Author: thinkfulkarin

Unexpressed Gratitude is Ingratitude

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Unexpressed!

He thought it, but he did not express it.

Does that characterize you?

Dick Hester was not that person. He expressed his encouragement and gratitude frequently and beautifully. He was a Barnabas … a son of encouragement.

I remember multiple times, while he would be encouraging David or myself, if he heard of a difficulty we were encountering, he would ask, “Can we just stop and pray about that right now?” Precious memories!

In the last few days we received word of his graduation to heaven. He will be sorely missed.

Chris Anderson reminded us of one of the quotes that Pastor Hester is known for: “Unexpressed gratitude is ingratitude.”

How often we are guilty of that! We may actually feel gratitude and even meditate on our thankfulness, but the sentiment does not leave our mouths or pens or keyboards. We do not express our thankfulness orally or write it down. Hence it looses its potential to encourage another person. I am not sure why we hesitate to express our gratitude. Perhaps we are introverted or private people, or we don’t want to give the impression that we are trying to impress someone. But often, it’s simply because we don’t think of expressing our thanks.

The expression of our gratitude, whether small or great, brings a reaction. It is received by others and stimulates them to similar conduct. We have released the gratitude to go and do its job. It is good to be thankful for something, but it is best if we can connect the blessing with its source and be thankful to someone for something.

Look around you. Is someone planning, teaching, or serving in some way? Are you thankful for it? Have you said anything to them? This is what Dick Hester specialized in. He would come up to you, take your arm, and say that he had been watching you and was just so thankful for what you did or said. No one else said a thing, like ever. But Dick would encourage you by expressing his thankfulness for you … and you would float away with this private joy. Why is it that people so often say at a man’s funeral the things they should have said to him in life?

Unexpressed Faith

“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

James 2:17

Thankfulness is like two other virtues … faith and love. Private, personal faith is dead, lifeless, worthless. Living faith creates energy. True faith works. It has symptoms that people can see, and if they get near you, that faith can be infectious.

“For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Romans 10:10

Paul emphasizes the connection between the heart and the mouth – believing and speaking. If we refuse to express our faith in the Lord Jesus, it communicates that we are not truly saved. Living faith creates energy and needs to speak.

The same is true of love. Living love creates energy that oozes out somewhere, someway. What kind of foolish nonsense is a love that is unexpressed, that does not affect your actions or words or even your pulse rate? Faith, love, and thankfulness all express themselves. Unexpressed faith, love, and thankfulness are bizarre, stunted, undeveloped, and useless distortions of the real virtues.

Take Courage, My Friend

In light of our dear Dick Hester’s home-going, can I encourage you to take courage? Ask God to help you express your gratitude to another person today. Make it a daily goal to express some kind of gratitude every single day. You may not have many of those days left.

“Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.”

William Faulkner

We may disagree with Faulkner to some degree. You can stop and think and direct your thanks to God as obedient worship and it would qualify as gratitude, but Faulkner does have a point. The essence of being th(i)nkful is expressing your gratitude orally or in a written form.

“What if you woke up this morning and had only the things you thanked God for yesterday?”

Max Lucado

Blessed

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Blessed?

How would you describe a man whose mother was the ninth wife of a polygamist, and due to persecution by the other wives, chose to flee from the home forever leaving her toddler baby boy to grow up as the abandoned one among all the “other children?” He would never see her again.

When he reached his primary school years, there was so much strife in the home that he left as well, becoming a street-kid sleeping outside under bridges or wherever. Amazingly, he cheerfully and dutifully did odd jobs for people in town to buy food and pay his own way through primary school. In his early teens, he returned home only to find that his father and family were involved in intense witchcraft, so he fled home again.

As he worked his way through high school, there was a German-language teacher who had the boys come to his home for a meal, and he shared the gospel with them. God spoke to this young man’s heart, and he received Christ. He received forgiveness for his sins and a new purpose for living.

A few years later, as he grew in his faith, he worked his way through engineering school, but while working as an engineer, God called him into ministry. Now a pastor for more than a decade, he is finishing his Masters in Theology with NTCGS (National Theological College and Graduate School). David had him in his latest class.

How would you describe such a person given his horrific childhood? Would you have described him as “Blessed?” His name is Paddy Blessed Musoke.

David and Paddy (Paddy gave me permission to tell his story)

Choosing God’s Perspective

As we discussed God’s purposes in suffering during our class time, David mentioned the seven initial responses Christians should have when facing suffering:

  1. God is God and I am not (Ps. 115:3, Is. 40:13-14).
  2. God’s ideas and plans are far beyond my human understanding (Is. 55:8-9).
  3. God is the sovereign over all calamities in and around my life (Job 36:32, 1 Sam. 2:6-7, Is. 45:7, Lam. 3:38, Amos 3:6, Nahum 1:3). Nothing/no one touches me without His love, permission, and design (Rom. 8:28).
  4. God knows exactly what I can handle with His grace, though it seems more than I can handle; He is holding back a crushing amount of suffering that might destroy my faith (1 Cor. 10:13, Dan. 3:17, 2 Pet. 2:9).
  5. God loves me with an everlasting love; He is always good; He is faithful and will never leave me (Psalm 119:67-68, 71, Is. 43:2, Jer. 31:3).
  6. God calls me to be resolutely thankful for so much during my suffering (Phil. 4:6, 1 Thess. 5:18).
  7. I am the servant of the Lord, immortal, invincible, and indestructible until the Lord is finished with me, and then eager to go Home when He calls me (2 Cor. 5:1-9).

