Expressing Gratefulness

Beth Spilger is a pastor's wife in St Louis, MO. She and Ken have been married for 37 years and at Grace Baptist Church for 35 years this December. They have 7 children, two sons-in-love, and 7 wonderful grandchildren. Beth has home schooled her children since 1984. Their last child will be graduating from High School in two years. 

Expressing gratefulness to others for their benefits to my life is NOT one of my strong points. It is something I have to work at and cognitively practice.

Challenged by a speaker to list those who had made significant contributions to my life gave me reason to make a list and write simple thank yous. I began the process and have purposed to continue adding more as they come to mind.

Surprisingly, out of the many notes I've written only two who received a thank you have acknowledged those notes.

One was from a very godly lady who had rebuked me soundly after a comment I made to the girls in my dorm at camp. She and I shared a cabin and hearing my comment she drew me aside and kindly rebuked me for the very foolish thing I had said. She was right! I was foolish. I listened to her rebuke and I took it to heart. I've lived by that admonition ever since and God has blessed. She wrote that she didn't even remember having said anything to me but was glad that she had made a difference.

The most significant and life changing to me was the acknowledgement from my uncle.

This uncle also happened to be my 8th grade math teacher. Imagine calling an uncle by Mr. rather than Uncle! He had my best interest at heart, so when I missed a test question or didn't quite do as well as he knew I could on homework assignments, I not only heard about it on my paper through the score and notes written on the sheets, but I also heard about it at the next family gathering! Embarrassing? Yes! Challenging? Even more! He cared.

A few years ago our family drove three days to northern Washington state to help my uncle and aunt celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. 

The surprise came when he took me aside and thanked me for that thank you note. He also shared that out of ALL the hundreds of students he had taught and coached in junior and senior high school I was the ONLY one who had ever thanked him!

My aunt also took me aside and told me how much it meant to him. She said he cried when he read it. He cried! Imagine a tough athletic man crying because of a thank you!

That made me stop and think...how many others are out there wondering if they have helped anyone in any way. Wondering if their lives and the sacrifices they have made meant anything to someone else.

I was reading in Psalms 107 this morning and verse 22 stood out to me.

"And let them sacrifice the sacrifices to thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing."

Our thanksgiving is a "sacrifice." [This is a wonderful Bible study relating back to Leviticus 7 and 1 Peter 2.]

The person I need to be thanking most is my Lord. Have the "wondrous things" [meaning those things that go beyond human power and expectations] brought a "sacrifice of thanksgiving" from my lips to my Lord today? HE should be the first that I thank everyday.

What about others who have benefited me in numerous ways, like my family. They "do" all day and what they do or say is a great benefit to me and to others in our family.

What about folks in my church family? My pastor? My Sunday School teacher? The missionaries we support? A neighbor who keeps their yard beautiful to behold? Think about it, this list could go on... who are you thanking this Thursday?

~Just some Thursday Thoughts...

When Life Is Not What You Pictured

Living in Reality

Article by:

Suza Rasmussen

Instructor, West Coast Baptist College

http://ministry127.com/ladies-ministry/when-life-is-not-what-you-pictured

Do you remember when you were young and dreaming about the future? That’s usually a time when we are very idealistic. We think, “I’m going to have the perfect marriage…just like in the old movies. I’m going to be a really good wife, and my husband will be rich and handsome. My kids are not going to act like that! I’m going to get to travel and have exotic vacations. I’m going to be a really good Christian…” and on and on we would dream.

A few years later, when the road gets a little bumpy, if we’re not careful, we can become pessimistic. We think, “This marriage thing is not as easy as it looks… I can be such a nag. This cycle of cleaning and cooking never ends. I wonder how my kids are going to turn out… it’s so hard to always be consistent. I don’t think the teachers at school like my kids. There is more month than money. I must not be a very good Christian for all these things to be happening.”

Instead of becoming pessimistic (which can lead to being cynical), let me encourage you to become realistic.

Realize God loves you unconditionally. When earthly relationships are challenging, God’s love for you never changes. This will give you the security to go on (see Jeremiah 31:3).

Realize that God is good all the time. Be positive and look for the blessings. Don’t dwell on the negative (see Romans 8:28).

Realize that whatever God is doing is just fine with you, because God knows best. When your dreams are dashed, God has something better (see Isaiah 55:8).

Realize that happiness and contentment come from God alone. Don’t rely on anyone else for your happiness. With God, there is always hope (see Romans 15:13).

