Several years back, I was invited to speak at a woman's fellowship in a small country town. The service was something to behold! Older women led the whole service....even the drummer, yes you heard me, the drummer, was a 60 year old woman! At one point in the service, a lady got up from her place in the choir and came to the microphone. She proceeded to tell us that she was singing a song that she had just written called "Be Grateful". I think she was actually writing the song as she went, but if she said "Be Grateful" once, she said it a million times! Though not the best song I had ever heard, she got her point across!

I saw her at the end of the service and wanted to say something nice about her song. What came out was this: "My son is sometimes one of the most ungrateful human beings; do you think you could come over to my house and stand over him in his bed one morning and wake him up singing 'Be Grateful'?!!!!"

Ever met an ungrateful person and wished someone would tell them to be grateful? Are YOU ungrateful?

The very quality of your life depends on how grateful you are. And it all depends on your perspective.You can be one who always sees the glass half empty or half full. You can be one who can only see the ashes or one that sees the beauty that comes from the ashes.You can be one who only sees the thorns and never sees the beauty of the roses that emerge from amidst the thorns. It's all about the way you look at it.

Grateful people, offer thanks continually from their mouths. 

 ²² Let them sacrifice thank offerings
       and tell of His works with songs of joy.
Ungrateful people are complainers, do not reflect the Lord, and are usually very unhappy.

Grateful people live in the presence of God.



Ungrateful people open the door to destruction.


Grateful people are generous people.

¹¹ the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD, saying,
       "Give thanks to the LORD Almighty,
       for the LORD is good;
       his love endures forever."
      For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,' says the LORD. 



Matthew 25
¹⁰Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.Ungrateful people are selfish people.


 ¹⁵Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
SO the question becomes, who do you want to be? Grateful or ungrateful? A selfish complainer on the road to destruction? Or, a generous giver of thanks who enjoys deep fellowship with God?

Growing up there was an old hymn called "Count Your Blessings":

Count your blessings, name them one by one
Count your blessings see what God has done
Count your blessings, name them one by one
Count your many blessings see what God has done.

May you count your blessings this Thanksgiving season. May you have the perspective of gratitude even in the midst of difficult times. May the Lord sing "Be Grateful" over you a millions times. And may we sing of the greatness and blessings God has given us.

Happy Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for.

It seems that I find myself having different circumstances come my way, but housing the same struggles I've had for quite a while in my life. It may involve different faces, different people, but the same problem. (The old song "she'll be coming round the mountain when she comes", rings pretty loud in my ear right now!!!) But with each passing situation, I have learned a little bit more.....I've grown a little bit more.....and find the confidence that next go round, I'll conquer this thing with the Lord's help.

When we've found ourselves in dry, barren places, the last thing we want to do is go back to where we came from and face what we have just recently left behind. Reality is, that when we have been drawn away into seclusion and God has spoken to us and seen us, He many times sends us back from whence we came. Sometimes He sends us back to very miserable place.

It reminds me as a kid when I would fall off my bicycle. The first thing that I would do is run to my parents and want to quit and run away. My parents, however, always sent me back to get on that bike. They would tell me to get back on it and try again and not let it beat me. They would hold on to the back end of that bicycle and encourage me to try it one more time, letting me help them.

Towards the end of Elijah's journey to the Mountain of God, Horeb, and his incredible meeting with God, Elijah receives this command:


Why? Why does God choose to send us back into hurtful, miserable situations? Because no one comes into the presence of God without receiving a new-found purpose and new-found power, because of a new-found perspective. Everything changes in the Presence of God. And it is that change in you that was needed all along for that miserable place you were in.

Think about it: Moses is sent back to Egypt, the one place he would have chosen never to return to, to reclaim God's chosen people, and he does so with incredible purpose, power, and perspective. Hagar is sent back to face Sarai but now has a new purpose, power, and perspective. Elijah is sent back with new purpose, power and perspective.

And what was the new perspective?
 ³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Have you ever heard your children say this to you? Or anybody else for that matter? That statement means that they want something out of you, and quite honestly, sometimes I have nothing to give; and yet when someone asks for a favor, it seems so wrong to say "no"!!!

When the Bible speaks of God's favor, the good news is that it does not mean that God is wanting us to do more for Him. As a matter of fact, it is quite the opposite!

The word "favor" in the Bible actually means "to turn one's face towards". It reminds me of times when there has been a crowded room and I have heard my child or husband's voice. I turn towards the sound of their voice because they are so important to me that I would turn to them above any other voices that might be amplified around me. I have showed them "favor".....because they are my favorite.

So it is with God. He shows us His favor when we are in the midst of our lowest place in life.

 ¹¹ The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."
      Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

Elijah has been secluded so he can get alone with God. He has heard the voice of God speak to him to get him to admit where he was spiritually apart from God. And now as Elijah shares where he is, God lets Elijah know that He sees.

When you are in the midst of your struggles and feel alone and barren, so often we feel that god has forgotten us and that He does not see nor care what we are going through. And yet, in our most desolate place, the Lord comes near to let us know that He does see, whispering His love and His presence to us.
¹⁸ The LORD is near to all who call on him,
       to all who call on him in truth.
Reminds me of Hagar in the book of Genesis. God has told Abraham and Sarah that they will have a child and yet Sarah does not believe and gets ahead of God and gives her handmaiden, Hagar to Abraham. Hagar conceives and Sarah gets so mad about it. She sends Hagar out into the desert to fend for herself or die. Hagar is alone and in desperate need of help.


Notice that in Hagar's desolate state, she was not only secluded, but she was spoken to in the form of a question, just as Elijah. Hagar names the Lord, El Roi, which means "the God who sees" because He had seen her plight and had come to her aid. And the angel of the Lord told her to name the baby Ishmael, which means "God hears".

When you are in a stale, dry place, know that God secludes you, speaks to you, and sees you. He hears your plea for help; He sees your pain and struggle, and He draws near, if we would but be still and hear His still small voice speak His Presence and His Peace over our lives and situations, that appear hopeless.

Growing up, I was the middle of three girls. One day, I found each one of us girls baby books. My mother had written a note in the front of each of them and they were each addressed by name with the first sentence being, "You were my favorite because.....". I was a bit miffed and felt cheated until my mother shared the truth was that we were all her favorites for different special reasons!!!

If you are in need of God's kind of favor....if you need to know that He is near, that He sees, that He has turned His face toward you, you simply call out to Him and ask for His help. Based on the truth and the authority of God's Word, He will come and save you. He will turn His face towards His favored one. And He will whisper His Peace and His Presence over you.

After all, you're His favorite!