As I was thinking of what I would like to start off thanking God for, my mind immediately went to Psalm 100. When I was growing up in the church we would actually sing this psalm. It is a great song! Let's read it together.
PSALM 100
1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before His presence with singing.
3 Know ye that the LORD He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.
5 For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.
I have so much to thank God for. I have been blessed beyond measure. I cannot count all the times He has healed my body, touched my mind, got me back on the right path, and forgiven me for so many mistakes. He is long-suffering and He loves me with an everlasting love. I could stop right there and just praise Him for years for that much! But there is so many hardships, difficulties, challenges, setbacks, disappointments, and tough times He has brought me through. I just cannot thank Him enough.
The Psalmist says to make a joyful noise to the LORD. Everyone is supposed to do this. God is worthy of our praise and if we are thanking Him, then it is a joyful noise! It says to serve the LORD with gladness. It should be our privilege and our joy to serve God. We are to come into His presence with singing. We should have a praise on our lips at all time as we magnify His great name! The LORD is God! He made us. We did not create ourselves. We belong to Him. He is the Good Shepherd and we are His sheep. We are in His care in His pasture. So when we see that He is taking care of us and helping us, blessing us, and giving us His favor, we should enter His gates with a thankful heart. We need to enter His courts with our hands lifted and voices praising the great God of our salvation. We must be thankful and bless His name. Why? Because He is good. Her mercy has no end. It will never run dry. It will never cease to be. His mercy is everlasting. That's not all, though. His truth keeps going through each and every generation. It is not tarnished. It does not fade. It does not change. It is consistent and good.
I thank God for the memories of singing that little psalm in church. My family is musically inclined and my uncles, cousins, grandparents, parents, brother, sisters, and aunts would get together, playing and singing. It was such a fun song and we would rejoice in the great things God was doing for us. We sang it straight out of the Bible so I had memorized it long ago. It's just a great song to remember we must be thankful and it perfectly lays out the way in which we are to approach God.
We are God's children. He delights in us and sings over us. He has written our names in the palms of His hands. He sent Jesus, His only begotten Son to die for us so that we could have eternal fellowship with Him. What a wonderful, loving, merciful, gracious God we serve. He is worthy of all the praise.
Last month, I confess that I worried more than I should. I questioned God about why He was not answering our prayers as quickly as we thought He should. He met all of our needs last month. We did not go hungry. All of our bills were paid. We have a great place to live. We had lots of family time to spend together. He remained faithful, even though I let my eyes drift away from the Master and onto the raging sea around me. I began to be swept away with the current as I looked at how big the waves were and how deep the sea was. I forgot to look at how big my God is!
This month, I am doing better. I refuse to let my eyes focus on anything other than the Savior. I know God is doing great things for us. He has blessed us so much. I made a new friend and she prayed with me and encouraged me and it was such a wonderful gift from the LORD. We have delicious food to eat. We have a refrigerator that is working and it holds our foods and keeps it cold. We were without a refrigerator for a month and had to use a cooler with ice and a deep freeze. (Not fun, but we managed.) We're thankful for home cooked meals that can be refrigerated and warmed up again.
This month I refuse to worry about the bills. My husband and I have been looking for jobs since we moved to Alabama, August 1, and we have no jobs still, but I know the bills will be paid for again this month, because God is faithful and the money just comes! God truly supplies our every need! I am so very thankful that God allowed me to get everything done and paid for so my endorsement for my nursing license could come through, and it happened quicker than I was expecting, and cheaper! That is God's favor!
This month, I am counting my blessings and I am rejoicing in the big and small things. I am accepting victory over our circumstances. I know God has a big plan and a big purpose for bringing us to Mobile, Alabama, even if we do not see it now. I have seen the hand of God over us and on us and all around us ever since we moved here.
This month I am going to be thankful for the things I have and grateful for the God I serve. He is my Jehovah Jireh, God my provider. He is my Jehovah Rapha, God my healer. He is the Great I Am. He is with me. He is for me. He is not against me. He has great plans for me. He is in control. He is writing my story and this month I am leaving the pen in His hand. It's already a much better month and it's only been one week.
What are some of the things you are thankful for? I am sure I will have no trouble finding more to thank God for next week. May God continue to bless you and keep you!
~Bridgett Owens
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