Realize that you must keep short accounts with God and with others. Forgive and let it go. Forgive yourself. God does not forgive us because we deserve it; He forgives us because of what Christ did for us (see Ephesians 4:32).

Realize that God will give you grace to live with the consequences of your sin (see Romans 5:20).

When we come to realize all of these truths, the final stage in our spiritual journey is contentment. This comes from trusting God; He will bring us into our desired haven (see Psalm 107:25-30). My challenge to you: don’t float along in the idealistic stage or sink into the pessimistic stage, but allow God to grow you through realizing all He has for you so that you rest in contentment!

I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Philippians 4:11b

Change Your Attitude!

I don't know how many times over the years I have said this to my children..."change your attitude!"  Kids just don't like to be told what to do. They don't see things from our adult vantage point. They only know they don't like it!

Just the other day we had some friends over for the night. She and I were preparing breakfast when she needed to stop and correct her daughter. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Megan cross her arms in protest. Becky, the good Mommy she is, didn't let that pass. "Meggy, you don't cross your arms at Mommy." What Megan needed was an attitude change.

Sometimes there are things God brings into my life that, well...I just don't like. I don't see them from His vantage point - only mine. With arms crossed I have my little attitude. I can picture Him looking down on me saying, "Tammy, you don't cross your arms at your Father." Now you know what I'm going to say next...what I need is an attitude change.

How do we change our attitude? Well, changing our attitude isn't about changing our situation. It's about changing the way we choose to react. Like how we react when the neighbor's music is too loud and it's past midnight. How we react when we're cut off in traffic. How we react when we're called a derogatory name because we're foreigners. Or how about how we react when someone eats the last horded Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. Now I'm preaching to the choir! This is where we are at. We live in places where everything around us is different. Some days we just really don't like it! BUT,  that is exactly where God wants us. He is not only using us to spread the Gospel, He is using our environment to conform us to the image of His Son.  Romans 8:29a - "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son..."

When we surrendered to God's call to go to another land and give the Good News of the Gospel, and see lives changed, we didn't realize that much of the change was going to be in us. We only saw part of God's plan. Sort of like Jonah. Jonah knew God wanted to warn the Ninevites of their coming destruction if they didn't repent, but what he failed to understand was that God also wanted his own heart to be changed.

So let's be challenged today to let the Word of God transform us - to change our attitude. It's not us trying harder. It's allowing Him to work in our hearts and change us from the inside out.

The Dawn

 Christ is risen.

He is risen indeed. Allelujah!

Praise the Lord and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He has made us Easter people by raising Jesus from the dead.

He lived and died in past history.

But He lives today and influences present history.

Christ is risen. He is alive.

We celebrate His triumph.

We recognize His presence.

We applaud His achievements.

We declare our love for Him.

Rejoice, then, even in your distress.

He has called us from darkness into light.

Allelujah!

by: Charles Swindoll

The Darkness and the Dawn

From the heart of Darleen Whetstone

Darleen is a wife, mother of four children, grandmother of fourteen grandchildren, and has one great-grandchild on the way! She and her husband, Danny, have served the Lord together for 41 years. Brother Whetstone pastored in South Carolina and Tennessee. They were also missionaries in Grenada, West Indies. For the past 21 years Brother Whetstone has served as the President of World Wide New Testament Baptist Missions, which has over 100 missionaries scattered in more than 40 countries.

A Word of Encouragement

We are living in an uncertain world, with sin running rampant all around us! As we see 'the day' approaching, I want to encourage you with these verses. Remember, "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." 1 John 4:4.

Philippians 4:1-9

These verses tell us to:

• stand fast
• have the same mind
• help one another
• rejoice in the Lord

Verse 6 admonishes us to "Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication (things we ask or even beg for) with thanksgiving (an expression of gratitude) let your requests be made known unto God."

If we do according to God's Word, in God's way, there will be peace which we don't always understand. In spite of our circumstances, it will keep our hearts and minds on Him! (Verse 7)

Finally, we are told in verse 7 that whatsoever things are...

• true
• honest
• just
• pure
• lovely
• of good report...

If there be any virtue (behavior with high moral standards) or praise (warm expressions of approval or admiration), we are commanded to "think on these things."

So, when you get discouraged, and all around you seems dark and dismal, and you feel all alone, go to Philippians 4:1-9, remembering that God always knows, cares, and is concerned about you!

