I haven't posted a gratitude list in over a week maybe two. I have been going through some stuff that has exhausted me and pulling away from God and people, but that is something that can and will change. Healing only comes when we allow God in to work on our hearts. Instead of going into what the stuff is I have been dealing with I will share what God is doing now to help me through the "stuff".
I know that it isn't what we do, but how our heart is when we do things. For example I can read my Bible everyday and it could just be to check it off the list of expectations or I can read my Bible everyday to get out of the Word of God what God has for me. I choose the later. I believe that when God has me open my Bible that He has something important to say to me and that I better be listening.
I opened my Bible today and was in Isaiah 61. I started reading and found that God had filled this chapter and the next with his love and longing for us. Not just to love us but to also bless us. His desire to live within us and dwell in our homes and lives. We are to be preparing for our Bridegroom. All that is needed is our open door and acceptance of these things.
We never stop growing, changing or learning. The Lord will always have a next step in our destiny and purpose. This internship that we are on in our fleshly lives is a training ground for what is to come. The right now and the concerns of today are small compared to what God has in store for later. There will be hurts, failure and disappointments in our daily lives, but the most important is how we live for the Lord. God must be the center of our "universe" we cannot allow anything else to take that place. Not people, anger, hurts, bitterness.....-nothing!
Sometimes when you are hurting the best thing to do is make a gratitude list, so this is mine. After making it all the worries and problems seam so small and insignificant. God's love is so Great and mighty.
~148-165
I am thankful that the Lord loves me enough to seek me out
I am thankful that He knows my needs and can fulfill them
I am thankful for the rest I got this week
I am thankful for the amazing ladies who knew I needed an evening out with the girls and for my treat of a pedicure
I am thankful for my friends who love me and watch out for me
I am thankful that my husband likes to surprise me by cooking and cleaning
I am thankful I married such a hard working man
I am thankful that the Lord provides for us even if we think he has forgotten us
I am thankful that the light at the end of our financial tunnel is getting a bit closer and brighter
I am thankful that I have amazing, smart people to give me advice and who allow me to cry on their shoulders
I am thankful for my son who made lunch today for me and the daycare kids, with out being asked
I am thankful for my many best friends who I can call on and who know they can call on me
I am thankful that God sees the destiny he has for me and that it is perfect
I am thankful that if we mess up he is still the father who is waiting to pick us up, dust us off and say that He loves us-Try again my child
I am thankful for his unconditional Love
and that He never forgets us and our needs
I am thankful that I am never truely alone
I am thankful that He sent us the sunshine when we needed it the most
I am thankful that He speaks to us through worship, prayer time and scripture
Isaiah 61
The Year of the LORD's Favor
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, [a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
5 Aliens will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
6 And you will be called priests of the LORD,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.
7 Instead of their shame
my people will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
they will rejoice in their inheritance;
and so they will inherit a double portion in their land,
and everlasting joy will be theirs.
8 "For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and iniquity.
In my faithfulness I will reward them
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the LORD has blessed."
10 I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise
spring up before all nations.
Isaiah 62
Zion's New Name
1 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet,
till her righteousness shines out like the dawn,
her salvation like a blazing torch.
2 The nations will see your righteousness,
and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.
3 You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 No longer will they call you Deserted,
or name your land Desolate.
But you will be called Hephzibah, [b]
and your land Beulah [c] ;
for the LORD will take delight in you,
and your land will be married.
5 As a young man marries a maiden,
so will your sons [d] marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so will your God rejoice over you.
6 I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
they will never be silent day or night.
You who call on the LORD,
give yourselves no rest,
7 and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem
and makes her the praise of the earth.
8 The LORD has sworn by his right hand
and by his mighty arm:
"Never again will I give your grain
as food for your enemies,
and never again will foreigners drink the new wine
for which you have toiled;
9 but those who harvest it will eat it
and praise the LORD,
and those who gather the grapes will drink it
in the courts of my sanctuary."
10 Pass through, pass through the gates!
Prepare the way for the people.
Build up, build up the highway!
Remove the stones.
Raise a banner for the nations.
11 The LORD has made proclamation
to the ends of the earth:
"Say to the Daughter of Zion,
'See, your Savior comes!
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense accompanies him.' "
12 They will be called the Holy People,
the Redeemed of the LORD;
and you will be called Sought After,
the City No Longer Deserted.
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