For April 17th:

“One thing have I ask of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I will dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his temple.” Psalm 27:4

            “…For God is happiest of all. Joy is God’s life…if I can give thanks for the good things, the hard things, the absolute everything, I can enter the gates to glory. Living in His presence is fullness of joy…The art of deep seeing makes gratitude possible. And it is the art of gratitude that makes joy possible. Isn’t joy the art of God?...

            …I can’t fill with joy until I learn how to trust…How would eucharisteo (thanksgiving) help me trust? …the work God asks of me? To trust… This is the trust I lack: to know that if disaster strikes, He carries me even there…authentic, saving belief is the act of trusting…the opposite of faith is fear…trusting God is my most urgent need… Trust is everything…Count blessings and discover Who can be counted on…in counting blessings I stumbled on the way out of fear…gratitude truly is the foremost quality of a believing disciple precisely because gratitude is what births trust…the true belief. It’s only when you live the prayer of thanksgiving that you live the power of trusting God…Thanks feeds our trust…There is no joy without trust…”

Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts, 2009

We have been making lists of things we love, “gifts”, counting blessings together now for almost 4 months. We hope that by intentionally writing down blessings and then looking back occasionally that you are experiencing happiness and joy.

Joy, that’s what these exercises have been about. Finding joy in the everyday gifts from God. God’s joy. When we are filled with His joy, and we start seeing His joy in all things, even the hard things, we are also seeing how we can trust Him in everyday things. Even in the hard things. We pray, that you are finding it easier to trust God through thankful hearts. Being able to show gratitude to God in the sad experiences, as well as the happy ones, is the business of God. It is His miracle at work in us. He sacrificed His own precious Son for us, so that we can know that we can trust Him. He is trustworthy to provide for all our needs. All we have to do is thank Him. Live a life of gratitude.

We hope you are still counting.

CUMC Women’s Ministry