Thankful Always?

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So ~ there’s more to this thankful heart bit than just saying “Thank you” for a gift that we don’t deserve or for the meal that we’re about to enjoy! We live in a land of plenty with so much to be thankful for but a grateful heart has to go beyond the blessing of the good all the way to the nitty-gritty of the not so good! All the way to the hard times ~ the difficult times, and the just plain, old, bad times. It’s a piece a cake and totally easy street to be so utterly happy and thankful when all is right with the world and the car works, the kids behave and the money’s enough and more. When the food’s plentiful, bills are paid, firewood is gathered and the house is warm. Yeah, relationships are healthy and all our warm fuzzies surround us in our cozy, little worlds of plenty! Yeah! Thanks is easy stuff there, but oh beautiful soul….it has to go deeper! It has to go down to where life’s reality finds us all too often; into the thick of the serious stuff, where living is hard and tough situations become difficult burdens; where the rubber meets the road and into where the going gets tough and the joy is ~ well ~ truth is, it’s up and left you high and dry! After all no good thing can come from whatever it is that has come a calling!

Paul knew that place of serious life and he reminds us from his prison cell, in Philippines 4: 10 – 12, that even in his incredible loss it was still all okay.
“But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.…Paul knew the joy of the Lord and He lived it through the good and bad.

Look For The Beauty In The Dark <3
Look For The Beauty In The Dark ❤

So ~ beautiful you, your blessings are more than “All is well,” and more than good times. They present beautifully in the bad too! Sweet blessings hide in the prisons of ill-health, bad news, financial crisis and extensive loss. Yeah, they do! A grateful heart will find them, and in a more profound and deeper way than what meets the eye on our dark days of compromised vision. So be thankful even for those! Remember with Paul, the tight spots and deep hurdles are truly God's way of loving on us, where He meets our difficulty with divine compassion and our "out of control" situations with hope. You can trust Him! You can rejoice in Him, the source of your joy, 'cuz when everything is wrong, He'll make it right and bless you through it. He's got it all for you and you can know it. You can rejoice in Him your Maker, and that, beautiful one, is awesome reason enough to be thankful
even through the storm.

"And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."
2 Corinthians 9:8

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
Hebrews 13:5

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•°•.•*~*.✿ I WiSh YoU ✿.*~*.•°•.•
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In Bold Confidence

Little Thoughts For Big Days
Little Thoughts For Big Days

So beautiful one, today you can confidently move right on in to the throne room with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! All that heaviness that hounds? Take it in and lay it down! You don’t need to choose a number or wait in line ~ just go in, ‘cuz it’s open invite all the time ~ any time. The cross and Christ’s death made it possible and we enter unashamed and confidently into the very Holy of Holies with our Sovereign God. Go ahead, ~ go boldly in and take your concerns to the throne of grace. There you can find Christ Himself, seated at the right hand of His Father, compassionately interceding for you. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1: 3.

Ah yes! There you will find amazing grace, awesome strength and a power that you did not know ~ and it’s there for you in your weakness. Utter all those words deep within your beautiful, aching soul that are difficult to formulate properly because of a weary mind and confusion surrounding your most difficult situation. No worries if you can’t find them, because God, the Sovereign One, the Ancient Of Days, the One true God of the Bible knows you and knows your heart and understands even more than you ~ your restlessness and your greatest need. He holds the fear, the pain, the pressure, and the impossible in His hand and can lift it from your care and your load.

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So beautiful soul, visit the divine throne room in your moments of thankfulness and despair today, or any time you need power from on High to get you through and there right there, offer praise to our God who deserves all of it. He deserves every speck of worship and grateful heart that you can find tucked deep within yourself ~ inside your disappointment and worry. So, in bold confidence, give it up and hand it over to the One who works through your praise and your trust ~ yes, even through hearts broken and bruised and burst open in pain, His almighty hand of glory works miracles through your praise. He mends, repairs and brings the possible into the impossible! God inhabits the praises of His people. “But you are holy, O you that inhabit the praises of Israel.” Psalm 22:3!

Oh yes, He lives in our praise and He works through our simple trust!

