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A Moment for Gratitude

So, it's not even 4:00am and and I'm wide awake and all the things start coming to mind… You know, the car situation, a friend I need to reach out to, the to do list for today, upcoming family vacay, what to pack for the vacay… 

We need to leave early this morning for an appointment and I need to be awake to drive so I roll over and pray, hoping for another hour of sleep. But you know, God often answers us in ways we don’t expect. As my mind quieted down a single thought rose up and captivated me.

 

It was more of an image really, a person God sent into my life at just the right time. Someone who helped me see differently, to grow, to believe God for more. And as I pondered, such gratitude welled up that I just had to thank God for them. And just then another came to mind, then another…

Oh, how blessed I have been by not only God’s faithfulness to meet me where I was, but by those who came alongside and imparted their wisdom, shared their gifts, and stretched me beyond what I thought possible. Oh, oh, I am so, so very grateful! I'd need a whole page just to list each one.

 

So, instead of another hour of sleep, God inspired me as He has done in days gone by and I just had to chronicle His goodness yet again. Gratitude, it seems, is a path to quiet the mind…

 
One thing that I have been, and always will be, grateful for is that God doesn’t require us to be perfect before He will work through us. Oh, this, this, amazes, confounds, thrills and excites me. It continually gives me hope!

I’m so glad my own brokenness, my lack of knowledge, my impatience and my past bondage didn’t prevent God from doing His work through me. Isn’t that so profound? The Perfect bringing His healing, His wisdom, His freedom, through an imperfect vessel. I wonder if it’s so our world would know without a doubt, it’s Him at work, Him who meets them in their own imperfection… 

I am so grateful God can use my brokenness and imperfection to give others a glimpse of His glory!

Scripture is full of history of imperfect people being used by a Perfect God. In fact, that’s the point! 

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13


But God has selected [for His purpose] the foolish things of the world to shame the wise [revealing their ignorance], and God has selected [for His purpose] the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong [revealing their frailty]. 1 Cor 1:27 AMP


Oh, His ways are higher than ours! But I’m glad He includes us! 


So, to the one who feels that their life is too messy, the one who’s still battling the flesh, the one who feels like they don’t have anything left to give, the one whose body is failing, to all of us, God can, and will, use us to serve up His goodness right where we are. I don’t know about you, but that encourages me daily and I’ve never been so proud to be an ordinary, common, foolish woman that is somehow transformed in the Presence of Jesus!

 

I’m also grateful that though He met me where I was, He loved me enough not to leave me there. He loves me enough to call me out, call me up, works in me to continually free me, heal me and to this day, still sends His beloveds into my life with a bagful of His goodness. And I am ever so grateful! And I am grateful for you!

 

So, as I watch the sun rise on the horizon, I leave you with this. It is good in each day, each season, each journey, to begin, and end, with gratitude.

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