HEART OF GRATTITUDE

There is nothing as wonderful as sitting in my sunroom on a Sunday afternoon, in the Fall of the year, enjoying the beauty of the season, except for........being in church on Sunday morning and drinking in Gods wonderful Word, delivered to us by the man of God, ( who, by the way, could hardly wait to go to church and deliver it to us.)

I sit in church beside a woman who has a hearing impairment. She reads lips and hears, if there isn't any background noise around her. Every service that she comes, she is filled with joy and gratitude to God for all He has done for her. I use my finger to guide across the hymns so that she knows where we are. I also point to the scripture we are reading so that she can follow along. Sometimes she will pat the hymn book or grab my arm and squeeze it when she gets the message of the song or verse. Today was one of those days that she was feeling extra blessed! It was oozing out of her as we talked before the service.

I noticed others who were sitting in church today that didn't have that joy in their countenance. They were there but something was lacking, perhaps gratitude to God for all His blessings this past week. It is easy to forget about the blessings when we choose to focus on the downside of our lives. I am sure each one of us could come in with gloomy faces and something to be sad about if we chose to do so.

What would a service be like if we all came into His presence with thanksgiving in our hearts? I sure would like to find out! I had an extra blessing today in that two of my granddaughters were baptized! I also had news of a great niece born yesterday, safe and healthy. God is so very good to us! What is in your heart today?

GOD IS IN THE DETAILS

I have been thinking about the story of Hagar in Genesis 16. We have a tendency to focus on one aspect of a story in the Bible and miss some of the details that make all the difference. We do the same thing in our own lives. We look at one aspect of a situation and forget that God is in the details and that they matter very much to Him. Some interesting things to note in this story: when Hagar fled into the wilderness God appeared unto her, He told her to name her son Ishmael which means "God hears." She called the name of The Lord: "Thou God seest me."

We see later in the story that God came and spoke to her again in the wilderness when she thought all was hopeless. He provided for her and her son and showed her He had not forgotten her. All of us have had those wilderness times where we felt forgotten and unnecessary. It's wonderful to know that God sees us and is in all the details that make up our lives. What are you struggling with right now? Don't miss the point: God is in the details. That should give us a certain measure of peace. Take time right now and let go of the burdens weighing you down and allow God to take care of the details.