We have so much to be thankful for! To God be the glory! It is an honor to share my heart with you, and I trust that these words will be an encouragement to you.

Grace-gifts

I’m just finishing the book 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp. My Pastor’s wife recommended it about a year ago, but I just recently downloaded it onto my Kindle.  For those of you who have read it, I’m sure you can relate to the eye-opening truth of counting God’s blessings. How something so simple can make such a difference! If you've not yet read it yet, I would highly recommend it.

This morning I got out my journal to add some gifts, and as I wrote them – there are so many – I found myself smiling; smiling over my list of thanks…

Dave (pictured in back) giving up his day off to set up a manual pump so we can have water again. 

 Edina’s pokey braids.

  


Jack experiencing a Blow-Pop for the first time.

Pele’s pastor-heart.

Cool morning after days of heat.

 

When I stop to count gifts I’m actually stopping to see God’s grace flowing. GRACE = undeserved favor. That means that I don’t deserve electricity – it’s a gift. I don’t deserve water coming into the house – it’s a gift. I don’t deserve the love and service of friends – it is a gift. So if all is a GIFT undeserved, then I should rejoice in even the smallest of things. As I take time to be thankful for God’s MANY grace-gifts, it changes my attitude. It takes my thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. For if I am dwelling on the Giver of grace-gifts, I am not dwelling on self.

What grace-gifts have you counted lately? If you’ve not started, let me encourage you to start. Write some grace-gifts in the comments so we can rejoice with you over our Grace-Giver!

Prescription For Contentment

How does a missionary learn to  live a life of contentment? E.B. Pusey was a missionary living in Africa for 52 years. Here is her prescription for contentment:

1.  Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even of the weather.


2.  Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstance in which thou art not.


3.  Never compare thine own lot with that of another.


4.  Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou dost thyself.


5.  Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God's not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. "The Lord will provide."

Chorus of frogs

by: noomhh/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sitting in my living room having my devotions I began to ponder on God's gifts. I began to daze outside and look at God's creation to see what gifts He might show me. Immediately my senses picked up on the chorus of frogs croaking just outside my yard along Lake Victoria.

The sound of their croaking puts a smile on my face and turns my focus on their Creator. Let me just say  God is AWESOME!  As I look for Him in His creation I can't help but say that. I mean have you ever really looked at insects, animals, birds, and on and on?

I remember when my children were little that we would listen to a radio program that would talk about various animals and insects and teach how God created them with special features for protection, to hunt, etc.  As we heard about these wondrous creatures we were reminded of Psalm 104:24: 

"O Lord, how manifold 

are thy works! in wisdom hast thou 

made them all:  the earth is full 

of thy riches."

What can you see today in God's creation that turns your heart and mind to His GREATNESS? What verse comes to your mind as you ponder his creation? I'd love to read about it!

Posted by: Tammy Brouwer

The Attitude of Gratitude

by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

October 12, 2009

After more than two decades of ministry to hurting people, I have come to believe that a failure to give thanks is at the heart of much, if not most, of the sense of gloom, despair, and despondency that is so pervasive even among believers today. Furthermore, many of the sins that are plaguing and devastating our society can be traced back to the oft-undetected root of unthankfulness.

The “attitude of gratitude” is something that desperately needs to be cultivated in our hearts, our homes, and our society. Its presence brings a host of other blessings, while its absence has profound, lethal repercussions. Consider with me some of the contrasts between a grateful and an ungrateful heart:

A grateful person is humble, while ingratitude reveals pride.

The grateful person feels a great sense of unworthiness: “I have so much more than I deserve.” But an ungrateful person says, “I deserve so much more than I have.”

I have always been impressed by the grateful spirit of Ruth the Moabitess. Widowed after less than a decade of marriage, an impoverished stranger in a foreign land, and “condemned” to live with her embittered mother-in-law, Ruth sought a way to support herself and Naomi. When she was discovered by Boaz, who extended to her the right to glean in his fields, she fell all over herself trying to express gratitude for his gracious gesture: “Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?” (Ruth 2:10, kjv).

Under similar circumstances, I might have been more likely to think, or even say to others, “It’s the least he could do!” But the humility of this young widow is seen in her response of gratitude to the least little kindness shown her by another.

A grateful person is a loving person who seeks to gratify and bless others, while an ungrateful person is bent on gratifying himself.