Paddy came up after class and after sharing his story, related that during his devotion time in November 2023, he sensed the Lord asking him to thank Him for his hard past, for his painful childhood and difficult memories. “Thank me, Paddy.” It seemed so odd and horrible that the Spirit would ask this … and yet he knew that God had already used his past pain and street smarts in ministry. With tears, he agreed and thanked the Lord … and felt a huge burden lift from his soul knowing that the Lord had built sovereign foundations into his life, making him the man and minister that he is. He thoughtfully nodded and told us, “It is important to be thankful in all things.”

Setting Up God For A Fall

Your view of God is the most important thing about you. To the extent your view is flawed, it will distort, disturb, and disrupt your perceptions of yourself and your circumstances. Your real theology comes out in a crisis, like the squeezing of a sponge reveals whatever is inside. To use another analogy, trials are the tornado that tears off the “street view” your formal beliefs leaving exposed the basement of your functional beliefs.

There are several common ways that Christians think about God that “set Him up for failure” when they begin to suffer. In other words, popular teaching as well as the hymns and choruses we sing require more of God than the Scriptures do, so that when we suffer, we feel He has failed us, wasn’t there for us, did not hear us, or refused to respond to our deepest needs. Let’s look at some of these flawed views:

  1. GOD IS MY GENIE – “When I call on Him, He has magical power to grant my wishes and fix my problems.”
  2. GOD IS CHIEFLY MY FRIEND – “My friends don’t hurt me or let me down but run to help me in hard times however they are able … and God has infinite ability.”
  3. GOD HAS MY IDEA OF LOVE – “God’s love is like my love for my children, wanting only happy and positive things so that I can thrive, and His power guarantees me a smooth ride in life.”
  4. I HAVE FAITH IN FAITH – “If I believe, pray, and give enough, it will go well for me. If God doesn’t answer, there is some unknown sin or problem with me that is stopping Him.”
  5. PSALMS AND PROVERBS ARE PROMISES – “If I do what is right, God will make things good. As my shield and defender and Shepherd and Rock, He won’t allow bad things to happen to me.”
  6. ALL THE PROMISES OF SCRIPTURE APPLY TO ME – “As a Christian in the modern Church Age, I can claim as my own the promises God gave to ancient Israel at any time, even those given during unique circumstances.”
    • “None of these diseases shall come near me” – Exodus 15
    • “No weapon formed against me shall prosper” – Isaiah 54
    • “He only has thoughts of good and not evil” – Jeremiah 29

God has some great relational titles: Creator, Father, Redeemer, Sanctifier, Crafter, Comforter, and Guide. I love all of those. But genie and friend are not on the list. There are no such verses that explicitly say so, and those who say God is in those roles often turn their backs on Christ, the Church, and the faith when hard trials come. “How could God … ?!” And they turn away from a God who is silent or busy or not there or not very loving. Their wrong view of God set Him up for a fall.

The role of the Holy Spirit as our Comforter is perhaps closest to the role of a friend, but God is not committed to making it easy and nice for His children as friends typically are. Ask the Old Testament prophets. Ditto John the Baptist. Ditto Jesus. Ditto all of the Apostles. Ditto the faithful martyrs through the centuries. We are caught up in the workings of a much greater plan than we can imagine, and often we need more personal shaping than we can imagine, so God’s work involves our suffering.

So when God’s Word says to give thanks in all circumstances, He knows that this will be grueling for some of us. And yet, it is curative. It embraces with tears the background sovereign purpose and design behind all our pain and loneliness so that, as Rutherford wrote, I can “praise God for the hammer, the file (rasp), and the furnace.”

“It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”

A. W. Tozer, The Root of the Righteous

Are you blessed?

Thanksgiving Connected to Peace?

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Philippian Exhortation

A few weeks ago David and I visited a new gathering of God’s people, Redeemer Community Church. We knew of people that had joined this new work, and wanted to visit one day; then the opportunity arose. It was so good. Refreshing and edifying. Pastor Erik shared from Philippians 4:4-9. He emphasized how we are to rejoice in the Lord ALL the time (verse 4).

But, how is this done, practically speaking? How do I rejoice when I see the earth or my country destabilizing? How do I rejoice with my recent medical diagnosis? How do I rejoice when my loved ones are making the decisions they are? How could Paul write this while sitting in prison?

The key is simply this: Rejoicing, or having joy, is a calm enthusiastic confidence in 1) the goodness of God’s character, 2) the reliability of God’s promises to His children, and 3) the absolute perfection of His sovereign plans. So many of us begin with the unspoken presumption that God’s job is to protect my world, keep me comfortable, free from sudden downturns in health, finances, and relationships, and to slowly carry me to a peaceful death at some ancient age. But God is not “about us” and has made no such promises.

We can rejoice when we choose not to be anxious (let go of our expectation of our world going as planned), but instead, through prayer and supplication with THANKSGIVING (affirming His choices in our circumstances), we take our requests to God (verse 6). Only then can we experience God’s overwhelming peace, described in verse 7.

