Thanks

Thanks

For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Psalm 100:5

Do you have certain people or things in your life that remind you of how much you have to be thankful for? When I see my youngest son running around, I’m reminded how thankful I am that his left femur mended after a skateboard accident. Whenever I see or hear from our young friend Drew, I’m thankful that God healed his body after a three-year bout with leukemia.

I practiced my violin today and thanked God for providing it. About a year before I turned forty, I began praying about the possibility of purchasing a new violin, since I was still playing the same student instrument I’d had back in junior high school. I only prayed about it occasionally, probably because I didn’t think of a new violin as a necessity.

Imagine my shock when my parents called me and suggested that I begin shopping around for violins because they wanted to give me one for my fortieth birthday! They had no idea I had been praying about a new instrument. I remember my knees getting all jelly-like when they told me. Not only was I grateful for the generosity of my parents, but I was amazed that God would provide a new violin in a method I wouldn’t ever have imagined.

As I practice my violin this week for the prelude and offertory at church on Sunday, I offer thanks for the creative ways God answers our prayers.

God,

Thank you that you see and provide. Thanks for specific events in our lives that strengthen our faith in you. Amen.