...21-Day Fast, Day 8 insights...

"Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations."

Psalm 100

Psalm 100 reflects my heart today. Today I am thankful. I am thankful that I have the opportunity to love the Lord my God out loud, in the open. I am thankful that I do not live in a place where I am forced to hide my faith. I am thankful that today is a new day. Tomorrow is gone. Over. Done with a capital "D". I am not bound to yesterday, through the mercy of the Savior who hears my repentant heart. But I do have to opportunity to learn from it. As you might have guessed, yesterday was not a good day. What could go wrong, went wrong. Even the most trivial of things couldn't seem to flow. And I was neither joyful nor thankful. I likened myself to the martyred Christ, calling out to a God I was sure had forsaken me. My mom put things into perspective, reminding me that God already knew what was happening, and the resolution for -what appeared to me- so many issues, was Jesus. And He was already working on my behalf.

Wow. 

Yes, it's true that things go awry. Too often we can get caught up in the little storms of life, forgetting that Jesus Himself orders the waves and winds still. He is the Lifesaver, the Life raft, and the Beacon on a hill. When we shatter our earthly perspective with the Truth of Jesus, we can see that whatever we are facing is quite trivial. It adds to the strength of our faith. If life was the preverbal bed of roses, what would our faith mean, anyway?

As 1/3 of the fast is over, and we only have two weeks remaining, join me in thankfulness. Join me in praising and thanking a God who doesn't leave us alone to wallow in our earthly issues, but stands us up, dusts us off, and kisses our boo-boos like any good Father would. He is in control. And He is Worthy of all the praise we can muster. 

--Julie--