God’s Peace Follows Prayer with Thanksgiving

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:7

Have you ever meditated on what that verse is really saying? It’s pretty amazing to experience peace … like when you find one of God’s lovely places far away from tech and humanity. But what about a peace that surpasses all our understanding?? A peace that causes others to scratch their head, or accuse me of being in denial of my circumstances?

I really WANT that peace. I want my heart and mind to be “kept” or guarded. I want God to carry through on His perfect plans, even if it means hardship for me. I am determined to keep my eye on Him because I know His eye is on me, as Peter when he walked on the stormy waters.

Perhaps I should ponder how to discipline myself to pray with thanksgiving?

12 Monthly Verses

I am choosing the theme of “Peace” this year and am memorizing a verse on peace each month. I want to know these verses so well that I can pull them up in my mind and meditate on them at any time I want. OK, I cheated and started in December.

John 14:27 is urging us to receive His peace, not worldly peace, but God’s peace.

So you may say, “that sounds wonderful, but you don’t know what is happening in my life. There’s everything but peace. I have sorrow, worries, fears, and pain … physical pain, emotional pain, spiritual pain. The road to experiencing peace is too gnarled. Not sure I could ever get to peace, much less peace that passes my understanding.”

Well, I am here to say that you can! It is not dependent on your circumstances. It doesn’t have to do with that. It is dependent on something else!!

Because of what Christ did on the cross when He paid for our sin, and when He defeated death, sin, and oppression by rising again, we too can “defeat our circumstances” by trusting in the character of God to work things together somehow for our good, our becoming like Jesus. Romans 8:28-29 states that is what God desires in our lives. Like a great sculptor with a rough rock, He is chiseling away in my soul anything that doesn’t look like Jesus. He has to use different “tools” such as pain and sorrow to make that happen. And it takes time.

Thinking Thanks is Part of the Journey to Peace

To envelope our burdens and challenges by choosing to think thanks about them, and in the midst of them, is a path of hope that leads to peace, God’s peace.

To identify gifts from the Lord right in the hardships is vital. Thanking God for His presence, His wisdom, His sovereignty is a good place to begin if you feel at loss to know on what to think thanks.

May God fill you with His surprising PEACE this year as you set your mind on Him.

You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is set on You.”

Isaiah 26:3

Th(i)nkful for Emmanuel

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God Became Man

There is only one time in history that a multitude of angels gave praise to God before a human audience. Just one time. It wasn’t when God appeared to Moses on Mt. Sinai, or at the parting of the Red Sea, or when the Temple in Jerusalem was dedicated by Solomon. It also wasn’t when Jesus walked on water, or when He died at Golgotha, or even when He rose again triumphing over sin, death, Satan, and hell.

It was on the evening that Deity stepped into humanity and was born to walk among us; the night Emmanuel was born. The single angelic announcement of the birth of the only Savior of the entire world was not made to Caesar, nor to a Roman governor, nor to the Jewish High Priest nor the leaders of the Jewish faith. In today’s terms, there was no social media blitz.

This singular event of seeing an angelic multitude shouting out praises to God was reserved for a group of humble shepherds on a hillside outside Bethlehem on the night that Emmanuel was born.

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Isaiah 7:14

God With Us

Holiness with sinfulness. Wholeness with brokenness. Perfection with fallenness. God with us.

One of the greatest truths that defies our understanding, and one of the reasons we love God most, is because He has a desire and a commitment to be with us. He created us to be with Him. We then betrayed Him. We defected to another kingdom and joined the rebellion. Our communion with Him had to end. The Garden of Eden was closed for good. Paradise was lost.

But the story was the Author’s still and from the beginning, God had made a plan to be with us … so that we could be with Him. While proclaiming the curse upon the woman, God said that a serpent-crusher would one day come, a male child born of a woman but not a man.

God used Isaiah to fill in the picture a bit. He prophesied that a virgin would conceive and bare a child and call him “Immanuel,” God with us (7:14). Isaiah also wrote that this child would be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (9:6). Clearly, this child would be Deity in human form.

But how would He secure our salvation? Isaiah also wrote what is called “the Gospel in the Old Testament” in chapter 53. This God-Man would die a terrible and lonely death in our place and for all of our sins. Hundreds of years later, Jesus was born, and after four years of amazing ministry and teaching revealing who He really was, “God with us” became “God instead of us.” The Creator allowed Himself to be killed by His own creation … so that we could be forgiven and once again be back together with God. We think thanks!!!

Thanks for Never Leaving Us

As Emmanuel prepared to finish His work here and return to heaven, He gave several precious promises to His disciples. He said He and the Father would send His Spirit to indwell them as a comforter and guide (John 14:16-18, and 16:6-15). As He commissioned the disciples, He also said, “I will be with you to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20). While He is not physically present with us as believers, His Spirit within us is our constant companion. He is still Emmanuel. “God with us” is now “God within us,” and He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us … never (Heb. 13:5).

In time, our physical separation from the Lord will be over. A few hours ago this precious lady, our dear friend Sarah, went to be with the Lord. She loved Him so much. God was with her through her walk on this earth, and now she is with Him in a fuller way. Faith has become sight. Her spirit has left her body and is present with the Lord. We will miss her, but we are so happy for her. She is more fully realizing her Emmanuel.