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:16

“Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. 5Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.…”
Psalm 27: 3, 4 ,5

“In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”
Ephesians 3:12
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Information Overload

Little Thoughts For Big Days
Little Thoughts For Big Days

Yeah, I know, there’s a whole lot of talk going down on every corner isn’t there ~ about the news and the world events unfolding daily? So much abstract talk of end times ~ and hardship and persecution and on and on it goes and we sit alone and fearful and feel oh so small, feeling pretty vulnerable in our little worlds. Some say unspeakable words like “end of the world”, and “persecution” and still some laugh, and still some mock while some are frightened by overwhelming headlines and videos that circulate. I admit, the news is pretty crumby and all this talk of looming, financial crisis on most fronts sounds pretty bleak along with America’s foretold disastrous and inevitable plight of falling from the strategic power that it once had. Some say the end is near, and the talk is strange with “rapture’ talk and wars and rumors of wars, and with nuclear power arms in tact and in the hands of powerhouses, what on earth can we expect? What in all of this big wide, world does it all mean to the little person in their little world?

Well, beautiful soul, remember, The God of the living Word ~ the creator God, is still God the sustainer and maintainer; The sovereign God over it all, and not one speck of man’s power or one speck of his weakness will thwart God’s hand of judgment or glory! You see It will all go down as was prophesied in His word. Nothing will stop Him from moving ahead to fulfill His word in His created world. So all these leaders with their power and their weakness ~ don’t fret and make no mistake about it ~ God knows it all and even as Biblical prophecy unfolds the world is not unraveling and reeling out of His control. Yeah, He’s working it all out for us, His children, and His people! All the talk about the “end is near”, remember…the Biblical truth is that no one man knows any time or any season about ‘when” and the Bible is clear on that as Matthew 24:36, tells us point blank, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. ” So what to do in our silent wait?

You and me? We can watch and pray and as we see signs that it might be nearer than it was yesterday we can feel confident, that as believers we are under His wings of protection. Safe in His care! Sheltered in His keeping. All this ‘end’ stuff, well ~ It may be closer than we dare imagine, but we can be ready and waiting for that, unafraid because we know that we know that we know, God’s got it all and He’s got you and He’s got your family and as a believer you are under His grace and His favor. It’s all going to be ok and alright for those that walk with Him. As a believer, you are safe in His keeping, and if you’re not in His keeping now, prepare for it in these unsettled days! Make provision for your soul! Get to know the God of the Bible in a personal way! Read His word! Memorize His promises! Tuck them into your heart and your beautiful soul for stormy days ahead! And there will be stormy days ahead, whether world wide or in your own private world, you will have battles that rage, so now is the time to receive His forgiveness! Believe in His name and accept His gift of salvation, for behold “now” is the day for that.

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2 Corinthians 6:2, says it like it is, “For He (God) says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” Now is the moment that you can take action for your future outcome. He’s the victorious leader and He holds the enemy under foot. So beautiful you, choose His side and win this thing with Him. In that simple act of faith you choose the best preparation ever to be chosen. You give your beautiful soul the gift of eternity and heavenly wealth forever and ever, and it’s all good, because ~ beautiful soul, forever is a long ~ long time!

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Finish Line

Little Thoughts For Big Days
Little Thoughts For Big Days

So yeah, we’re still running the race and some days it’s just hard isn’t it? We have our eye on the finish line; that victory that awaits for those of us running the spiritual race in this journey of life. The sprint is on and we’re doing alright until that dull ache suddenly shifts our thoughts for a moment. Out of focus and off beat, we weaken and fall prey to worry and fear and other stuff that becomes our downfall Oh so many things take us don’t they? Take us off course in the run to that final victorious finish line! Anything from relationships, to hardships, to illness to disappointment can take us down but beautiful soul, the finish line is still ahead and if you just took one more breath, it’s not too late! You can make it! You can still complete what you started. Persevere in the faith to which God has called you. Sure it’s tough but life is and your race isn’t over yet! God has much more to accomplish in and through you!

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Paul reminds us from a prison cell, a huge distraction for him, in Phillippians 1: 5, 6, “in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Paul could have thought prison was a real distraction from his race of sharing the gospel efficiently, but the truth is God used that down time to get His important message out as He directed Paul to write inspired scripture, not only to the people of that day but to us. Yeah, us, we who have down times and still struggle and stumble and fall and get up and fall again and try as we might, yet we lag behind tripping over lost and futile steps. But in it all and in all the stuff that comes to take us down we don’t lose heart do we? And we don’t lose hope do we? Because our hearts are cradled and held close to God’s own heart and our hope is in Him and so is our victory. Our final heavenly, victory still awaits and so we press on, firm in the faith, steadfast in our hope, keeping on until the end, without ever a thought of giving up or giving in. We can’t; it’s not an option! When God calls, the race is on and the prize is out of this world.
Stay true beautiful soul, and let’s allow God do His perfect work in our imperfect lives in our imperfect world.

Matthew 24:13
“But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved.”
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