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“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:  Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”  ~Psalm 103:2-5

I don’t know if this is age-related or not, but I have difficulty remembering things.   
What was I supposed to buy at the grocery store?  Who has a dentist appointment on Thursday?  Where did I put that piece of paper I needed to save?

Yet when it comes to praising God, I want to remember all that He has done for me.  The passage above lists at least five benefits that God gives to His children.

1.  He forgives all of my sins.  I’m awed when I think of Him just forgiving the sins I committed last week!  To think of God forgiving all the sins of my entire life is simply overwhelming.

2.  He heals our diseases.  When we pray to the Great Physician, He hears us and is capable of healing us of any sickness – and often, He does.  Will He choose to heal us in the way we wish every time?  No.  But whether or not we have relief today, we know that one day, we will be healed forever.

3.  He redeems my life from destruction.  I certainly believe this is true through salvation; when I accept Jesus as my Savior, He provides me with eternal life in Heaven.  However, I also believe He delivers me from destruction in the here and now.  As I follow His Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit, I can be kept from many situations that would cause me harm.

4.  He crowns me with loving-kindness and mercy.  God’s mercy and grace are ornaments placed upon me.  His love for me is constant and never changing.

5.  He satisfies my mouth with good things.  Don’t we have a great God who gives us abundantly above all that we need and grants so many of our “wants,” too?!  I am satisfied and fulfilled when I accept the precious gifts that come from Him and I can know that He is always working for my good.

No matter the size of your 401(k), you can rejoice in these benefits – and many more – when you know Christ!

“Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.”  ~Psalm 150:6

When the alarm clock goes off in the quiet pre-dawn, praise the Lord.

When the shower water’s cold, praise the Lord.

When you burn the toast and have to turn the milk carton upside down to drain the last drops, praise the Lord.

When a child calls “Mama” for the 347th time that day….and it’s only 9am, praise the Lord.

When you’re in the farthest back corner of Walmart and your potty-training child needs to use the restroom, praise the Lord.

When traffic comes to a standstill and you’re already running late, praise the Lord.

When no child naps and the afternoon stretches longer than your patience, praise the Lord

When a child comes home from school with a hole in the knee of his pants, praise the Lord.

When the laundry piles up and dirty dishes fill the sink, praise the Lord.

When you crawl in the bed at night and worries creep into the outskirts of your mind, praise the Lord.

And remember….

When you get an unexpected check in the mail and you walk right into the doctor’s office without a wait and your husband washes the dishes after supper and the kids go to bed without a struggle….praise the Lord then, too.

“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”  ~Colossians 3:17

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It’s Monday.

That means I’ll spend the morning cleaning our master bathroom, catching up on laundry, and getting the house back in order after the weekend.

It’s not the stuff of legends, won’t make the front page of the newspaper, or even earn me a “Mom of the Year” award.  No one outside of my family will know what I accomplished today.

But I can do these tasks – and any other task ahead of me today – as to the Lord.  I can choose to tackle these mundane chores with a grumbling spirit or a servant’s heart.  And when I do them as to the Lord, I’m bringing glory to Him.

Not only should I do all these things in His name, but also give thanks while I do them.  What can I be thankful for in the midst of spraying and scrubbing and switching laundry loads?  A family to serve, clothes to wear, a house to clean, physical strength, and so much more.

Whatever it is we’re doing today – taking a child to the doctor’s office or grocery shopping or making lunch – let’s embrace it as our calling and do it for Him.  After all, we’re serving the King.

Elisabeth Elliot said these words: “This hard place in which you perhaps find
yourself is the very place in which God is giving you the opportunity to
look only to Him, to spend time in prayer, and to learn long-suffering,
gentleness, meekness- in short, to learn the depths of love that Christ
Himself has poured out on all of us.”

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God gives trials to each of us in His will and in His time.  Mine won’t look like yours; yours won’t look like mine.

I have a sweet friend, only 34 years old, mother to a precious young daughter, who is fighting breast cancer.  God is giving her grace.  Another friend is recovering from a fairly serious car accident, one that wasn’t her fault, but has left her with residual pain and a long period of healing.  Others I know face financial difficulties, family separations due to work obligations, a child with ongoing health needs.

I Peter 1:7 tells us “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”

These trials that God brings into our lives can, if we allow them, help us see our need of Him, teach us to rely on Him, make us more like Him, and bring Him glory.  It’s not natural or easy, but surrendering to His will and trusting His goodness can bring this about in our lives.

