November 18th, 2020

DAY 13 - GRATEFULNESS

I stood on the sand of Rehoboth beach this weekend, feeling a little too chilly to do more than dampen my toes in the surf of the Atlantic. My senses soaked in the distant horizon, the thrum of the endless waves, the sting of the salty summer breeze now turned autumn wind against my face. Oh, what connection I feel to God when I am near the water! Eyes closed, I opened the deep part of me and thanked Father God for a day to renew and reset after the past few months. I sank into the familiar weight of surroundings that are so much bigger than me and invited the Holy Spirit to wash over me and refresh me with His living water.

I breathed. I listened. I prayed. I waited. I sang praises into the openness of the empty beach. Josh Baldwin’s “Fountains” began to pour out of my heart… “I have tasted life, nothing satisfies like you do; all my fountains are in You!” I laughed at the irony of what “tasting life” has been like during this crazy year. Yeah, I didn’t expect to taste a lot of what fell onto my plate in 2020. Yet I sit now at the table of the Lord, feasting on His goodness and finding my thirst quenched again. My source of joy is found in Jesus and His love for me as His presence fills me. 
Psalm 136:1 guides us, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.” Charles Spurgeon elaborated, “Here is a standing reason for thanksgiving. Although we may not always be healthy, nor always prosperous, yet God is always good, and therefore, there is always a sufficient argument for giving thanks unto Jehovah.” Our gratefulness grows out of God’s love for us, His care for us, His mindfulness of us, His pursuit of us, and His destiny for us. The waves of these truths wash away any shaky foundation we have, and we learn to live firmly planted in the joy of life in Him. Spurgeon says our thanksgiving should “be a fountain out of which the richest praises should perpetually flow” as we continually declare that God is always good because He can’t be anything other than that! Our thankfulness should never stop; it rises constantly from within.  

God’s love always endures. He always cares for us. His mercy and lovingkindness are unending. May our hearts continually proclaim with thanksgiving the words of Psalm 87:7 (TPT), “Every fountain of delight springs up from your life within me!” Let us never forget - no matter what, God is always good, and there is always “sufficient argument” for giving thanks to Him!

Prompt: Father, how have you been good to me in a way I might not have seen? What thankfulness would you like to spring up from the fountain of delight You have placed in me? 
- Marti Grahl