Truth Seekers Newsletter

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We have been looking at all the things God created, even before we arrived on earth. Not only was He providing a wonderful home for us, but He was also filling that home with reflections of His Glory and lessons to teach us how to live.

Today, with Thanksgiving on the horizon, we pause in the midst of His Wonderful Gifts to say "Thank You!"

When Do You Say Thank You?

Most of us have been taught, from our time as small children, to say thank you. After we received something nice, our parents might have said, "What do you say?" And then we dutifully said, "thank you." We might have been truly grateful, or it may have been a response to our parents' prodding, but the word, "thank you" got imprinted in our brains.

Give it a try. At this moment, think of the many things God has given you. Sometimes it helps to write them down. It helps to see just how many, many gifts He has given us. Then say "thank you" in your own way to Him.

Thank You Notes

My mother was a great one for writing thank you notes. The day after Christmas, we all knew what we would be doing. We would be writing thank you notes. Not only was she very emphatic that we write them, but she was also emphatic that we write them soon after we received them.

And she put in another wrinkle. She said we should say how we planned to use it.

Example: Thank you for the new mixing bowl. You know I love to cook and I plan to bake a chocolate cake this afternoon, using my new mixing bowl!

Let's think about that in relation to God. What if we embarked on an experiment in gratefulness to God? What if we thought of every gift God has given us and we said, "Thank You, God for giving me _______. I look forward to using it (in this way)."

Think of it. "Thank You, God, for our house. I plan to use it in this way." "Thank You, God for my vision ... my hearing ... etc. I plan to use them in this way." Many times we miss the blessing of gratitude because we don't stop and process the wonder of the Gift we have received ... and we don't think of how we will use it.

Is There Any Purpose in a Gift We Don't Like or Don't Think We Can Use?

Have you ever received a gift you did not like or for which you could see no purpose? How did you feel? Did you feel cheated? Did you feel annoyed that the giver must not know you very well? What did you do with the gift? Would God ever give us a gift that seemed not to be the perfect gift for us?

A Gift to Grow On!

Sometimes God gives us gifts of things that are a little too big for us now. He wants us to have it in the future and He is enticing us to grow into it .... to look forward to using it. He may be reminding us of our future destiny.

A Gift Too Small!

What about that shirt that is way too small? What could that teach us? Sometimes it is a reminder of how much we have grown. God says, "Look at this. You certainly have grown since last year." Someone we get depressed when we feel we are making no progress in life. God gently gives us reminders of how far we have come.

A shirt too small? Well, it could mean other things. If we have been postponing that diet indefinitely, God may be nudging us to get back with it. He may want us in that shirt. It is not His Gift that needs to change. It is we who need to change!

A Gift to Give!

Sometimes God lets us in on the joy of giving by allowing us to give to others. He picks out the perfect gift for someone else and then He lets us deliver it. When God gives us a gift, it is always right to thank Him. But after that, if we get stuck on how we will ever use it, it is also right to ask God, "how do You want me to use this?" Sometimes we find that it is intended for someone else and He wants us to deliver it.

A Gift of Priceless Value!

Everyone in our family remembers fondly the years when one of my cousins gave my parents a Christmas gift each year. The only problem was that the gifts were often so unique that no one knew exactly what they were or what to do with them.

Dutifully after Christmas, my mother would write the thank you note. However, when you don't know what you have received, it is hard to know how to say thank you. We laughed, as we read her thank yous, which sounded like this:

Have you ever received a gift that even after you prayed about it, you still had no idea what to do with it? I jokingly tell Jay he is one of those gifts to me. He is always interesting, but sometimes I don't know what to do with him. And, of course, he says the same thing about me!

Sometimes God gives us gifts of priceless value, but we may not recognize them as such. In fact, we often expect the ordinary, when He wants to give us the extraordinary! Always look beyond the surface for the gift. That is why God put pearls in ordinary oysters!

Do You Have to Say Thank You for A Gift You Don't Like?

Would God give us a bad gift? God gets blamed on a regular basis for what people call "Acts of God". Does God give gag gifts or the booby prize to those who have messed up? Does He send snakes that pop out, when we innocently open His Gift?

