me. Sometimes I sing out my praise, sometimes I call out my thanksgiving, sometimes I weep and whisper out my needs, sometimes my heart is so broken I can only weep. But the Holy Spirit intercedes for me and even the groanings of my heart that cannot be expressed in words are heard.

Thank You that in Your mercy, You answer me every time. I appreciate and love the times Your answer is ‘yes’ and I can see the fruit of my prayers immediately. They are like apples I can see growing and maturing on a tree, right before my eyes. The buds come, the blossoms open, then the fruit appears, grows and matures while I watch the whole process. With a prayer like this, I can see you at work and be encouraged.

But I understand that at times the answer is ‘wait’. Then it’s more like growing potatoes. The plant is there, but the fruit, the potato, is growing underground and cannot be seen until it is time to harvest. It takes faith to dig up the plant looking for the potatoes underneath. These are harder prayers because they feel like nothing is happening. The truth is, You are at work answering the prayer, just not in ways visible to the human eye.

And I also must acknowledge that sometimes the answer is ‘no’. And I have to ‘choose’ to trust that Your will is best for me, even if I don’t understand it at the time.

Like the Psalmist Lord, I will seek Your face. I will read and study Your Word and apply its lessons and teachings to my life. I will come to You in prayer, allowing time not only for talking, but also listening for what You want to say to me. I will look for those places where You insert Yourself into my life through circumstances; using events or occurrences, contacts or everyday things to speak to me and heighten my awareness of You. You remind me of Your beauty in a sunset. You make Your sovereignty known when I look at the stars.   You reassure me of Your love and care when You have a friend call or pray for me.  And these are just some of the ways You communicate with me.

Whether praying apples or potatoes, hearing a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, You have encouraged me with these words of David: “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” And especially for those ‘potato’ prayers, You say “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Father, help me in the waiting, not fall into discouragement, self-pity or giving up. Keep my faith strong and my trust in You solid; so that at the end of the waiting, I will sing of the wonders of the Lord! Amen

Psalm 27:7,8,13,14; Romans 8:26