Giving Thanks....

I will give thanks to you, Lord, 

with all my heart.

Psalm 9:1

A few weeks ago my husband and I drove down to Sumner, WA to visit my oldest son and his family. They have two precious little boys, James who is 5 1/2 years old, and Liam who is 18 months old. Both boys are precious and in many ways so different in personalities; in others so much the same.

We spent the entire day with them and were still there as mom and dad put them to bed. James has just begun saying his own bedtime prayers and when my son asked him if he wanted to pray, I was somewhat surprised that he said "yes"; I was certain our presence would make him shy or uncomfortable.

He jumped up on the couch, sat crossed legged and folded his little hands. His prayer went something like this:

Dear God,

Thank you for Mommy and Daddy,
Thank you for Liam,
Thank you for Grandma and Grandpa,
Thank you for Mitchell, Ryan, Rebecca and Mackenzie (uncles and aunt)
Thank you that I have everything I want
Thank you for Uncle Sam and Aunt Kate
Thank you for Owen and Anna (cousins)
Thank you for everything.
Thank you that I have everything I want (again)
Thank you for my house
Thank you for mom and dad (again)
In Jesus name,
Amen.

As he first began to pray, I smiled to myself because he listed off everyone he knew and said "thank you"; and then he was thankful that he got everything he "wanted". But I realized a couple of things in this sweet, simple, innocent prayer:

One, to a five year old, there's not a lot of different between what they "want" and what they "need"; so for James, who by no means gets everything he "wants", his wants were his needs. And so, he was thankful that he had everything that he needed.

Second, and perhaps most enlightening of all, was that he was truly thankful!

So many of us go to God in prayer, and we may begin our prayers with thankfulness, but before long, we begin our lists of "wants". And there is nothing wrong with presenting our needs and petitions to God... He tells us to...He WANTS us to do exactly that!

But James was just thankful! As an innocent little child, that's all he did... he just thanked God!

Jesus said in Matthew 18:3, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

There are so many Scriptures that tell us to give thanks. "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever" is found several times...

• 1 Chronicles 16:34
• Psalm 106:1
• Psalm 107:1
• Psalm 118:1
• Psalm 118:29
• Psalm 136:1

If there were no other reasons to give thanks to God, His goodness and His love are enough.

Even when we do bring our needs to the Lord, Paul tell us:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Philippians 4:6 (NIV)

My little grandson taught me a valuable lesson that night... I have SO MUCH for which to be thankful! Yes, I have needs... there are times that I need a 

Waymaker
Miracle Worker
Promise Keeper
Light in the Darkness
(remember, music speaks to me!)

But without another thing, another blessing, another healing, another rescue, I can easily, and wholeheartedly say to the Lord...

"Thank you! You have been good to me!"



Blessings,
'Lena
©2018

You gotta listen to this song!

Music Speaks to Me....

Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst." 

John 4:10, 13-14

Music speaks to me....

When I was a little girl, my Daddy sang in a southern gospel quartet, The Virginia Travelers. I have fond memories of going to concerts up and down the east coast listening to him sing with his beautiful tenor voice. After he left the group, he began to promote gospel music and host concerts with many of the other gospel quartets of that time: The Stamps, The Blackwood Brothers, The Happy Goodman Family, The LeFever's, Bill Gaither, The Rambos, and so many others. We lived at the bottom of a hill, on the end of the street and there were many times that there would be two, three, or four big tour buses in our driveway as we hosted the quartets and Momma and Grandma would cook meals for them.

Music has always been an important  part of my life. I remember as a young girl playing record albums and sitting in the floor pretending I was on stage singing. At one time I thought I would be the next Karen Carpenter. Momma would fuss at me because I was always humming at the dinner table...a big "no-no" in a proper southern home.

Music speaks to me....

I began singing in church choirs at the age of thirteen and music is always playing in my car, my home, my office. There is a soothing and calming peace that fills the environment when I play worship music.

Maybe that's why when I often hear a word from the Lord it's when I'm singing. Scriptures that I know in the depths of my heart will often come to the surface in the middle of praise or worship. Pictures come to life in songs. Connections between the physical and spiritual are made in songs.

 

Music speaks to me....

 

Which brings me to my story...

Last Thursday night during choir rehearsal, I had a bottle of water; every time I took a drink it seemed I was even thirstier than before. I remember thinking, "Why isn't this water quenching my thirst? I must be really dehydrated." I will admit that water is not my favorite beverage... I'd rather have sweet tea or coke.

Later in the evening when the choir went  upstairs to join the orchestra and band for prayer, we began singing "Hunger". There is a line in the song that says, 

"There's a hunger, and a thirst; 

I am desperate, immerse me."

The music spoke to me....

physically, my body needed water

spiritually, my soul needed water

My mind immediately went to the scene in John 4 where Jesus has a conversation with the woman at the well. He asked her for a drink of water. She was surprised that He would ask her, a Samaritan woman, for water. His reply:

"If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water...everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst." 

John 4:10, 13-14

As I pondered over that verse the next few  days, I wondered if the living water keeps us from ever thirsting again, why am I spiritually so thirsty now? Jesus had told the woman that "a spring of living water would well up inside" and any who drank of his living water would never thirst again.

That's when it hit me....

I'm not drinking enough water! 

Often life gets busy, even doing great things, things for the Kingdom, and I get distracted. I am often going in so many different directions that I forget to stop and take a "drink". Instead of drinking "living water", I substitute it with other things that don't quench my thirst. 

There's a hunger

And a thirst.

I am desperate

Immerse me!

Nothing will satisfy like the Living Water only Jesus can give. I have determined, again, to make the time to sit and drink from the well, read and meditate on His Word, listen more intently...

I want springs of living water to well up within my soul! 

Are you thirsty? What water are you drinking? Is it the true living water? Or have you found a substitute to quench your thirst?

Which brings me to another old song:

Drinking at the springs of living water

Happy now am I

My soul they satisfied

Drinking at the springs of living water

O wonderful and bountiful supply!
(public domain)

Blessings,

'Lena

©2018