Some Gifts Require Assembly!

God has told us that all things will work together for our good. Many people read this as everything will be good ... but that is not what it says. Sometimes Life comes in pieces and there is some assembly required. Salt or flour or butter or raw eggs by themselves might not look like a great gift, but when put together, they are part of the ingredients of a great cake, which most of us would love.

Often when we see some assembly required, we rush to put it together ourselves instead of reading the Manufacturer's Instructions or even better, letting the Manufacturer come to our house and put it together Himself.

Some Gifts Point to an Even Better Gift!

When Jennifer was small, sometimes we gave gifts, scavenger hunt style. She would get a clue and go to a location and find a small gift with instructions of something she would need to do to get the information for the next clue. All of these were building up to a large, wonderful gift at the end of the hunt.

Sometimes God gives prodding gifts. That shirt that was too small, but caused us to realize we needed to lose weight. Sometimes after moments of darkness, we most appreciate the light. Sometimes God gives us people, who try our patience and certainly don't seem like gifts. But interacting with them allows us to flex our spiritual muscles. Our experience with them defines what we believe and what we don't. Not only does the struggle give us the gift of strength, but it allows us to clean out our faucets, so that God's love can flow through us to the other person.

Asking the Blessing, Saying Grace or Being Overwhelmed by His Grace?

Jesus told us that we should remember Him each time we ate or drank. I believe He did this as a perfect example of how He would faithfully nourish us every day ... of how that simple food would become pure energy in the body so that we could do more things. Just as the food sustains our life, so He is the ultimate Sustainer of our Life.

I believe Jesus wanted us to establish a habit. Not all habits are bad. Some things done over and over again become a part of us. However, we want to be very sure that we don't fall into the problem described in Mark 7:13 ... that "your traditions have made My Word of no effect." God responds to genuine thankfulness.

Getting Past God's Front Door and Right Into the Middle of His Family Room!

When we say thank you to God with true gratitude, a miracle happens. In Psalm 100:4, David tells us to "enter His Gates with thanksgiving and His Courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His Name." When we knock on God's Door, and we start with a thank you, He opens the Gates and says, "Come on in."

When we start thanking Him, inevitably, one thing leads to another and before we know it, we are just full of praise! We're past the front gate now and we are in to God's Inner Court, where true miracles happen.

Thanking God for a Sausage Biscuit!

I was on the way to a fast food restaurant for a sausage biscuit. I began thanking God for that sausage biscuit.

I thanked Him for the chicken that laid the eggs that went into that biscuit ... for the farmer who gathered the eggs and sold them ... for the farmer who planted and harvested the wheat that became the flour ... for the cows that contributed to the milk and butter in that biscuit ... for the cooks that passed on the recipe of how to make that biscuit ... and the ones that actually made the biscuit and packaged it up.

I thanked God for the trucks that brought it to my restaurant ... for those who worked in factories to make all the parts of those trucks ... for the fuel provided to run the trucks ... for the ones who drove it there ... even for the ones who taught them how to drive those trucks.

I thanked God for those who unloaded it and processed it in ... for those who did their part in heating it up and being faithfully at the window to sell it to me. And there were many more things I thought of on my way to the restaurant that morning.

Last of all, I thought of the pig who died to make that sausage. He likely didn't choose to die as Jesus did. But, as I realized that what I was eating was once alive and its life had been given to give me and others, food that would nourish our bodies, I truly remembered Jesus, who chose to give up His Body for me.

It was staggering to realize how many different people and things had come together to provide my breakfast. God was in Charge of each one of them. By the time I got to the window, I felt like the Child of the King, Who was giving me a wonderful gift!

Practice Writing a Thank You Letter to God!

An interesting project that is sure to bring you to the very heart of God is to write down everything, for which you are thankful. Realize how many of them are not just isolated gifts, but, like the sausage biscuit, involve many people and many things that God brought together for your good. Write God a Thank You Letter, thanking Him. And use my mother's format to tell Him how you plan to use His Gift!