One of the most common end results of ingratitude is the sin of moral impurity. The man or woman who is not thankful for the way God has met his or her needs easily begins to falsely accuse and find fault with our good God. In rejecting the provision God has already made, the ungrateful person is only one small step away from seeking to get his needs met in illegitimate ways.

A grateful heart is a full heart, while an unthankful heart is an empty one.

No matter how little he may actually have compared with others, a grateful person enjoys a sense of fullness. But no matter how much a person may in fact have, if he is not a thankful person, he will live with a gnawing sense of emptiness. I picture an unthankful heart as being something like a container with a hole in it that causes all its blessings to leak out. The grateful person has unlimited capacity to truly enjoy God’s blessings, while the ungrateful person can’t enjoy the blessings he does have.

The apostle Paul provides us with a powerful illustration of this principle. The Book of Philippians is a thank-you note, written to express gratitude for what the believers in Philippi had done to minister to Paul’s material needs while he was traveling and planting churches.

Having expressed his heartfelt appreciation for their most recent gift, Paul, writing from a Roman prison and deprived of all but the barest of necessities, made a remarkable statement: “I have all, and abound: I am full” (Phil. 4:18)! Who but a grateful person could have assessed his incarcerated condition with those words?

A grateful person is easily contented, while an ungrateful person is subject to bitterness and discontent.

Years of counseling with people who are chronically unhappy, depressed, frustrated, and emotionally unstable have convinced me that these “disorders” often stem from an unthankful heart, regardless of any external circumstances that may appear to provide an explanation.

An ungrateful person holds tightly to his “rights” and sets himself up for hurt and disappointment when God or others fail to perform according to his expectations. But the individual who has yielded all his rights to God sees all of life through thankful eyes and has no room in his heart for selfish, destructive emotions.

A grateful heart will be revealed and expressed by thankful words, while an ungrateful heart will manifest itself in murmuring and complaining.

A grateful spirit is what enables people to view and respond to the most painful circumstances in life with thanksgiving. As one person observed, “Some people complain because God put thorns on roses, while others praise Him for putting roses among thorns.”

Thankful believers from the past have much to teach us in this matter. Matthew Henry, the well-known commentator of the 19th century, was once accosted by robbers. Reflecting on the experience, he wrote in his diary, “Let me be thankful, first, because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because, although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed!”

We are called to be thankful people, to recognize and express appreciation for the benefits that we have received from God and others. We are all debtors, and we repay those debts with grateful hearts and words of thanksgiving. It is not enough to feel gratitude in our hearts. That gratitude must be communicated to those to whom we are indebted.

You and I cannot be truly free, though we have been released from bondage, if our hearts and tongues have ceased to give thanks. Perhaps right now would be a good time to take a trip to Calvary, to kneel before our incredible Savior, to look into His loving face, and to say, “Oh, Lord Jesus, thank You! Thank You! Thank You!”

© Revive Our Hearts. Used with permission. Adapted from The Attitude to Gratitude by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Available for purchase at our store.
 www.ReviveOurHearts.com 

Perspective

"I cannot believe there is only a trickle of water coming out of the facet again. I NEED to do laundry!"

"Bill, power is out! I'm going to have to take a cold shower AGAIN."

"It takes so much time to cook here."

Have you ever caught yourself saying something similar to the above statements? I did the other day. The power had been out more than usual. When the power goes out a lot, our water from the city comes to a trickle, or sometimes stops altogether. I was frustrated that we were again without water. Then came my worker, Pendo. I asked her about their water situation, and she begins to tell me that they haven't had a drop of water in two weeks. She has to arise early in the morning, before coming in for a full day of work, in order to walk a distance to carry water back to her house. After this conversation I took a walk and saw a bunch of women down at the lake gathering water for their families. It was then that it hit me...

PERSPECTIVE

You see, I tend to compare my life with those who live in the Western world. (First mistake. 2 Corinthians 10:12c says - "and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.") So I was getting frustrated about the lack of water, knowing that my friends in America have water aplenty. I mean really, how many times in my life, when living in America, did I go to turn on the facet and wonder if water was going to come out?

PERSPECTIVE

God used the situation with my worker and my neighbor ladies gathering water at the lake to get my attention. I realized that morning that rather than grumbling about what I thought was my "right" to have water each and every time I went to my facet, that I should be thankful for how God has blessed me with water at all. (Second mistake. Philippians 2:14 says - "Do all things without murmurings and disputings:") To top it off, even if water doesn't come out of my facet, God has blessed us to have an underground water tank and even a small above ground tank. If I come to the place of no water in the house I can still haul in buckets of water from those tanks. So in reality, I'm not out of water. I'm just used to the ease of turning on my facet and watching it pour out.

