28-Feb-15

Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Colossians 4:2In so many countries, praying to Our Father which art in Heaven is forbidden. No one is thankful, for greedy hearts only want more.  Nothing is to their liking.The thankful heart, thankful in all circumstances, is a joyous heart.  The quest for being thankful circumstances lets us see that God has a purpose for every event in our lives.  In the midst of a seeming downturn, opening all the windows and doors to the will of God, and we find joy in giving thanks.  Job didn’t understand the desolate and deadly circumstance of his family’s demise.  Yet he continued to be faithful.  He was blessed.His ways are not our ways, yet The Lord will guide us along the best pathway for our lives.  He is never far away — He is advising us and guiding us.Johannes Gaertner (Born in Berlin, 1912 – Died in Easton PA.1996) once said, To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.” During his lifetime, he endured many upsets, yet Johannes Gaertner had an appreciation for art, raised as a Christian and emigrated from Germany to Peru to United States.  He had many opportunities to ask God why his life was so seemingly interrupted.  Yet, his quote reveals his life is lived trusting God.How awesome to fully trust God, knowing that whether you live or die, you are in God’s love and in his hands.  Living from crisis to crisis and death-threatening fear is not being thankful for the life God provides for each of us.Along with thankfulness and prayer comes a peace and smiles.  The peace is like laying back on a feather comforter, knowing the comfort of trust.