Thanksgiving in a Bathtub

Got your attention, yes?

This evening I am enjoying (yes, loving it) the last evening to myself before my wonderful, handsome, and wise husband comes home from Afghanistan.

I am surrounded my candles, drinking echinacea tea to combat the sickness lurking around me, listening to praise and praising God as he combats the demons in my life and around me.

And I am giving thanks.

Some people would not say I was blessed to have a husband who serves in the military, and sometimes in war zones and away from me. But I look back on this time and see how great God is: how he has used this time to teach me some incredible things about himself and myself.

Sometimes, when I look around me and see how I am blessed I really am, I am more tempted to feel guilty than to give thanks.

Now that's just wrong. From what I know of communion with... A relationship with God, it starts with thanksgiving. The very root words of the Eucharist are joy and thanks. The scriptures tell us to enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise!

No matter where you find youself- physically, emotionally, relationally... Find your joy by giving thanks to God. As I love to say... JUST DO IT! See what happens.

I am humbled in the presence of God. As I search my heart for some sacrifice I can offer to God for any "badness" or sin I know I have, I realize there is none, and Jesus is my sacrifice.

It is said that Man does not live on bread alone, so I lay it all on Him knowing he is more than enough to not just make me feel better (less like beating myself up), but to bring me back into his perfect love; His perfecting love that brings a feeling of fullness and satisfation.

I've been learning a lot about how powerful praise is. I realize more fully how very much Satan, the enemy, wants to keep us from a relationship with God. He is doing everything within His power to exploit our sinful natures to keep us from God's love. But we know that nothing can keep us from the love of God.

I mean that as more than a trite Bible reference. Because God has given us a tool against the schemes of Satan. And that is praise. Scripture references to follow, but praise confuses Satan and demons plans. It is what kings in the Old Testament used against their physical enemies. THEY SENT THE WORship team out. Whoa. Don't know how the caps turned on. Well, it works. They bowed low before God and ascribed all victory to Him. They worshiped Him.

When you ascribe ALL worth to God, those sinful desires that make you number one and only in life are then nailed to the cross and Jesus can be lifted high all in one sacrifice and offering to God. When we praise God, he is lifted high and we give him the chance to be sovereign and be victorious in our lives.

Again, no matter where you find yourself, there is no place where God can not and does not go with you. So this evening, or whenever you read this... MAYBE this Sunday when you have probably more time than ever set aside to worship and praise God, go.

Go before Him and be real with him. We all face real struggles, but we have a great God who has already made us victorious, if we surrender to Him. If we can humble ourselves and find one thing to be thankful for, we enter the courts of His tabernacle and into a relationship with Him.

My favorite part of worship - in prayer, word, music, or however, is offering up that first humble "holy, holy, holy god... You are strong. Thank you for being my God and loving me. Thank you for being strong, and greater than I can even know..." And it begins to pour out. And within seconds I am overwhelmed by the presence of God and want nothing more than to be bowed low before him and let His glory fill me. Phew. It's beautiful. It is praise, and when I praise I know nothing can separate me from God. Then I wonder if I could offer more... And I give thanks.

Lindsay