PERSPECTIVE

What about you? What is your PERSPECTIVE today?

Thankfulness - a way of life

Below is a devotional from Nancy Leigh DeMoss on being thankful. It is a simple way to focus on being thankful in the coming week. I hope it is a blessing to you!

A Week of Thanksgiving

By Nancy Leigh DeMoss

God’s Word teaches that thankfulness ought to be a way of life. But in the reality of our daily lives, it is so easy for discontentment, murmuring, complaining, criticizing, or even bitterness to displace the “attitude of gratitude.” Cultivating a thankful heart will result in speaking thankful words. But we all need periodic reminders to be thankful, and, for most of us, developing the habit of thankfulness may require some practice! Here are some practical suggestions for devoting one week to practicing thankfulness. You may even want to include the whole family in this project.

Day 1 Every chapter in the book of Colossians has at least one reference to thankfulness. Read the following verses and jot down a thought that stands out to you (Colossians 1:3, 12; 2:7; 3:15, 17; 4:2):

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

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Someone has defined gratitude as “learning to recognize and express appreciation for the benefits which I have received from God and others.” Try to memorize this definition today, and review it at least once each day this week.

Day 2 Before we can express our gratitude, we must take time to recognize and identify the specific blessings that we have received from God and others.
Make a list of all the material and spiritual blessings you can think of that you have received from the Lord. Then stop and thank God for each item on your list.
Spiritual Blessings (If you need help getting started, try reading the first chapter of Ephesians!)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Material Blessings
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

Day 3
Today, focus on expressing gratitude to and for your family members. Make a list of each member of your family (mate, parents, children, brothers, sisters, etc.). Then next to each name, write one quality about their life for which you are particularly grateful.

Family Members; Qualities I Appreciate

1. ___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

2. ___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

3. ___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

4. ___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

5. ___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

6. ___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

7. ___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

8. ___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

9. ___________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

10. __________________________________________________________________

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Take time to thank God for each member of the family He has given you. Then pick three individuals from your list to whom you can express gratitude today, either in person, by phone, or by means of a note. You might want to begin by saying something like this:

“I thanked God for you today, and I want you to know how grateful I am that you are part of my family, and especially for this particular quality that I see in you . . .” (You may want to express gratitude to someone on your list who has been especially difficult to love!)

Day 4
Make a list of other individuals who have blessed or touched your life in some way. You may want to include pastors, teachers, friends, business associates, neighbors, authors, leaders of Christian ministries, etc. As you write each name, ask yourself, “Have I ever thanked that person for the way God has used him/her in my life?” Put a check mark next to each individual to whom you have expressed gratitude.

Day 5 Call or write three people on the list you made yesterday, to express your gratitude for their influence and ministry in your life.

Day 6 Paul instructed the Ephesian believers to “give thanks always for all things . . .” (Eph. 5:20).

One man of God told of meditating on this verse while he was brushing his teeth one morning. He was challenged by the thought of thanking God for everything! He said, “I began by thanking God for my toothbrush. Then I thanked Him for the toothpaste. Then I realized that I had never thanked God for my teeth!” He went on to ask this probing question: “If tomorrow’s supply depended on today’s thanksgiving, how much would I have tomorrow?”
As you go through this day, try to consciously thank God for all things . . . small things and big things!

Day 7
As you have been focusing on thankfulness, have you found some people, items, or circumstances for which it is not easy to be thankful?

Dr. Helen Roseveare, long-time missionary doctor in the Congo, told of a point in her life when she was shamefully mistreated at the hands of rebel soldiers. She described the painful struggle that took place in her heart, as she sought to make some sense out of the humiliation and physical suffering she had undergone. Then she told of the release and peace that came when she sensed God asking her,
“Helen, are you willing to give me thanks for that which I may never give you the privilege of understanding?”
Make a list of past or present circumstances, events, trials, or relationships for which you may never have given thanks. Then, as an expression of faith and an exercise of obedience, say, “Lord, I choose to give You thanks for ________ and ________, which You may never give me the privilege of understanding.”
In so doing, you will be acknowledging that God is the “Blessed Controller” of everything that touches your life, and that you trust Him and His sovereign choices for your life.
Difficult things for which God wants me to give thanks:
1. ____________________________________________________________________

2. ____________________________________________________________________

3. ____________________________________________________________________

4. ____________________________________________________________________
Now that you’ve spent a week focusing on gratitude, we’d like to challenge you to make a lifetime habit of giving thanks. In fact, you’ll discover that the whole world looks different, when you learn to see it through eyes of thankfulness!