The Culmination of All Things – God With Us

Jesus said that one day He would come back for His own. “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3). Notice that Jesus isn’t saying I will come take you to heaven, but rather take you to be with me – more Emmanuel talk.

Paul said that this return will involve a first and second step, a split second apart. Immediately after the resurrection of the justified, “we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.“

It is said that some Christians would want to go to heaven even if Jesus wasn’t there. But heaven is incidental. Our God wants to be with us; it is part of His very nature and character, and for this attribute of His we need to give Him our extreme thanks this holiday season!

May this Christmas season be a time of reflecting on Emmanuel coming to be with us and may you receive His perfect peace as you become conformed to His image.

PS. The explanation of the two different ways of spelling is that Immanuel is used in the Old Testament and Emmanuel is used in the New Testament.

Count

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1…2…3…4…

“Just a minute, it won’t take me long.”

I told David I was recording things in my th(i)nkful journal. Every evening before bed, I seek to count and express things for which I thank God. I find that it is not difficult at all. I usually don’t have enough room in my journal. Over time, the discipline becomes a delight as God gives you a heart to look around and recount His good gifts.

When I first started this habit in July of 2017, it took some conscious thought to discover items to write down, but now…. super easy. As I am going through my days now, my th(i)nkful search engine stays busy in the back of my mind. Is this something that I will record tonight in my th(i)nkful journal?

In giving counseling homework, I am adamant about including thinking thanks. I want my counselees to write down things daily, or to verbally express things, that they are thankful for. I want to inspire them to begin to count.

Take Into Account

The definition of count is take into account. I think of a bookkeeper who carefully logs the correct numbers to keep accurate records.

I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us,

Isaiah 63:7

… that I may recount all your praises,

Psalm 9:14

We give thanks to You, O God; we give thanks, for Your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.

Psalm 75:1

But we your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount Your praise.

Psalm 79:13

I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD.

Psalm 118:17

The Lord seems to want us to recount His blessings. To recount is to count again, which means stopping, backing up in time, and counting again. It’s like the word “recollect” – which means to collect again because, like doves when their cage is opened, things we can be thankful for fly away.

Do you recount? Do you recollect?

Count It All Joy

There is another place in the Word where we are exhorted to count. In James 1:2 it states that we are to “count it all joy” when we meet various trials because they have a purpose to produce steadfastness in us. This is a different kind of count. It means to consider, deem. We are to regard the trials in our life as joy.

That’s a little harder. We like counting good things, but counting hardships as joy?? They don’t seem to belong in the joy column! There’s a dark, dismal, disaster, discouragement column for those! We have to look carefully at the verses.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

James 1:2-4

There’s a purpose to the trial, a greater good God is accomplishing. The testing of our faith produces steadfastness – “sticktuitiveness” – the ability to stay steady and not freak out under pressure. One way to look at it is that we are like functioning, active products that the Lord is manufacturing. You wouldn’t want to use an appliance or drive a car that had never been tested. That testing-refining-testing-improving process is what matures us, helping us to become “just perfect” for the job God has for us to accomplish.

So, we have to value, and even celebrate, our trials because God is using them to make us different from our original selves, to reconfigure our thoughts, desires, behaviors, and responses to be like His Son. As we increasingly understand the character of God, we can try to figure out and appreciate what He wants to do in us through the trials. This is not so easy and sometimes takes years.

Count Your Many Blessings

Johnson Oatman, Jr. was born in Medford, NJ. He lived from 1856-1922. Count Your Blessings, written in 1897, was Oatman’s masterpiece and E. O. Excell wrote the music for it.

Johnson is known for writing many hymns, but this one is his most popular one. It seemed to find favor with God’s people right from the beginning. While in London, revivalist Rodney “Gipsy” Smith announced the hymn to his audience by saying, “Down in South London the men sing it, the boys whistle it, and the women rock their babies to sleep to the tune.”

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

  REFRAIN: Count your blessings, name them one by one;
  Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
  Count your blessings, name them one by one;
  Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care? 
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? 
Count your many blessings, ev'ry doubt will fly, 
And you will be singing as the days go by. [Refrain] 

When you look at others with their lands and gold, 
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold; 
Count your many blessings, money cannot buy 
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high. [Refrain] 

So, amid the conflict, whether great or small, 
Do not be discouraged, God is over all; 
Count your many blessings, angels will attend, 
Help and comfort give you to your journey's end. [Refrain]

Maybe you need to do some counting, even as a family around the Thanksgiving dinner table. We discover that when we begin to number the many blessings, our perspective changes. We are so incredibly blessed. God has been so good to us. We have been redeemed and given an overwhelmingly different future if we have placed our faith in the work of Christ on the cross. If we face trials, we know that we have a Divine designer and developer managing every detail for our long-term good and His long-term purposes. Even if we face leaving this world, we can be at peace because our mind is stayed on the Lord and we trust in Him (Isaiah 26:3).

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
    I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

Psalm 9:1

Thankful for Fifi

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Causing More Thanksgiving

This is Fifi!!

