• A Sacrifice of Thanks

    ByLauren Christian, faithfulness, family, Jesus, provision, thanksgiving
    18 Comments

    Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God,
        and keep the vows you made to the Most High.
    15 Then call on me when you are in trouble,
        and I will rescue you,
        and you will give me glory.  Psalm 50:14 NLT

    Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash

     

    As a family we sit in a very different place than this time last year.  And the year before that.  With my husband back in a stable work environment and my cancer in the rear view mirror, we have many reasons to praise and thank God.  Actually, the truth is that God deserves our thanks ALWAYS, but in my faithlessness, I forget.

     

    If you have followed this blog for longer than a minute (thank you!), then you know my recent history of doubting God’s kindness and goodness while in the throes of painful experiences.  It actually took the funeral of a two year old boy to wake me up to my own stubborn ungratefulness.  The precious parents of this boy asked for the mourners at his service to sing the song “Good Good Father” by Chris Tomlin.  Two week prior the praise band at church lead us in this very song and I refused to sing.  In my heart, I didn’t feel it.  And yet these missionaries (once over seas, but on this day to me) knew that our Father God is always good.  They sang of this goodness with empty arms and broken hearts.  And I realized I could too.

     

    That’s what Psalm 50:14 is all about.  We bring glory to God when we praise Him for His provision, even as we wonder how the bills will get paid.  We bring Him glory when we thank Him for family, even with strained relationships in the picture.  We honor Him when we thank Him for a life even after that life passes on.  We show the world His tender mercies when we thank Him for his comfort in the midst of hard times.  And we showcase His majesty when we accept His gift of Jesus with a beholden spirit.

     

    As young parents, we started a new tradition to help us and the kids remember all God does for us (and emphasize the meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday) by putting up a thankfulness tree.   For many years we adorned our artificial tree with construction paper leaves and turkeys with handwritten Bible verses about giving thanks.   We also wrote on them the names of the people and things for which we were most grateful.  This year with my bonus son out of the house (and married with kids of his own) and both daughters firmly in their teen years, the construction paper didn’t seem quite as charming.  So we decided to let our tree grow up and bought a few ornaments instead.  Acorns, leaves, pumpkins and footballs now hang on the branches.  But even though we changed the tree, I wasn’t ready to give up our family gratitude practice.

     

    We now have a tabletop card holder in the middle of our kitchen table with a sharpie and blank leaves and turkeys and pumpkins.  Every time we sit down to dinner as a family, we add something we are thankful for.  Some days it’s easy to give thanks, and sometimes it’s a sacrifice to set aside our feelings and look at who God is.  Who He has always been, through good times and bad.  Because the truth beyond our circumstances is that He is good.  And it’s always for our sanctification to acknowledge it.

     

    Happy Thanksgiving.

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    And look up these great writers I link up with every week:

    InstaEncouragements, Literacy Musing Mondays, Hello…Monday,

    The Good. The Random. The Fun.

    BloggerClubUK, Tea and Word Tuesday, Purposeful Faith,

    GraceFull Tuesday Link-Up, Hearth and Soul Link Party,

    Let’s Have Coffee, Welcome Wednesday, Recharge Wednesday,

    Worth Beyond Rubies, #TellHisStory Link Up, Porch Stories,

    Encouraging Word Wednesday, Tune In Thursday,

    Stories of Hope, Moments of Hope, IHeart Verse Link Party,

    Legacy Link Up, Fresh Market Friday, Feature Friday Time,

    Friendship Friday Blog Hop, Faith on Fire, Traffic Jam Weekend,

    Faith ‘n Friends, Dancing with Jesus, Grace & Truth, Booknificent

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  • Jesus is King

    ByLauren Christian, entertainment, Faith, Jesus, unity
    24 Comments

    Kanye West’s Christian conversion is less about Jesus than it is about Kanye

    This headline leaves no doubt how the article’s author feels about the icon’s new album or his faith.  Jesus is King dropped three weeks ago, inciting discussion, news stories, social media commentary and even subject for sermons.  With each interview Kanye does to promote the music, speculation grows.  The recording – only 27 minutes long – continues to stir up a heap more controversy than any of his previous provocative, obscenity-laced material.

    Michael Arceneaux, who wrote the Think piece mentioned above, wrapped up his post by stating, “Jesus might be king, but it’s not at his altar that Kanye is worshipping right now.”  The criticism aimed at West is not only for his art, but also for beliefs.  Most notably, Christians have publicly questioned his motives and sincerity.  Some believe it’s all a stunt to sell records.  Other think he’s paying lip service to the Creator with no real internal change.  And still more are waiting for this “phase” of his to wear off.

    What I must ask is, who are we to judge the heart of anyone?

    As one source is quoted, “Kanye used to be about nothing greater than himself.  Now it’s all about a higher power.”  He has publicly promised that he’ll never perform his old material again in its original form – opting instead to edit lyrics that aren’t God honoring and don’t represent the new person that he is.  While many remain skeptical of such a drastic turn-around, I say, how powerful is the God they serve?  Mine is powerful enough to redeem us from any sin, no matter how dark or depraved.  My God accepts anyone from any walk of life into His open arms.  That’s what Jesus came for.

    Kanye may not say all the correct things, but who of us came to Christ with all the right ideas and language already intact?  When we choose to turn our lives over to God, salvation happens in a moment.  But sanctification happens over a lifetime.  We become more and more like Jesus the longer we walk with Him.  As the pastor at my church pointed out on Sunday, Kanye must live out the first days of his new life in Christ on a public stage for all to see.  I don’t envy him that.  He will make mistakes as He learns and grows, and my prayer is that we will not skewer him for it.  We must not compare his first year against another believer’s 20th.  Moreover, we shouldn’t compare at all.  We have to stop publicly flogging other Christ followers.  We should lift them up in prayer.  Particularly those with such enormous reach.

    Besides:

    Everything that hath breath praise the Lord
    Worship Christ with the best of your portions
    I know I won’t forget all He’s done
    He’s the strength in this race that I run
    Every time I look up, I see God’s faithfulness
    And it shows just how much He is miraculous
    I can’t keep it to myself, I can’t sit here and be still
    Everybody, I will tell ’til the whole world is healed
    King of Kings, Lord of Lords, all the things He has in store
    From the rich to the poor, all are welcome through the door
    You won’t ever be the same when you call on Jesus’ name
    Listen to the words I’m sayin’, Jesus saved me, now I’m sane
    And I know, I know God is the force that picked me up
    I know Christ is the fountain that filled my cup
    I know God is alive, yeah
    He has opened up my vision
    Giving me a revelation
    This ain’t ’bout a dead religion
    Jesus brought a revolution
    All the captives are forgiven
    Time to break down all the prisons
    Every man, every woman
    There is freedom from addiction
    Jesus, You have my soul
    Sunday Service on a roll
    All my idols, let ’em go
    All the demons, let ’em know
    This a mission, not a show
    This is my eternal soul
    This my kids, this the crib
    This my wife, this my life
    This my God-given right
    Thank You, Jesus, won the fight 

    …sounds like true faith to me.