Thanksgiving every single day...

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 As I write this entry, just hours from now my son Bailey will be returning from a 12 day experience touring Spain with his collegiate choir.  I had a beautiful writing come across my social media feed from Ann Voskamp this morning about the beautiful opportunity we have every single day with Father God to thank Him for who He is and what He has provided to us.  

When we struggle to find and know our God, on what seems to be the worst of days or maybe just a brief moment in a day we are experiencing.....what is the grounding here?  We need Him, every hour of every day and we need to spend more time with our hands lifted to Him in a posture of thanksgiving rather than raising our fists and our voices in anger and frustration, or pounding our chests and crying out in anguish because He's not who we need right now or He's not doing precisely what we expected in our greatest hour of need.

"I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord

No tender voice like Thine can peace afford

I need Thee, oh I need Thee

Every hour I need Thee

Oh bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee" (Annie Sherwood Hawks lyrics, Robert Lowry music)

Where does our hope come from?  It comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, who will not let my feet slip, watches over as I slumber day and night and never sleeps, who keeps me from harm and watches over my comings and goings now and forevermore. (Psalm 121)  I have been sending my son prayerful messages and scriptures every couple of days through his experience in Spain and I pray continuously even now as we approach his arrival at the airport tonight.....

"God, thank you for my Amazing One, this precious son you have given me to help step by step through the days you have given him life on this earth.  Thank you for providing this passion and this gifting in him, and this experience in Spain to explore, perform, create, inspire and grow into more of who you have purposed him to be.  I know he is held and purposed and protected by You, and that you will provide precisely what he needs every single day.  Give him strength, peace, rest, energy, enthusiasm, and determination to be the best version of himself that he can be.  Thank you for what you have provided for him, and please bring him home safely to us.  Amen and amen."

This is a part of my posture of thanksgiving that I have worked through over the years as a mother, and I will confess to you the early days when my babies were little, that I was more anxious, and I gripped life more tightly because I thought I had more control than I actually did.  There is a beautiful maturing that occurs when we entrust our children more and more to the Father's hands.  When we take more time to thank Him and lift them to Him, than we do fretting about how we should or should not be doing this thing called parenthood.  I can't have complete peace and joy in my life, if I am not starting by thanking Him and entrusting everything to Him, the One who has provided all things.  There is a shift in my heart and mind, my focus, my steps when I start with thanksgiving every single day.  Not just for a season, but all year round.  Here's your chance to set a new focus for your life by choosing to thank Him daily, through the day, for who He is and his abundant love and provision for your life.

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