Nuggets

October 5, 2020 / thinkfulkarin / Leave a comment

Panning For Gold

It was July of 1886, a winter’s day on the high grassy plains of South Africa. An Australian prospector named George Harrison traipsed through the high grass on the Langlaagte farm and chanced upon an outcropping with embedded nuggets of gold. Content with his little find, he sold his claim for £10 and moved on. Little did he know that underneath him lay one of the largest gold reefs in the world, which soon caused a gold rush and the founding of Johannesburg.

The 1800s was the era of Gold Rush Fever. When gold was discovered in a place, people came from all over the earth to search for their share. They would give up all they had to get a chance to find that nugget of gold. Often one would search for years and find nothing, going bust.

Nuggets From God

Matthew 13:44 describes a man that finds a treasure hidden in a field and in his joy he sells all that he has and buys that field.

The treasure in that verse is not physical gold, but is the Kingdom of heaven. The Lord was teaching His disciples using physical things to help them understand spiritual truths.

So what is a gold nugget from God? It could be a lovely truth from God’s Word that grabs your heart. It could be a moment when you see His hand in your life, His fingerprint.

Might you be like Harrison and miss it because you didn’t intentionally look for it? Most people go through life half asleep, their eyes down, their minds dull … and missing so much wonder. A th(i)nkful person has the eyes and passion to investigate through the swirling dirt and dust of the day to appreciate the nuggets of what God has done for us.

Discovering these treasures is what I am endeavoring to promote by being th(i)nkful. I wish for our eyes to be trained to look for these gifts from the Lord all around us, especially in his Word. In Proverbs 2:4-5 he describes searching for his wisdom as one who searches for hidden treasures.

“if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”

What About When All I Find is Coal?

It is all well and good to find little golden nuggets, but you may say, “I only see coal in my life.” It may seem impossible for you to see any nuggets from the Lord in your day to day. Trouble, heartache, and sorrow may have engulfed you.

Well, I have a surprise for you. In I Peter 1:3-4 there is a huge nugget available to anyone who desires it.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you”

Your living hope includes a sparkling treasure that no one can take away from you. It is kept in heaven for you. As you begin to see things with God’s eyes, you discover that there is a process going on. Our grace-enabled response to coal turns it into diamonds. He is able to make even my ugliest scars into trophies of his grace. Only Christ can do these miraculous things, but he can.

My Own Personal Nugget

Our oldest son Joshua is the worship leader for a small inner-city church-plant in Allentown, PA. Yesterday just by ‘chance’ I clicked on the ABC LIVE worship service. I love seeing him lead the songs and especially to see our grandson playing his clarinet in the back of the worship team. 🙂

Well, I just happened to click on when they were singing, “Still, My Soul, Be Still” (about 10:30 into the live stream) and I enjoyed hearing the familiar words and tune. The song encouraged my soul again as it has so many times in the past.

Then Joshua began to introduce the next song, he described how he felt when he was with his parents (gulp), and he said that he felt at peace when he was with us. My heart took a little jump. He was using that visual to describe how our heavenly Father wants to relate to us.

*The gold in Celeste’s ring is from the earth in South Africa*

That was a golden nugget from the Lord. These nuggets often come unannounced. All of a sudden, without warning, there it is ~ a beautiful golden nugget from the Lord. You may say that hearing your son describe being with his parents as a place of peace is no big deal, but for this momma’s heart it was a big nugget. A gift from the Lord and I took it as such. 🙂

When I train my eyes to look for them, these nuggets are all over the place. Gracious gifts that God gives on a continual basis. Mostly, they are present in His Word, but also in His world.

Have you discovered any nuggets in your life? I challenge you to become a prospector! Share your finds with others and start a gold rush! There are some incredible nuggets that are waiting to be found.

I opened both eyes this morning;
I woke up in my bed and not a hospital bed;
I typed this blog post; arthritis has not taken my fingers;
I have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God;
Through Christ I have the grace to “power through” anything that He allows to come my way;
I have no headache at present;
I get to serve the Lord today.

May God help you to find all the wonderful treasures He has stored up for you in Christ. Colossians 2:3 reminds us that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Enough

September 16, 2020 / thinkfulkarin / Leave a comment

Tears of gratitude streamed down his face. He was so thankful for a cover over his head and that he was able to eat a warm bowl of stew. A blanket of contentment settled over his whole being. All was well.

I am embarrassed to say that I was angry. Every person deserved better in my estimation. How can you be content with a shack and such meager food?? He kindly and quietly said that living in this shack and having some food was way better than sleeping in the field or under a bridge and slowly starving.

PERSPECTIVE

Contentment really is about perspective. One of the big side effects of believers going on mission trips to impoverished areas is that they return with guilt that they have so much, too much. But how long is it before they move downward from feeling “more than” to feeling “less than” others, where discontentment has crept back in?

