Thank You, Lord!

Second term of Spring Semester has begun! On one hand...not enough time for studying (and sharing) His Word. On the other hand...only 7 more weeks until I will have a whole summer to do so! Yay! Plus, it isn't all bad. This term I am taking Religion in America and American Religious Traditions. Excited to see what I may learn!

So, posts will be infrequent, but I just needed to share something quickly. Sarah Young wrote a daily devotional book called Jesus Calling. Have you read it? If not....GET IT! I have many daily devotion books and this one seems to always speak to my heart, touching on something personal going on in my life that day. To get the most out of each day's devotion, I often change the tense, turning the message into a prayer of sorts. Sorry Sarah, hope that is okay!

Today's topic for March 25th was about thankfulness. This one act is so often repeated throughout scripture. The first "Christian" book I read, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp is ALL about being thankful - for All things. Ann points out how beauty and blessings can be seen even in the "ugly" things or trials, or mundane, everyday simple-ness. I am in the midst of her "Joy Challenge" of writing down 1,000 things for which I am thankful. Today's post in Jesus Calling is just one more reminder of how incredibly important the act of thanksgiving is to our lives, as well as to God.

Here is how I formed today's "prayer".....

"Glorious Father, let thankfulness temper all my thoughts.

I know that a thankful mind-set keeps me in touch with You.

You hate it when Your children grumble, casually despising Your sovereignty. Thankfulness is a safeguard against this deadly sin.

Furthermore, a grateful attitude becomes a grid through which I perceive life.

Gratitude enables me to see the Light of Your Presence shining on all my circumstances.

I will cultivate a thankful heart for this glorifies You and fills me with Joy. Amen."

Who does not want to have a heart filled to overflowing with gratitude? I, for one, would much rather have an immediate reaction to difficulty be thanking God for one thing or another. Even during the storms, there is ALWAYS something for which you can find thanks. My goal is merely to continue to practice this. every. day. Don't laugh....I have Post-It Notes all over my house as reminders. How do you practice thankfulness and gratitude for God's gifts?

Closer

I have been struggling to explain the massive 'overdose of God" I have experienced this last month. As I've said before, I have an insatiable hunger and thirst for His Word and the depth and severity of the cravings have not subsided.

 I found myself running in all directions, grasping every single 'Christian' possibility, hoping to soak up information, yet not able to concentrate completely on any one specific resource at a time.

This continued to the point of exhaustion and confusion - I did not truly know from where my information was coming. I was questioning the integrity and validity of everything I read. Essentially, I was pushing myself away when what I really wanted was to move closer.

To move closer. I thought that if I was attuned to each and every Christian blogger, author, musician, speaker AND devotional, I would be able to soak up even more of His Word.

The result? I was so bombarded by information, opinions, and directives - not to mention the time it took to read all of these sources - that I was ultimately moving, not closer, but further away, from what I truly sought.

Come on...my only and important goal of moving closer to God's Word really isn't that difficult...as long as you push aside all the 'other' resources and concentrate on the one-and-only, tried-and-true, honest and full-of-promise source available. The Bible.

A newbie mistake? Heck yeah! But, a valuable lesson, as well. My hunger and thirst are not sated. My desire to ingest all information is still strong. And I continue to read my main daily devotional Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, and still follow my favorite bloggers Jen Hatmaker and Ann Voskamp, and still dig deeper into topics and questions I come across.

The only difference now? God's Word...the one thing of which I was seeking more...is the first source I use and the only one I fully trust. 

But there is a silver lining to my lesson learned. In all of my mad searching, I actually did accomplish a lot of research on topics I am interested in, as a New Believer. New posts coming soon!

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