I met Fifi for the first time five years ago. She was a 7 Rivers Outreach missionary living on the farm. As we got into the work here in KwaZulu-Natal, I began to understand how valuable this little giant was to the team.

Born on the side of the road in Amahlongwa and facing abuse while growing up in the community around 7 Rivers, Fifi knew the people, the history, and the challenges.

At the age of 16, she trusted in Christ alone for her salvation. It was not easy, but she had watched her adopted father minister to others in home-based care, interpreting while her father shared the gospel with them. Her heart had been touched and softened. One day, she bowed to the Lord and received His precious gift of forgiveness of all her sins, from the cradle to the grave.

Fifi then went to Word of Life Bible Institute for a year to grow in her Bible knowledge and walk with Christ. Afterwards, she amazingly returned to 7 Rivers to work as a missionary, visiting homes and sharing the gospel predominantly with our nearby children. When others would typically run away from such a past, Fifi returned.

As believers in Jesus Christ, one of our motivations for sharing the gospel is that the more believers there are, the more thanksgiving will be given to God. Fifi has been a faithful evangelist in the valley for years now, speaking about Christ with her peers, running a kids’ soccer ministry several times a week, and helping me by interpreting our weekly evangelistic Bible studies with local marginalized women. As a result of her work, more people are giving thanks to God.

For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 4:15

Pulling In Closer

I got the privilege of mentoring Fifi. We would meet to study God’s word together, memorize Scripture, talk about how the Bible was worked out in our daily lives, and close by praying together.

We must have gone through at least three to four books together. Godly, wise counsel often comes from good books. One great one that we worked through was “Putting Your Past in Its Place,” by Steve Viars. That is one we both would highly recommend.

Fifi is so edifying to me personally. I love to hear her pray. She has a heart for sharing the gospel and see people’s lives change.

Glorifying God in the Waiting Room

Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27:14

Fifi had her share of disappointments, but God was always there, guiding and comforting her. We prayed often together that God would bring a godly man into her life if that was His will. I remember distinctly when she finally said that she was not looking anymore. She was going to just obey the Lord and work for Him and not worry about getting married.

Funny. Right after that, God brought Bongani into the picture. God often seems to do that. He wants us to yield to His choice, His time, and His ways.

Only God could have brought this couple together. She didn’t think he existed; he didn’t think she existed. But then there was a conference at which they met. So thankful for God’s ways and purposes.

They get married next month. So happy for them.

Thinking Thanks

As we approach the time Fifi will be leaving us, I wanted to express my thanks to God for this lady.

Fifi loved so many people in the community and helped them. Here she is giving Mabongi a ride.

Fifi interpreted faithfully for me as I taught the ladies through Colossians, then James, and now the Gospel of Mark. She wants the handout early so she can carefully prepare to use the right Zulu words. She takes God’s Word seriously and wants to be pleasing to the Lord in how she gets the meaning across.

But…..Fifi’s heart was with the kids. She loved the children and wanted them to be safe and to be able to hear about Jesus and the hope we have in Him. That is why she is so excited about the construction of the Thola Centre in the nearby village of Olwasini. 🙂

We had the privilege of having Fifi stay with us in the US for a short time and she was even a blessing to our daughter Elly, who designed the African dolls that we sell.

Thankful Admonition

So as we go through this season of wedding preparations, I wanted her to remember lessons we studied together when we memorized Colossians 3. I shared these seven reminders:

  • Set your mind on things above (vv 1-2)
  • Put on compassionate hearts…. forgiving each other (vv 12-13)
  • Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts (v 15)
  • Be thankful (vv 15-17)
  • Speak and sing God’s Word to each other (v 16)
  • Submit and pray for Bongani (v 18)
  • Work heartily as to the Lord (v 23)

God is faithful through every season of life. We will miss our Fifi so much, but we are thankful for the new challenges that lie ahead for her and for us. God is faithful every step of the way until we finally get to see Him face to face.

“The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!”

Henry Ward Beecher
(1813-1887)

Can You Thank Me?

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Helen’s Story

Helen Roseveare was being forcibly pushed down the corridor of her simple Congolese mission home. The Rebels had attacked. Now it was her turn. They had smashed and demolished her home, saying they were looking for something.

As she was being physically abused, her mind called out to God, “Where are you?” Suddenly, she felt His presence and it was like He was asking her a question:

“Can you thank me for trusting you with this hard experience even if you don’t know why?”

The way we view God says everything about us.

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

A.W.Tozer

Helen Roseveare was a servant of the Most High God who had given Him her life, her everything. After graduating from Cambridge Medical College she wanted to spend her life serving God as a missionary. She studied tropical medicine and French, and then took off for the Congo.

The Lord allowed great suffering in her life, but she was able to process her trauma as a privilege to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings (Philippians 3:10).

Grace Infusion

My husband and I are serving in KwaZuluNatal, South Africa. We are involved in a rural ministry called 7 Rivers Outreach based out of nearby Grace Baptist Church in Amanzimtoti. Recently we began building our first Community Centre called the Thola Centre. It is so exciting to see the walls being built and to imagine the ministry that will take place within those walls. We, too, are looking to build a health clinic at that site. It will not be a hospital or even close to what Helen Roseveare was involved in, but it will be a start.

