“Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever” (Psa. 106:1).

I know that today’s thought will not be like most of the others I have posted and will post, but it has been on my mind a great deal in the last 12 hours and I wanted to share it with you.

We recognize that we are to always be thankful for the blessings and favor that God shows to us as his people. We also recognize that we cannot always tell when God, through his providence, has intervened in a situation or simply let the natural events of things take their course. However, we show our gratitude on a daily basis for all that God has done and has said he will do on our behalf. We state “to God be the glory,” that means I can take no credit for myself, nor do I desire to do so, but look at the events that have occurred as a means to give glory, honor, and thanks to my Creator for his bountiful blessings and mercy.

Yesterday was one of those days where being “thankful” to God seems to be an understatement. The day began with another trip to the doctor’s office (our 6th in 3 weeks) to get the results back from Shea’s biopsy that was done Monday. The first word out of the doctor’s mouth when he entered the room was “benign.” That in and of itself was an answer to many prayers and gave plenty for which to be thankful.

After we got home yesterday afternoon, we had a couple of hours to get ready for our monthly singing and fellowship at a family in the congregation’s house that evening. We then had the joyous opportunity to gather with about 20 other Christians and sing praises to the God who had answered so many prayers.

While we were there we received the icing on the cake for the day. (My oldest son, Daniel, had been wanting desperately to play baseball again this year. Unfortunately, because of our Gospel Meeting we had been busy with it and did not know that sign-ups coincided directly with the days of the meeting until the next weekend. We had called and asked if he could still sign up to play and had been told unequivocally “no.” So, as disappointed as Daniel was, we talked about why we had missed sign-ups and what was more important and he handled it with the right attitude.) Then we got the call last night at the singing that they had decided (3 weeks after they told us no) to open up sign-ups for one more night for those who still wanted to play. Though this is a game of no eternal consequence, it has been a great opportunity for us to get out and meet people in the community and do our best to exert a good influence before others; not to mention the joy it gives Daniel to play the game.

There are always things for which we should be thankful and grateful with each passing day, but when the difficult days come it is sometimes the hardest to remember the days when everything went right. Nevertheless, it is the remembrance of the tides of life, the beacon of hope that is the love, grace and mercy of God, and the times at which we can look back and give credit to nobody but God that will keep us through the dark days. Truly: to God be the glory.

“Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever.”