Thankful

“Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: His Mercy endureth forever.” — Psalm 107:1

Peach says:

Hey, Everybody! Not entirely sure of how this will come together, but it’s on my mind and I have to try!

A lot of things are coming together this year. No Covid can stop the move of God. When He says “Grace!” Grace is coming! It’s pouring! It’s rushing to heal. To fill, to refresh, to replenish and to restore! It just washes away the obstacles.

His Grace. It’s always here, right where we need it! Sometimes, where we need it and HOW we need it, is more like a trip to the ER, court, chemotherapy or radiation or a root canal, or two. It’s more like long term physical therapy or visitation, or unemployment. In other words it’s in our pain and our suffering, our desolation. it’s what keeps us going, helps us not be overcome, but instead to overcome. It’s the salt in our water we are faithfully treading. Giving us much needed buoyancy. It’s the spiritual CrossFit training chiseling the freshly flab out of our souls.

Thank God for it!! Because of THAT Grace, we make much needed progress, and LIVE to SEE way better days!!

We last to live to see the days our hearts long for, that we dream of. We KNOW we are experiencing much needed GRACE when we experience these much longed for victories, when we achieve accomplishments we struggled for, when we can’t wipe the silly grin off our faces, because He DID it! He brought our hopes to pass! He restored us, refreshed us, vindicated us, brought us out and INTO our much better place!

But, that Grace? Is a result of the first Grace. Which is not near as fun, and if we aren’t mindful, we may miss it altogether. And that would be a shame, because we NEED the memory of His faithfulness in the times of our darkest pain, our most pressing darkness, our most infuriating injustices. We need to tie that memory to us like a tourniquet around our arm, keeping the life blood of our faith from running out.

I like to take a breath and look around, outwardly and inwardly, and try to take stock of alllll the many ways His goodness is popping up and showing out, little details, that I know are not happenstance. Big things, that I wouldn’t have even known to pray for, but He did them anyway!

Last year and the year before, were challenging times. That’s the most I can really stand to say about them. For now. At the end of the year as we approached 2020, I was strongly impressed by the Lord, that where 2019 has been all about work, survival mode, it was preparing us for a 2020 that would see us thriving! I have to say, 5 months in, and I see the benefits all around me, tendrils of plants peeping up through the soil, some flowers already starting to unfurl.

If you are in survival mode, (or even coasting or thriving mode, this works all the time!). I encourage you to hold onto Him and His faithfulness, scream in your car on the way to work if you have to, cry in the shower, turn the Praise and Worship music on to Def Con 12, and give the devil a migraine! Read your Bible relentlessly. Listen to powerful and BIBLICAL teaching, every chance you get.

And in the process of time you will begin to feel a shift in the weather. He is faithful and knows we need changes in our seasons. And He’s a GOOD Father. So He does much needed work in us during the hard times. SO THAT the good times coming, don’t wreck us!

Look around, savor the signs of His faithfulness. Celebrate with Him, the beauty of His Grace. Don’t be ashamed to testify, someone most likely needs it.

“While Samuel was offering the sacrifice, the Philistines came within range to fight Israel. Just then, God thundered a huge thunder clap exploding among the Philistines. They panicked—mass confusion!—and ran helter skelter from Israel. Israel poured out of Mizpah and gave chase, killing Philistines right and left, to a point just beyond Beth Car. Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it “EBENEZER” (Rock of help), saying “This marks the place where God helped us.”— 1 Samuel 7:10-12 The Message

Happy Sunday, Y’all! God bless you and keep you and give you great JOY!

Peach