A Cry of God's Heart !

“Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness!” (Ps. 107:8,15,21,31 )

God is good, SO good that we often take Him for granted. Like spoiled children we take His gifts and neglect to say thank you!
When we are thankful, we connect emotionally and intimately with God.
God delights to dwell in a grateful heart.
I want to thank God this morning.

My computer crashed a few days ago and when I called a professional computer technician and explained what happened, he gave very little hope that any data could be retrieved without spending thousands of dollars.
I had not backed up my data….my fault, I know.
My first cry was upward, “Lord, can you help?”
And of course He could.
My computer savvy son-in-love patiently retrieved all my important files and transferred them to a new hard drive thinking perhaps that would solve my computer problems. But no, a new hard drive was not enough – the mother board was corrupt as the technician had guessed and the final word was that I needed a new computer.
So here I am with a new computer and a total of 560 GB of hard drive space that should do me for quite some time!! (smile)
"Thank you, Lord, for caring about my computer needs and working everything out for good!!"

On Saturday we got a letter from our sponsored child.
If you have read my post “My Desires” (Jan.11) you know the story of how a friend, insisting we had not charged her enough for a job we did for her, informed us that she was going to buy a cow – in our name - for a needy family in Uganda. A couple of months later we sponsored a girl named Sharon from Uganda (grade 2) who lives with her 4 siblings and mother. Her father died several years ago. In the letter we got from her on Saturday she enclosed a picture of herself and a cow and she said, “You have made my life very prestigious now because you gave me a cow!”
We were so happy that God worked it out for our sponsored family to have the cow !!
"Thank you , Lord, for blessing Sharon, and making her life easier."

On Sunday was my mother’s birthday. Rather than burden her with the stress of having everyone come to her home we decided we would meet at a restaurant for Sunday lunch. I took responsibility for making it happen but did not reserve the restaurant in time and when I called early Sunday morning they said they could not accommodate our family.
OK, now what! My heart sank. Everyone had been called and had made plans to meet at the designated place.
Again, my cry was upward and God heard.
My husband suggested trying the Rendezvous restaurant.
I called and they were very friendly and assured us we would be welcome.
The number of family members able to come kept growing – I thought at first we would be about 10 but by the time we got to the restaurant we were 17.
I told the maitre’de when we arrived that we were a few more than I had reserved for and he said, “No problem, I’ll give you the back room all to yourself.” It was lovely ! - much better than it ever could have been at the first restaurant of choice.
There is a verse that says, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps”. (Prov.16:9)
I am so grateful to God that INSPITE OF US, He guides us toward the very best.
"Thank you , Lord, that even birthday celebrations are important to you!"

I am also thankful for my new four legged grandchild ! Our kids got a Blue Merle Sheltie 7 ½ week old puppy. We have all fallen in love with its sweet tempered nature. It slept through the first night they had it and whimpers when it needs to go outside. I can see how good it is for my granddaughters to care for and love the puppy.
"Thank you, Lord, for giving us pets to love and learn from !"

As you go through today…look at the things and people and beauty around you as gifts God has given you. Count them… and make today a day of ‘thanks-giving’!

"Thank-you , Lord, for every person who is reading these words. I ask that you bless them in a special way today and may their hearts fill with gratitude for your love that never fails!!"