Posted on 01/04/2011 8:04:23 PM PST by annie laurie
Happy New Year, FReeper FRiends!
This thread is my way of thanking God publicly for His great love and mercy to me, who spent years denying Him and pushing Him away.
Through all my years of denials and hostility, He never gave up on me ... and in fact, has showered me with blessings and graces beyond counting.
Today He gifted me with a small miracle after a few weak and pitiful prayers from me. I am humbled and I am so very thankful for ALL that He has given me (especially the gift of His only begotten Son), and I decided to begin this thread as a way of praising and thanking Him publicly for His goodness to me, throughout all my life, and most especially during the many years that I denied Him. He never stopped loving me, guiding me, and guarding me, even when I couldn't see it and wouldn't credit Him for it.
This thread is meant to be a 'chapel' for anyone who would like to join me in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving for Our wonderful, merciful Lord!
Please follow the "Prayer/Devotional" thread guidelines set by our long-suffering Religion Moderator. In other words, come on in, but please leave your "baggage" at the door. :) This isn't a place for insults and petty bickering, but a place for praise and thanksgiving.
FRiends, consider yourselves invited to join in prayer, praise and thanksgiving for God’s generous graces to us.
No pressure to participate, just a gentle invitation to a few warm and prayerful folks whom I’m honored to know on FR :)
Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast!
Yet sweeter far Thy face to see
And in Thy presence rest.
No voice can sing, no heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find,
A sweeter sound than Jesus’ name,
The Savior of mankind.
O hope of every contrite heart!
0 joy of all the meek!
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!
But what to those who find? Ah! this
Nor tongue nor pen can show
The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.
Jesus! our only hope be Thou,
As Thou our prize shalt be;
In Thee be all our glory now,
And through eternity. Amen.
Beautiful, John, just beautiful! Thank you for being here! :)
Thank you so much for sharing your testimony and prayer! I gladly join with you in praising God and thanking Him for all His tender mercies!
Praise God for His faithfulness and love for you and for the “small miracle” that I know is another gift of His marvelous love and grace for you.
God is love.
I Thank you for the post! This was on yesterday’s Salvation’s posts. It’s great hymn. I thank God for my life too. Praise Jesus!
wow, you guys are inspirational! My concept of God is too often one of angry father, not merciful Lord, loving and blessing even when I’m lazy. It’s nice to read Annie’s testimony.
Thank you, Lord, for protecting my sons as they serve our country, and for helping my youngest recover from the grievous wound inflicted by our enemies. Thank you for protecting my daughter as she grows into an independent, self-reliant adult. Thank you for my wife, who challenges me daily to be a better man. Thank you for the blessings in my life that you continue to bestow. Please guide me daily in business and interaction, and make me an instrument of thy will. Show me the path, so that I may follow the plan you have for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Let me digress into a little ramble. I had a bout of anxiety about a personal/family concern (unspecified: imagine anything) and went to my parish 7:00 Mass. Almost as soon as I had stopped wringing my hands long enough to look around, I started seeing things that gave me a different perspective.
I started running into people who had problems with kids, boss, house, spouse, health, wealth (total lack thereof), the usual run, but worse than mine.
And --- here’s the ‘astonishing’ thing --- I saw people unastonished by suffering (clear-eyed, they see: a degree of hardship is a common experience of life, after all) -- and with faith, hope, and love unabated.
Unabated, as in “Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's” --- you know that. Being a spiritual beginner in a way, I’m still trying to grasp it.
I need to be a LOT more thankful. In the words of a very old hymn,
"Oh give me tears for others' woes And patience for my own."
Thank you for this post.
It is so true—gratitude is something God loves to see in all of us (”where are the other nine?”)
Thank you so much for sharing your testimony, dear sister in Christ!
Thank you! I have so much to be thankful for!
Psalm 103
Chapter 103
1
Of David. 1 Bless the LORD, my soul; all my being, bless his holy name!
2
Bless the LORD, my soul; do not forget all the gifts of God,
3
Who pardons all your sins, heals all your ills,
4
Delivers your life from the pit, surrounds you with love and compassion,
5
2 Fills your days with good things; your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6
The LORD does righteous deeds, brings justice to all the oppressed.
7
His ways were revealed to Moses, mighty deeds to the people of Israel.
8
Merciful and gracious is the LORD, slow to anger, abounding in kindness.
9
God does not always rebuke, nurses no lasting anger,
10
Has not dealt with us as our sins merit, nor requited us as our deeds deserve.
11
As the heavens tower over the earth, so God’s love towers over the faithful.
12
As far as the east is from the west, so far have our sins been removed from us.
13
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on the faithful.
14
For he knows how we are formed, remembers that we are dust.
15
Our days are like the grass; like flowers of the field we blossom.
16
The wind sweeps over us and we are gone; our place knows us no more.
17
But the LORD’S kindness is forever, toward the faithful from age to age. He favors the children’s children
18
of those who keep his covenant, who take care to fulfill its precepts.
19
The LORD’S throne is established in heaven; God’s royal power rules over all.
20
Bless the LORD, all you angels, mighty in strength and attentive, obedient to every command.
21
Bless the LORD, all you hosts, ministers who do God’s will.
22
Bless the LORD, all creatures, everywhere in God’s domain. Bless the LORD, my soul!
Praise Jesus!
He will provide!
He helps our needs not our greeds!
"Once in royal David’s city Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her Baby In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little Child.
He came down to earth from Heaven, Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable, And His cradle was a stall;
With the poor, and mean, and lowly, Lived on earth our Savior holy.
And, through all His wondrous childhood, He would honor and obey,
Love and watch the lowly maiden, In whose gentle arms He lay:
Christian children all must be Mild, obedient, good as He.
For He is our childhood’s pattern; Day by day, like us He grew;
He was little, weak and helpless, Tears and smiles like us He knew;
And He feeleth for our sadness, And He shareth in our gladness.
And our eyes at last shall see Him, Through His own redeeming love,
For that Child so dear and gentle Is our Lord in Heav’n above,
And He leads His children on To the place where He is gone.
Not in that poor lowly stable, With the oxen standing by,
We shall see Him; but in Heaven, Set at God’s right hand on high;
Where like stars His children crowned All in white shall wait around."
There! Done!
Love You in Him!
Praise Jesus!
Hail Mary in the Heavenlies!
Thanks to everyone who has joined me in praise on this thread! So many beautiful prayers and comments have been offered, and I look forward to seeing more; they are edifying and uplifting for all of us to read and reflect upon :)
Today, I have yet another reason to be especially thankful, so I’m bumping the thread again.
I sing with the Psalmist:
O magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
I sought the LORD, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
Look to him, and be radiant;
so your faces shall never be ashamed.
-Psalm 34
Thank you, Lord, for all your many blessings, today and EVERY day! Amen!
Hi, annie laurie ,
I’m giving thanks to God that you have another reason to “be especially thankful today”.
“He answered me and delivered me from all my fears”.
Glory and praise to our God.
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