Hard Gratitude

"When your energy fails you, do not look inward and lament the lack you find there. Look to Me and My sufficiency; rejoice in My radiant riches that are abundantly available to help you." ~ Sarah Young, "Jesus Calling"

You Are My Strength - Hillsong


I know so many people who are struggling and I feel helpless knowing how to help.  They are hard issues that I cannot fix, I can only pray and hopefully listen well when they need a safe place.

Ann will be encouraging me to discover gratitude within the hard places, she refers to it as "hard eucharisteo."

You know what is hard?

It is hard trying to share the truth of discovering gratitude in the midst of pain.  The words of Psalm 27 encourage me, within my own fears and darkness, and hopefully the words of this Psalm will help me encourage others.  Verses 13-14 read:

I'm sure now I'll see God's goodness in the exuberant earth.
Stay with God! Take heart. Don't quit.
I'll say it again: Stay with God. (MSG)

Sarah Young, in her devotional book, Jesus Calling writes this morning:

Relax in My everlasting arms. Your weakness is an opportunity to grow strong in awareness of My Almighty Presence. When your energy fails you, do not look inward and lament the lack you find there. Look to Me and My sufficiency; rejoice in My radiant riches that are abundantly available to help you. 

Go gently through this day, leaning on Me and enjoying My Presence. Thank Me for your neediness, which is building trust bonds between us. If you look back on your journey thus far, you can see that days of extreme weakness have been some of your most precious times. Memories of these days are richly interwoven with golden strands of My intimate Presence.

"Thank Me for your neediness..."

That is difficult.

It is difficult to live and it is even more difficult to preach!

Ahhh.... I first must live this truth before I can preach this truth!

I actually knew that....I did need the reminder.

On the back of the book jacket of Ann's book it says,

One Thousand Gifts beacons you to leave the parched ground of pride, fear, and white knuckle control and abandon yourself to the God who overflows your cup. As Ann Voskamp invites you into her own moments of grace, she gently teaches you how to biblically lament loss, turning pain into poetry, intentionally embrace a lifestyle of radical gratitude and slow down and catch God in the moment. 

Not a book merely to read, One Thousand Gifts begs to be embraced as a dynamic, interactive primer inviting you to engage with truths that will serve up the depth's of God's joy and transform your life forever.

Radical Gratitude.  I think that speaks of gratitude within things that the world would miss.

Oh, we [the world]  so need this kind of  lesson, but I am not the world.  Still, as Gandhi challenges us" "Be the change .... ."


I have two appointments and calls to make...all with individuals who are suffering. I simply pray that I can take the lessons I have learned and continue to learn within these conversations.

Prayer For a Friend - Casting Crowns


Amen!

Many Blessings ~ Sandi