© Revive Our Hearts. Taken from The Attitude of Gratitude by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Used with permission. www.ReviveOurHearts.com. Info@ReviveOurHearts.com

Banana Bread

 I recently received a Facebook message from a pastor friend from Kenya. He was recalling the impact my husband Bill had made on him as he taught through the book of Revelation, and how he appreciated me making banana bread for he and the other Bible Institute students. You know how many years ago that was?? About 16!

Do we really know that the little things we do that minister to others?  Jesus tell us in Matthew 25:36-45:

^"For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:  Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me:  I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

The other day I was visiting with some missionary women - most of them young mothers. The topic got onto how we can minister from within our homes. I told them about the young preacher and the blessing of a simple loaf of banana bread. We then began to discuss other ways we can minister from our homes. What are some ways you ladies have found to minister through your homes? I would love to read your comments!

The Heavens Declare

Listen to the waves of the ocean

Crashing with the rhythms of praise;

Listen to their song of devotion

Dancing with the sun's golden rays.

Listen to the music of nature,

Floating from the birds in the sky,

Singing the song of their Maker,

Lifting His praises on high.

Listen to the song of the sunrise,

Listen to the voice of the light;

Watch as the moon give the signal

Starting the music of night.

Listen to the song of creation;

Listen to the language of praise,

Filling the earth and the heavens,

Praising the Ancient of Days.

The heavens declare the glory of God;

All nature is singing His majesty.

The mountains prepare a tribute of love;

Creation is filled with His honor, glory and praise!

Written by: Ron Hamilton

coffee filters

You know, it's the little things in life that can be the biggest blessings - water, electricity, working vehicle, etc. A few years back my husband bought me an ipod and I've loved it ever since. I love to put on my earphones and listen to godly music that brings my focus back on my Lord. Another thing I really enjoy is my Kindle. We all know the struggle of trying to stay under 50 pounds in each of our suitcases as we return to the mission field from furlough! In fact, I still have a stack of books that I was given probably 4 years or so ago that never quite made it into my luggage. So to have a Kindle that I can download books in just minutes is amazing!!

So what does all that have to do with coffee filters?? Well, during Christmas we stayed with some dear friends while we held special meetings in their village. Upon arrival I was admiring the snowflakes her children had made with a visiting supporter. However, when Becky told me they were made out of coffee filters I gasped. She laughed and said she knew I would react that way. (Ahhh, the joy of friends!) She later told Beverly about it. Beverly immediately went into her room and came out with a bag full of coffee filters and handed them to me!

What little blessings do you have? Sometimes we can be overwhelmed with the difficulties of living in a culture far different than our own and miss seeing these blessings. I hope you'll take the time today to thank the Lord for the little things...like coffee filters!

Written by Tammy Brouwer in Tanzania

Click here to read her blog.

Connecting

As I thought about what I wanted to write for this first Thankful Thursday post I couldn’t help but think about what a blessing the Internet can be, along with Facebook, instant messenger, and Skype. When we first arrived in Kenya in 1995 we had none of those things. We truly felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. It was a lonely feeling not being able to connect with family, church, and friends.

During our second term Internet became available – dial-up, but Internet none-the-less. However, even then there wasn’t Facebook or blogs to connect with the daily lives of people, let alone missionary ladies! What a blessing to now be able to read blogs of women who can relate with our lives, and look on Facebook and find a group of Baptist Missionary Women who we can ask for prayer about issues that others may not fully understand. So here is a big PRAISE THE LORD for being able to have access to Internet, and ways to stay charged to continue doing the work he has called us to do around the world!

Written by:  Tammy in Tanzania

Click here to read her blog.

Thankful Thursday

"O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.

For his merciful kindness is great toward us:

and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever.

Praise ye the Lord."

Psalm 117

What are you thankful for today?  Think outside the norm.

• The smile on my husband's face when he found a milk snake in our yard.
• My son's giggles while my brother's dog gives him kisses.
• My daughter excited to go to church for Patch the Pirate club.
• Taping up our last box for the shippers.
• The 2011 Volvo that the insurance company is renting for us this weekend to attend a Mission's Conference in New York.

Please share your blessings.