As this verse from the old hymn “How Firm a Foundation” reminds us,

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flames shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.”

Whatever trial you and I find ourselves facing today, may we realize the depth of His love, access His grace, and draw close to Him through prayer and His Word

“….Pride is essentially competitive-is competitive by its very nature….Pride gets no pleasure out of something, only out of having more of it than the next man….It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone.” ~C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

Oh my, do I ever struggle with pride, especially in making comparisons.  And it’s not just in relation to myself; I find that I often compare my children and their traits or accomplishments to others their age.  Are my girls smarter, better dressed, more respectful, have more friends, excel at playing the piano – doesn’t the list go on and on?!!  It’s so easy to fall into the comparison trap.

Pride may even take on a spiritual dimension.  Perhaps I’m proud of my children’s good behavior or their participation in church activities.  I might be proud that I have my devotions daily or that I took the opportunity to serve someone when others didn’t or that the lesson I taught in children’s church was well received.

Lately, when I’ve found pride trying to creep in like usual, I’m trying to redirect my thoughts in two ways:  by quoting Scripture and by consciously being grateful.

Since the Bible says much about pride, it’s easy to find verses to memorize that help me fight against it. 

“Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD:  though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.” Proverbs 16:5

“….for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” I Peter 5:5

“When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.” Proverbs 11:2

In being grateful, my goal is to turn my focus off of myself and onto Christ.  If I’m alone, I can say something like the following aloud:  “God, thank you that you are faithful in helping me have my devotions each morning.  Thank you that I have the physical strength to get out of bed and have time to spend in your Word.”  Or, “Thank you that in your providence you gave our daughter the ability to learn quickly.  May she use this gift to bring honor and glory to You and to help others.”

Cultivating gratitude also promotes contentment, which removes the competitive nature and the need to have “more than” someone else.  Being content with where God has placed me and what He has given me allows me to rejoice – not only in what I have, but in how He blesses others.

Pride can creep into my life so stealthily and quickly.  I need the Holy Spirit’s help to see it and get rid of it lest it take root and grow.

How do you handle pride?  Do you find yourself falling into the trap of comparison?

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“Ever since the Garden of Eden, women have often felt they could and should know as much as God. Much pain in our world has resulted from dependence on our wisdom rather than on our Father’s.” ~from The Young Lady in Waiting by Jackie Kendall and Debby Jones

While I don’t believe that we would necessarily vocalize the sentiments expressed in the above quote, I do think we sometimes show it in the way we act.

Anytime that I choose a course of action without taking my decision to God in prayer, I’m relying on my own wisdom.  This tendency reminds me of some Old Testament stories involving women…like Sarah arranging Abraham’s marriage with Hagar or Rebekah orchestrating Isaac’s blessing for Jacob instead of Esau.  Both of these women were attempting to help God fulfill His promises and they relied on their own wisdom to “fix” the situation.

Let me not cast stones; I am prone to act in the same way.  Sarah tried to manage her husband and Rebekah her child.  It can be difficult to turn situations over to the Lord, especially those that involve our families.  We feel like we can work everything out ourselves.  Instead we must learn to trust God – which often involves waiting on His timing or trusting Him even when we don’t see how circumstances could possibly turn out for good.  He has a purpose in what is developing in their lives and our interfering may not be what’s best for them.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Proverbs 3:5.  “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”  That’s a big step of faith – trusting God to work His will in His way and not depending on my own wisdom.

Easy to say; often very hard to do.  Let’s ask God for His power to trust His wisdom today!

“But my servant Caleb,
because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him
will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess
it.” ~Numbers 14:24

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Moses sent twelve spies into the promised land to search it out.  On their return, ten of the twelve spies told of the difficulties the Israelites would face in conquering the land.  Caleb was one of two who encouraged the people to go up and take the land.  

What was different about Caleb?  What was this “another spirit” that he had?

In the surrounding verses, I found three qualities Caleb had that I think may have contributed to that spirit.

1.  Caleb had faith in God.  “The Lord is with us,” Caleb say in Numbers 14:8-9.  “If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us.”  Caleb understood that God would give the people the strength to complete what He had commanded them to do.  He had faith that God would accomplish His will.  Do I have that same faith?  Like Caleb, do I claim the promises of God to see victory in my life?

