Thankful Thursday: He uses icing!

First...take a second to ponder the fact that you're alive. No, not go d'uh of course i'm alive, and so? Like a lot of things that we just happen to have by no effort of ours, yesterday, today, and by His grace tomorrow, we just take it for granted and do not see the immensity of the awesomeness that it is. Just think..that you are actually alive..living..thinking thoughts, reading this..your body has all these functions that honestly boggle the mind when you try to grasp them...i think that is a lot to be awed by and be thankful for. Somehow, you're here, and you exist, and you are in working order..it's quite something.

On to the second thing. God is...fun!..like..He's not boring, He's not into sitting around and spitting at the ceiling. If He were your friend here on earth, He'd be that friend that is always involved in some activity, moving all over the place, skydiving, traveling, taking salsa class, learning to comandeer a ship..you get my drift. He would be majorly into breaking routine and reinventing yourself, would be constantly changing the decor of His home...

I'm not pulling this out of thin air. In the Bible, just pay attention to the fact that He challenges just about every character to radically change their lives..and not just when they are at home..He asks them to uproot their entire lives, families, communities and move to a whole other land. Can you imagine yourself just up and packing your whole life up to go and live in a country you have no ties to? God always challenged them to make these radical changes, and He always made it so that they led them to a better, more blessed place.

When this thought came to me, i got all excited..and then i thought..but wait..there's also all this waiting around that is done (a panic issue for me currently :P)..like, waiting periods of half a decade and several generations and whatnot...but then i thought...even when there are periods of waiting..it doesn't mean that the picture is frozen or the program has jammed and everything is static. That things are not moving along in ways apparent to us does not mean that nothing is happening.

Take baking a cake. At the start there are all these ingredients and all this actvity...and then you pour all that in a pan and stick it in the oven...and there's the wait. You can do absolutely nothing but wait and trust that somehow, that liquidy batter is going to turn into a solidified, delicious cake. It being in the oven and you not being able to manipulate it does not mean that it will not bake...even if you choose to sit and stare at it...you won't catch all those nanosecond moments involved in making it go from one state to the other. Even if you don't blink..all you'll come away with is seeing it as batter, and then somehow, like time-lapse, it becoming solid...okay, enough about the cake.

I'm just saying, that God is never static. He never stops. Maybe sometimes He moves in ways that are invisible to our eyes...but He never stops. Also, He doesn't want us to stop. He didn't put us here on earth to stand still, to live our lives like the servant who buried his talent. Do not be afraid to make changes, do not be afraid to take challenges upon yourself, do not be afraid to grow, do not be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Do not be discouraged when it seems like nothing is happening. Keep your faith, knowing that He is always faithful, and that He sees everything and when the time is ready, you will reap the reward, the fruit of the wait...and best believe, He coats that cake in icing. And uses sprinkles quite liberally.

Another thing that i've really felt this week is the need, and the benefits of talking to people when you have issues you are struggling with. Usually i try to solve my problems by myself. I try to analyse and adjust without troubling anybody else. On Sunday, for the first time, i felt literally shoved to walk up to a prayer couple and ask them to pray about something that had been knocking me off course for the last week and a half. I felt proper silly...but to my surprise, the lady understood EXACTLY what i was going through, and had had the same experience, and did not think that me struggling with it was foolish. After the service she talked with me, and i can say that her words really healed something in me. God, never one to leave something that He has set in motion halfway, during the week provided two other situations where people seemingly randomly were led to hear me out and give me wise counsel and encourage me. I am awed and incredibly thankful to Him for His unceasing care. I have come to appreciate the truth that no man is an island, and you do not know how He has equiped the people around you to be able to help you in that particular situation. It's like a super specialized training that each and every one of us goes through. All our experiences, good and seemingly bad work together to mould us for the very specific purpose He has destined us for...this is more than enough reason to be thankful in every situation. I think it was the talk with the lady, C, from church that led me to understanding that in a whole new revolutionary way.

It is not about being thankful because you enjoy that you are going through tough times...It's recognizing that no matter who and what is the instigator of that situation, God will use it to make you into a richer, more complex version of who you are meant to be. So if this means that you come out better...it is enough to be thankful to Him for never leaving you hanging...

I am thankful for Life.

I am thankful for God.

I am thankful for His mercies

I am thankful for forgiveness

I am thankful for bigBro's wife..i do believe i am in love with her. She has such a beautiful soul! I am thankful that by His grace she has come to be a person that has made herself available to be used by God...she just spreads light..

I am thankful for my family

I am thankful that God just keeps on blessing me

I am thankful for the tests today..I am thankful that He makes me find favour wherever i am

I am thankful that He wipes away my tears

I am thankful that He doesn't give up and will make sure His message gets through to me

I am thankful for His encouragement

I am thankful for His word

I am thankful for my friends...the angels He put in my life...wudup Quackster!!!

I am thankful for wisdom...my friends have dragged me out of sadness with their inspired talks

I am thankful for music!!!! It's becoming clearer to me that all this talk of "it's just music" to justify the crap we listen to doesn't cut it anymore. If praise and worship can lift my spirits, if it can clear my mind and get me back on the straight and narrow...then it means that my spirit cannot be indifferent to music that promotes sin and all types of foolishery...

I am thankful that He gets me through the valley of the shadow of...lol..everything i was dreading this week, He has sheltered me through and brought me out victorious

I am thankful for the constant learning process

I am thankful for growth

I am thankful for forgiveness

I am thankful for Joy

I am thankful!!!!