When I read about Helen’s attitude when she went though such hardship, my heart was pricked. Would I have responded in that manner? I am not sure I would have. I marveled at the way she was processing things that could have completely destroyed her. Even when enduring the gruesome act of rape, she said that she had given her body to the Lord and that when they hurt her, they were hurting the Lord Jesus. If you are interested in learning more about Helen, click on her name above.

When we go through different kinds of “hard,” there is a grace infusion into us that is not normally there. With the trial comes the grace. I can walk with my God, my Abba, my Shepherd today and know that He will never leave me, nor forsake me. He has promised to be with me to the end of the age. Helen’s faith enabled her to download that grace infusion to process her trauma with His help.

Can You Thank Me?

But with a great trial and His grace-infusion rising in equal measure, God at times communicates inaudibly to your soul. Amidst all the noise and jostling, she heard Him ask her something. She later wrote about His puzzling question:

“Can you thank me for trusting you with this hard experience even if you don’t know why?”

There is a big difference between thanking God in the trial and thanking God for the trial. When we fully are able to see God as completely sovereign and trustworthy, we move into a different category. God would give both a sense of His presence and His grace to mentally-emotionally process the trauma she would go through. Like Israel, God would send her through fire and deep waters, but He would be with her.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” (Isaiah 43:2)

Toward the end of his trial, God communicated with Job, not answering why he was suffering, but describing His own creative genius and power such that Job was left speechless. When Job got this inside and over-the-top view of who God really was, he was able to process his trauma differently. Instead of accusing God, Job put his hand over his mouth (Job 38-42).

God is God, and I am not.

“Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.”

Psalm 135:6

Lord, help me to trust You even when I don’t understand all that You are doing. Help me to walk by faith and cling to Your grace and peace.

Helen went home to be with the Lord at the age of 91. The Lord was faithful to her to the end. He didn’t shield her from harsh difficulties, but He helped her through them. She was even able to be thinkful, to think thanks for the most gruesome happenings, because she fully acknowledged the control and unknown purposes of her Master and Savior (Isaiah 55:8-9) and she entered into the fellowship of His sufferings (Philippians 3:10).

The Gratitude Tree

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The Tree – A Common Miracle

The seed is planted. The tiny little capsule that houses great potential is placed down into the porous earth and patted still.

The seed is watered. The water seeps in around the little seemingly dead shell and provides needed moisture.

In time, the kernel germinates. The miracle of reproduction has begun as designed by the Creator, and slowly new growth forges out from the cracked pod reaching for the surface.

As the sun shines on the tiny seedling, the plant pushes up towards it. Little by little the seedling develops. Its roots sprout downwards to gain ground and the top of the plant reaches upward towards the sun. It is interesting to note that the root system for a tree is usually 1.5 times the crown of the tree. It takes a strong foundational anchoring network to assure that the tree gathers nutrition and stands firm even in strong storms.

Trees differ greatly in how fast they grow depending on their species and climate. Some trees in the heat of the equator can grow over five meters in a year while other trees in colder climates grow much slower.

The Tree – An Uncommon Illustration

The Lord uses the visual of a tree in Scripture. A physical illustration can help us understand abstract ideas. There are so many parallels between the structure and functions within a tree and the spiritual life, that one almost wonders whether God created trees chiefly for that purpose.

In Psalm 1, David describes a man delighting in the law of the Lord and meditating on it day and night, like a tree whose roots drink from a nearby river. This tree produces fruit in its season without the leaves ever withering. In Jeremiah 17, the man whose trust is the Lord is like a tree that flourishes even in heat.

“rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.“

Colossians 2:3

The th(i)nkful logo is a tree. I chose that logo because it is only possible to think and express thanks when a person is fully rooted in the belief that God is sovereign and can trust His character to do what is best in our lives. Only when resting in His promises, can we confidently choose to download grace/strength to think thanks in every circumstance we face.

Th(i)nkful (adj) describing people who choose to download grace/strength from the Lord to think thanks about every circumstance in their life and to express that thanks orally or in written form.

thinkful.blog

The Tree – An Idea From a Sister Counselor

We are three sisters from different mothers.

Debbie, Roxanne, and I served together in South Africa. We are all biblical counselors that seek to speak truth into counseling situations that God gives us. We get together online since we are now often on three different continents, and pray together and give each other good resource ideas to help with new challenges.

Recently, one of us had someone dear go through a difficult challenge. Hard circumstances were flooding this person’s life. The difficulties were not easy to fix, but she was confident she could trust our Lord’s sovereign plan. Then, she came across a great tool – a Gratitude Tree.

This is actually a product that you can purchase online. You put together the plywood pieces for the trunk and branches. You then use the green slips of paper to write down things for which you are thankful and place them on the little tree form. What a great idea, especially for moms and teachers! After some time, the little tree has lots of green, thankful leaves that produce a visual of the many things you are thinking thanks for.

I wanted to write and highlight this idea because I am always looking for ways to help people develop th(i)nkfulness. Sharing clever ways can inspire someone to action. Maybe you?

