Be Thankful!!

Yesterday as I was preparing for church I was reminded of a song I had written during a “blue” period entitled “Thank You.”  Odd title when you’re going through it, huh?  During service, Psalm 100:4 was quoted and I caught it and saw it….”Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.  Be thankful to Him and bless His name.”  I saw myself entering through those gates and approaching the Holy of Holies where the presence of the Lord was contained in that day.  I recognized the need to enter in; the desire to get lost in His presence, but knew before He made a move (though He was hovering) I must make the first move, by inviting Him in with my praise and with thanksgiving.  He inhabits the praise of His people and while His people offer praise and thanksgiving, the enemy is brought to a standstill.

This morning I woke up with thanksgiving in my heart and when I sat down in my prayer area, before my daughter could fill my ears with requests for the day, I closed my eyes and just began to thank Him.  I thanked Him for those things I take for granted; things I forget to thank Him for…my vision…my hearing…my sense of smell, taste, touch.  I thanked Him for my husband who after 25 years still pursues me; for my children who honor me; for my family who loves me; for my friends who celebrate me.  I thanked Him for my church, my Pastors (past and present); my home, which is more than a house with stuff in it.  I thanked Him for His word which is so rich and powerful, unchanging and everlasting.  I then began to intercede as the Holy Spirit led.  I never asked for a thing for myself. He knows me and knows what I have need of today.  Today my time was set apart to thank Him first….to bless Him first.  He is so worthy to be praised!

Thank You

To the One who sits enthroned above the heavens
To the One who was and is and is to come
To the One and only God You are so worthy to be praised
I thank You Lord, thank You, thank You Lord

You are the lifter of my head
My defender, my strong tower
You cover me with Your mighty hand
And when I’m weak I am made strong
by Your love and by Your power
Thank You Lord….thank You, thank You Lord

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A Charger, an Extension Cord and the Truth…The Whole Truth, Nothing but the Truth…God Help Me!!!

I like lists…I like five point messages…when I pray, I string along at least three scriptures…more if I’m in the zone.  Just thought I’d point out my grouping tendencies, just in case you haven’t noticed.  You’ll never figure out the subject matter of this post by its title.  It very much described today…a special day for my daughter and me.  She and my son were gone for a couple of days to camp with our church’s youth and she returned tired and talkative and best of all, so happy to see me.  Yesterday we had some prayer time, she shared her pictures and we hung out in the pool and spent most of the day together.  Later in the day, she pulled out her journal to read what the Holy Spirit dropped in her heart during worship over the weekend.  I was tearing up as she shared her heart with me.  This morning she woke up looking for me again.  After we completed our chores, she watched as I squeezed lemons for lemonade and then followed me back to the living room asking me when we were going to start reading the books we recently ordered from Amazon.  She’s open and wanting to engage.  I watched her when she wasn’t looking.  I thought how blessed my daughter was to have someone to pour into her, life’s lessons; how blessed she was to know Jesus this intimately at such a young age; and then I thought of the huge responsibility on my shoulders.  I relaxed as I remembered that it not only was a shared responsibility with my husband, SomeOne much bigger, wiser, more loving and faithful than either of us was in control.

For the longest time I’ve known that today would come; I’ve sorta been preparing, but was not prepared, really.  I had cruised around this topic before, ducking her pointed questions on more than one occasion, recognizing that timing was everything and her immaturity would time after time prolong the inevitable.  Today was the day…the time had come…it had to be done and I had to be the one and she was ready so ready or not…I took a deep breath….and then started thinking about me at that age and how no one ever broke anything down to me.  Good grief, this was a joke.  What I learned, I learned from giggly, misinformed cousins and conversations overheard and possibly a book or two from a classmate.  I came out of that reverie, ready to take the plunge and I began by talking to her about hormones, body image, touch. I thought I’d break into a sweat when it came time to go in for the kill; break it down; seal the deal, especially when I noticed her looking out the window in a trance.  I tried to ask leading questions to see what she knew, but she wasn’t biting.  She did admit to having heard some things on tv which made her wonder.  As she was talking, I spotted my computer charger and an extension cord and was able to diffuse any discomfort by using my props to conjure up the image of women as receivers and men as givers.  I was swimming now, not flopping around and I had her complete attention.  I shocked myself with the words I was using…nothing X rated, but certainly “R” :).  I told her stories of my upbringing and then the lesson was over for now.  I kissed her and promised that she could trust me; that I would tell her the truth, the whole truth at all times.  She kissed me and thanked me and promised to trust me.  I walked away thinking about everything I said and all that I didn’t say and the rest that I need to say.  Ours will be an ongoing discussion…I’m believing that will be the case.

As uncomfortable the notion of going there was, I felt that it was time and I was much more self assured than I thought I’d be.  She was ready, more mature and I surely didn’t want her learning on the fly as I did.  I didn’t follow any prescribed method or five point message; I didn’t get any advice from Dr. Leman or anyone else.  I was led by the Holy Spirit who nudged me today…the timing was right…her heart was yielded…we got through it…it’s done.  For today anyway!

Whew!!  What a day!!