THANKSGIVING OF THE HEART

Psalm 30:12  "To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.  O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever."

I was looking for a Thanksgiving prayer that I had given at a ladies meeting a number of years ago and not finding it on my computer, I pulled out a thumb drive on which I had saved a number of things from my old computer. Well, it wasn't there either, but I saw a document called "My Testimony" and decided to see what it was.  It was my testimony that I had given at church, I guess it must have been about 5 or 6 years ago.  To tell the truth, it was probably not a good idea that I read it..... I don't know how good it is to go back in time, especially when the Lord has brought me so far, but I read it anyway. 

As I read about my failures, disappointments, heart break, and then rejoiced again at the miracles the Lord had done in my past.....as I finished reading it and remembered what I had gone to the flash drive to find, the old Thanksgiving prayer.  It seems foolish now, looking for an old prayer, even thought it was so beautiful and fit with the day coming up, thanking the Lord for family and friends, for His blessings and grace; it still falls short of what is in my heart.

When I look inside my heart now, as I let myself look at what the Lord has done in my life, how could I ever think that something someone else had written could truly express my heart, my heart today.  All the things I read in "my testimony", those times I remember having my heart freeze up to everything, become stone, in reality the flesh just hanging on by a thread of what you might consider... call it hope, maybe even desperation for something to fill my heart, to ease the pain.  So many years, it seems like it took so many years for me to realize that that hope I was desperately looking for, was there all along. 

My heart, my heart is so filled with love for my Lord.  What was once a stone has become a fountain that flows with love, it is filled by the River of Life from the throne of my Lord, never running shallow, never running dry, but is constantly restored with His love, with His Words of encouragement and clarity....the Holy Spirit never failing to show me the way I should go, never ceasing to remind me that I am exactly who the Lord designed me to be, that there is nothing I can not do in Him, for He strengthens me daily, He restores my soul....to His glory.  He restores me so that my life can glorify Him alone.

My Thanksgiving prayer has more words than space would ever allow, but can be condensed in these precious words, these words that will spill out of my heart, out of my spirit and through my praise, in my constant worship to my God, my Lord and King.....

I love You, I love You, I love You, my Lord.  I love You, I love You, I love You, my Lord.  I thank You, I thank You, I thank You, my Lord.  I thank You, I thank You, I thank You, my Lord.

11-17-12