2.  Caleb was obedient.  “Only rebel not ye against the Lord,” Caleb says in verse 9.  In recounting this story in Joshua 14:8, he says, “Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the Lord my God.”  There was nothing halfhearted about his obedience; he did it fully.  Do I listen when I feel the Holy Spirit impressing something on my heart?  Do I choose only the commands I want to obey or do I ask for His help to do the difficult things – like loving my enemies or putting others’ needs ahead of my own?

3.  Caleb had courage.  “Neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.” [Numbers 14:9]  It takes courage to live the Christian life.  Our choices are usually the opposite from what out culture embraces.  But Caleb had God’s perspective – if He is with us, who can stand against us?

Let’s see if we can follow these same principles and develop a spirit like Caleb’s!

Sometimes I win, sometimes it does.

On a recent Saturday, it did.

I let it get the better of me.

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When I got home and realized I didn’t have it, I called customer service.  “Just come back in with your receipt and we’ll give you another one,” she said.

Oh, fun.  A trip back to the store when I’d been out all afternoon and I just wanted to stay home and start supper.

The girls saw me leave the house and they knew.

Though I was polite to the apologetic customer service lady, I could have been more gracious.

Where was my focus?  On myself and how I was inconvenienced.

I was frustrated.  Frustrated with the cashier, with the bagger, with having to give up my time to drive all the way back to the store.  (In reality, about twenty minutes round trip.)

Frustration won that day.

And, as is often the case, it centered around pride and selfishness.

Proverbs 14:17a says, “He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly.”  Proverbs 14:29 exhorts us, “He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.”  And Ecclesiastes 7:9 reads, “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.”

Ultimately I get frustrated – and then angry – because my expectations aren’t met or because an inconvenient interruption arises.   

Yet with God’s help, I can get victory over my frustration.  I certainly don’t want to be classified with the foolish, nor do I want to set a poor example before my children in how I handle those inconveniences.  Instead I need to model kindness and grace even when things don’t go according to plan.

It tried to creep in yesterday, but I recognized it.  I took a small step toward conquering that enemy of frustration.


Have you dealt with frustration lately?

 As I reflect over the past couple of weeks, my heart overflows with gratitude. 

Since my husband made the decision to proceed with back surgery (discectomy, to be precise), many prayers have been prayed.  They’ve been answered in so many ways and have strengthened my faith in the process.

I just wanted to share a brief list of the blessings we’ve encountered through this process.

• An earlier surgery date.  Originally, we tried to schedule the procedure for April 15th, the date that best accommodated some of my husband’s work responsibilities.  However, the doctor already had three surgeries scheduled for that date, so we ended up with May 20th instead.  On my birthday, coincidentally, the surgery coordinator called to say that, due to a cancellation, we had a spot on April 15th!

• Family, friends, church family – both here and in Virginia – and blog readers
  who prayed!  Revelation 5:8 says that the 24 elders in heaven have “golden vials, full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.”   I firmly believe that we added some delicious smells to those
  vials last week!

• A wonderful hospital.  My husband’s surgery was done in the same hospital where our children were born.  The employees and volunteers always seem to try to make it as pleasant an experience as possible.

• Technology.  In the surgical waiting room was a monitor that allowed you to see the progress of the procedure on a graph, i.e. when the procedure started, when it stopped, where the patient was in the recovery process, etc.  I thought it was really cool, and had to restrain myself from jumping up to check it every two minutes.

• A skilled doctor.  The surgery took almost half of the time we were expecting it to take.

• Our very sweet teenage sitter coming to spend the day with the girls so they didn’t
  have to hang out at the hospital.  A couple of others also volunteered to take the girls, if needed.

• A night at the hospital.  This was technically an outpatient procedure, but because it was scheduled
  later in the morning, they kept him overnight.  I was more comfortable with
  that – just in case he had needed special attention!

•  A bright, hospital lobby area where the girls enjoyed doing some school
  work while waiting for my husband to get discharged from the hospital.

• No more nerve pain for my husband!

• So many who called, e-mailed, texted, and messaged me to say they were praying for us that day, and to check on his recovery.

• Coworkers of  my husband who arranged to have supper delivered to us the day he came home from the hospital.  I was capable of cooking that night, but it was so nice to not have to think about it!

We’re still in the recovery process, but I praise the Lord for answered prayer and for His faithfulness in bringing us through this so far!  If results had been different….God is still good and His grace is always enough.  But I want to give Him honor and glory for all of these answered prayers and blessings!