A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

"He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; and to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God." Psalm 50:23

In years past I've wondered about the words in a song whose title I can't remember..."We give a sacrifice of praise, unto the House of the Lord..." It seemed to me that offering up praise should come naturally, so it shouldn't be a 'sacrifice,' at all. But in reality, praise can be difficult. A sacrifice is an offering to be done whether or not we "feel" like it. It's something we offer to God that we do not expect to earn or gain anything in return.

Tonight, I've taken a few moments in my quiet time to remember the many hard things God has called me to work through and it is here that I want to offer my sacrifice of praise to the one true God, the one love of my life that is ever dependable, unchanging and sovereign over all.

1. I praise God for my childhood. I praise him for all of it. Every person...every event...every tear. Thank you God.

2. I praise my Father in Heaven for allowing me to fall deeply into sin, so that He could teach me that I am not a good girl, but an open pit and that He is, was, and always will be the Light of the World. My way is icky. His way is clean.

3. I praise Jehovah Jireh for allowing my husband and I to become indebted to credit card companies so that he could show us how to be good stewards of His blessings. I praise Him for showing us how to pay down $14,000.00 of credit card debt on a single income. He truly is Jehovah Jireh. We have been debt free for a little more than three years.

4. I praise God for my marriage and all the trial and tribulation that comes when one sinner loves another sinner. I praise God for all the hard and painful lessons that he has taught me while loving my most precious husband of almost eighteen years.

5. I praise God for allowing me to be a parent. Truly I don't think I could be the person I am today if it weren't for the knuckle wrenching, humiliating and catastrophically significant lessons learned on my knees after a hard day with four children of all ages. Parenting may be easy for some. It is not easy for me.

6. I offer a shout of joy for every humiliation suffered, every wrong perpetrated against me, and every hurt feeling or misunderstanding...because for every wrong against me, Christ suffered much more. Praise be to Him!

7. I praise God for homeschooling. For every lesson I've taught, I've learned a hundred fold. This is my personal miracle. I don't deserve it. I praise God for His grace and compassion.

8. I praise God for the daily struggle. He uses daily conflicts, nuisances and annoyments to help me be more like Jesus. I am profoundly grateful.

9. I praise God for allowing me to order my life in my own way, so that it will inevitably fall apart and cause me to run back to Him for safety.

10. I'm grateful that God knew what I needed before I knew what I needed tonight. (He's really good at that, you know.) Thank you God. I'm choosing joy!