You don’t need to order the Gratitude Tree, but how are you promoting gratitude in your family? You could design and make something yourself. The beauty about using a tree visual is that it illustrates that it is a process. Just like how the tree has to be firmly rooted and connected to life-giving resources to produce leaves, so we have to be rooted firmly in our trust that God is in control and has “got this.” It is then that we can choose to think thanks about our current situation in light of our dear Saviour’s work in our life through our pain.

The Tree – Your Spiritual and Mental Health

So if you were to describe your level of gratitude as a tree, how would that tree look? Do you have a healthy brain neural pathway in place that kicks in with thankfulness when the storms of life come your way? Are you daily nurturing a good root system in God’s Word and His character for your gratitude tree so it can be put into action quickly?

We don’t have to develop thankfulness just for self-improvement, although that would be an admirable objective in and of itself. We strive to think thanks as a spiritual discipline in obedience to our God who has the goal of conforming us to the image of His Son. As our Creator, He has exhorted us to give thanks in all circumstances (I Thessalonians 5:18).

“Your actions reveal how badly you want something. If you keep saying something is a priority but you never act on it, then you don’t really want it. It’s time to have an honest conversation with yourself. Your actions reveal your true motivations.”

James Clear

Th(i)nkful to be Worthy

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Stripped and Beaten

“The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.”

Acts 16:22-24

This photo is the alleged site in Philippi in which Paul and Silas were thrown into prison.

Paul and Silas had been obeying God and had shared the good news of the gospel with the people of Philippi. The Lord had opened one lady’s heart to the message; Lydia repented and believed. This was a new type of city for Paul on his missionary journey. He was trying to stay in Asia Minor (modern Turkey), but God had miraculously led him to cross over to Europe, to Macedonia. Philippi was the first stop. They didn’t even have ten devout Jewish men in that city to justify a Jewish synagogue.

Lydia, a business woman who dealt in purple fabric, was the first European convert. On the other end of the social spectrum was a slave girl who was demonized, and through the Apostle Paul’s prayer and rebuke, she was set free. These two were certainly very unlikely beginnings for a missionary’s church-planting strategy on a new continent. God works in mysterious ways. His ways are so much better than our ways.

But then Paul and Silas, in God’s providence, were taken captive and abused. This was illegal since they were Roman citizens. But the LORD was working out His plan through the stripping and beating and imprisonment. He loves His children, but often uses their suffering in this fallen world to accomplishes His greater purposes. Think Jesus.

Worship is Responding to God’s Sovereign Control

This is one of my favorite accounts in scripture. Paul and Silas were so convinced of the Lord being with them and working through their hardship that they reacted with worship!!! Can you believe it?

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them …”

Acts 16:25

They were thinking thanks. They were th(i)nkful! They were rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for Jesus’ sake. They followed the example of the other apostles in the first church in Jerusalem (Acts 5:40-41). Perhaps they thought, “We are privileged to suffer at the hands of religious and government leaders … just like our Lord Jesus. We must be doing something right, and God must be doing something good!”

When we encounter hardships, do we have this kind of reaction?

It is interesting to note that the other prisoners were listening to Paul and Silas praying and singing. Who sings in prison? They were pondering these echoing words of worship, which had to be sincere because there was no visible audience, and most prisoners would say that their god was punishing them or had failed them because they were in prison. But not these two.

The other prisoners also witnessed the miracle that God was about to perform.

God Intervenes

“… And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.”

Acts 16:26

The LORD God chose to intervene and send an earthquake and break the chains. This resulted in the Philippian jailer believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. His family also believed when they heard Paul speak. They were baptized right then. Wow!

How Does That Affect Karin?

On July 2, my husband and I arrived in the US after a long 43 hour trip from Amanzimtoti, SA. We were weary from a very full and demanding week of our first 7 Rivers children’s camp. Switching cultures can be exciting, but also draining and difficult when you are bone-tired. We felt low. It was even David’s birthday and I felt I had not properly prepared enough to express my deep, deep love and gratitude for my dear husband.

Sleep is a very good thing! The next morning we both were encouraged to keep on keeping on. Then I listened to a message that our son Joshua had preached the day before. It was on Acts 16:11-40. As the Spirit spoke through His Word and through our son, my faith was edified. I started to meditate on Paul and Silas praying and singing in that prison. I started to think about how God uses weak things to do His work….. like using me. He is the One that deserves all the glory. He delights in our weakness so that His strength can be made perfect in us.

Thank You, my Father, for helping me look to Jesus. This world is passing away. We must have ETERNITY stamped on the back of our eyelids. We look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame…. (Hebrews 12:2).

How Does That Affect You?

Do you respond to whatever is difficult in your life like Paul and Silas did in the yucky prison in Philippi? They saw God’s hand in their circumstances, and they practiced God’s presence by singing to Him.

God is micromanaging the good and bad circumstances in your life. Bad things happening has nothing to do with the way God feels about you if you are a true born-again believer. Jesus lived in near constant heat and discomfort without running water, electricity, or wifi, pressed by the crowds, traveling constantly, sleeping under the stars often, verbally abused and gossiped about by leaders, misunderstood by His disciples, and eventually betrayed by one of His own. This is the type of life the Father chose for the Son of His love.

God is not primarily our friend. He is the Author of history who is working out His infinitely complex plan. He is our Father. He is our coach putting us through structured suffering at times. And God is watching. And God rewards. Think thanks to God that you are loved and part of His plan, that He is in control, that His character is fully trustworthy, and that His mercies are new every morning.

“Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His steadfast love.”

Psalm 33:18

Thorns, Rivers, and Furnaces

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Do You Have a Thorn?

Probably most of you who read this blog have something hard in your life….something that you could in one way or another call a “thorn.”

Why is that? We want to fix things and try to get to that place in our lives where everything is going well, going smoothly, where everything is figured out, and everything is under control … but usually that’s an elusive place, and that euphoria never comes. The Lord seems to purposefully work through “thorns” in our lives for our good.

The Lord certainly doesn’t promise to keep us from thorns, rivers, or furnaces. In fact, He specifically tells us that He will be with us through those difficult times.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

Isaiah 43:2

We pray, “God, deliver me from the furnace, from the floods, from the thorns!” But God providentially controls those things, and even sends those things, for His reasons … and with His company. He often says, “My child, I sent those to deliver you from you. I want to see My Son in you.”

Studying how Paul dealt with his thorn gives some clarity as to God’s view on our difficulties. Paul was so frustrated with this thorn that he asked three times if God would please remove it.

“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh …”

2 Corinthians 12:7

God answered that His grace was sufficient for him, that His power was made perfect in weakness.

We are not sure what Paul’s thorn was. Some have speculated that it was epilepsy, or perhaps his eyesight, maybe even recurring malaria. Others have guessed that it was a vexatious person who kept dogging and opposing Paul wherever he went. Perhaps it is a good thing that we don’t know what type of thorn it was so that we can insert our own thorn to learn how to handle these challenges.

Paul was entrusted with this difficulty to keep him from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations he had received. The hardship countered the negative side effects of blessing. This hardship was carefully designed by the Lord for Paul’s own good and for the good of the churches that heard and read his words.

How Did He Handle It?

A few years after 2 Corinthians was written, Paul was put in prison in Rome. It was during this time in the early 60’s AD that Paul wrote what we call “the Prison Epistles” ~ Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. No doubt his thorn was still bothering him, but he chose to continue to serve the Lord and write these letters to encourage and instruct the believers. From what God was teaching him, he shared through the inspiration of the Spirit with others.

Paul knew that God has a big picture of everything going on, even in his individual struggles and challenges. Paul looked at himself as a servant of God called to accomplish a lifelong mission. He understood that the goal in life was not to be trouble-free, pain-free, bump-free, and bend-free … but instead to be conformed to the image of Jesus.

One of the skills Paul had learned to cope with thorns was to think thanks in every aspect of his life, even living with the thorn. One of these Prison Epistles is Colossians. Take a closer look at how Paul highlighted thinking thanks in that letter.

Thankfulness in Colossians

Colossians has special interest to me. It only has four chapters, but in every single chapter there is a verse dealing with thankfulness. In fact, in chapter three there are three verses in a row that address thankfulness!

Do you know where in the world Colossae is? It is located in modern day Turkey.

Epaphras had been changed in Ephesus! He had heard Paul speak and Epaphras had responded and trusted in Jesus as the Messiah. He was so changed that he had to take the news of the gospel back to his home in Colossae.

He shared that Jesus had come and died and that he had risen again. Through Jesus’ work on the cross we could have forgiveness of sins and be adopted into the family of God. We could be reconciled to the Creator from the breach that our sin had caused going all the way back to Adam. The second Adam had come and fixed things!!

This is a picture of modern day Colossae.

The people of Colossae responded in faith. They believed and a church was established there.

Later there were some heresies that started to creep into the church, and Epaphras was so concerned that he travelled all the way to Rome to talk to Paul. Although Paul never actually visited that church, he prayed fervently for them. So Paul is writing this letter to encourage them and help them grow in their walk in Christ. And although he is in prison, Paul doesn’t ask for blankets, food, medicines, or visits. His ability to give thanks in his circumstances freed him to focus on others.

One of the fruits of being in Christ is being th(i)nkful. Look at how Paul addresses thankfulness in the four chapters:

  • In chapter one, Paul shares a prayer that he prays for the believers in Colossae. He prays for them to be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. In verse twelve Paul prays for them to give thanks to the Father. He knows that thinking thanks and expressing it, is part of the mature Christian life.
  • In chapter two, he admonishes the Colossians to walk in Christ, being rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, abounding in thanksgiving.
  • In chapter three, Paul gives three verses in a row, 15-17, that include thanksgiving. “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts….and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
  • In the fourth and last chapter, Paul starts out with verse one encouraging the believers to continue in prayer, being watchful with thanksgiving.

What About Your Thorn?

Thanking God for your thorn, for your flood, for your furnace, is only done through the work of Christ in you. It is only as we view our human suffering in light of the gospel that things start to make sense. This life is momentary, our suffering is not even worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed (Romans 8:18). As we begin to see through the glasses of God’s perspective, we can even join James in counting it all joy as we see the trials develop steadfastness and endurance in us.

Could you take any help from Paul in the book of Colossians? Do you process things in your life with th(i)nkful glasses? Could you wrap that yucky thorn with thinking thanks of how it is making you like Jesus?

I am not saying it is easy, just that when we process the thorn God’s way, it changes us.

Abound in thanksgiving……..