KERNEL OF CONTENTMENT

“A harvest of peace is produced from a seed of contentment.” Proverb

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” so we can confidently say, “the Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
Hebrews 13:5-6

There are several elements to the “seed of contentment” in that last verse, and the Lord is the kernel. 1) He has spoken to me and made promises; 2) He has promised that He is with me, never gone, and never unaware; 3) He is committed to me, never giving up, never walking away; and 4) He is my first responder, a helper reacting to my humble plea for help in His time and way.

CONTENTMENT LINKED WITH PEACE

One of my favorite names of God is Jehovah Shalom. It took some time to learn what all is involved in the word ‘Shalom.’ To borrow from modern culture, it is a “holistic wellness” word.

Shalom – wholeness, completeness, rest in my soul, stable prosperity in my finances and assets, no striving for more, harmony in my relationships, physical and mental health, and tranquility in my circumstances.

Jehovah Shalom can satisfy us completely. He has redeemed us and reconciled us to Himself, birthed in us a new divine nature, and has become the Master and careful manager of our circumstances. Those profound truths can greatly influence our contentment. When we get the singlemindedness that only God can really meet our deepest mental and emotional needs, we are able to become completely satisfied. He is enough.

I am not saying that we peacefully cruise to a smiling stop and don’t do our part. We need to work diligently at opportunities provided for us. Whether we are in school, in the marketplace, or working at home, we put our heart and fervent spirit into what lies before us and push to perform with excellence. Punctuality, honesty, character all need to describe us, but also contentment and trust in a sovereign God.

STOPPING WINDOW SHOPPING

What is required to make you feel satisfied, to feel that you have enough? Not sure most of us have really thought that out. We are easily influenced by all the advertising around us … and we begin to desire stuff. We need more, newer, better, faster, bigger. Are we thankful for what we already have?

The Lord has some words for us:

“Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”
I Timothy 6:6-8

“Contentment always eludes those who don’t count themselves blessed for what they already have.” Anonymous

Not Just Thankful For

August 18, 2020 / thinkfulkarin / 2 Comments

“Just Be Thankful,” She Said

“Whoah, I’d rather not write down a list of things I’m thankful for.” The counselor’s eyebrows went up in disbelief. Was this newer believer that bitter? “Can you explain why?” the counselor asked slowly.

It turns out that, as a life-coach a few years ago, she was very much into these practices of making gratitude lists. She was well indoctrinated with self actualization methods and had taught people about harnessing energy by expressing thankfulness. Now, as a believer in Christ, she had a different goal of serving Christ instead of channeling internal energies. She wanted to forget that life.

Being thankful, and expressing thankfulness, has become an important mantra in multiple self-help fields around the world. Believer or non-believer, it doesn’t matter. Being grateful, forging new neural pathways of thanks in the brain, is now being strongly promoted as part of well being. Who you direct your thanks to is not important, many would say. All that matters is that you are thankful.

To Whom Are You Thankful?

Does that matter?

Yeah, it does. A LOT! Being th(i)nkful is not just learning to think thanks in every circumstance in your life; there are two additional components involving God, one coming and one going:

It first involves downloading grace from the Lord to stop, think and recall things to be thankful for;
It secondly involves uploading thanks directed at Him from whom all blessings flow and who is Sovereign over even the negatives in your life.

We are to be thankful FOR. But even more, thankful TO! To thank is to throw credit to someone else; to return a favor with words. Acknowledging who is responsible for everything that you are thankful for is KEY in thinking thanks.

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it

is like wrapping a present and not giving it to someone.”

William Arthur Ward

Thankful TO

Directing our thanks to God is what sets a believer apart from an unbeliever. Anyone can be thankful and it reaps wonderful benefits in our minds and even bodies. But directing our thanks to God is what the Lord has asked of us.

When the scriptures exhort us to be thankful in all circumstances (I Thessalonians 5:18) or to give thanks always and for everything (Ephesians 5:20) that gratitude needs to be directed to Him. Because I can trust His sovereignty and His ways, I can then, in response, think thanks and express it to Him in trusting obedience.

Lilac Breasted Rollers happen to be my favorite bird. I love to see them in the savannah. When I think and express thanks for that precious bird, I must direct that thanks to the creative God who created it using almost every color on His pallet.

He is the One I give my thanks to.

When I realize that I am choosing to give thanks to God, the worldly exercise of making gratitude lists to produce positive energy loses its power. I am not just thankful FOR, but more importantly thankful TO.

I thank You, my God and my Father.

The Th(i)nkful Challenge

July 20, 2020July 20, 2020 / thinkfulkarin / 4 Comments

Words are Powerful

A teacher was ready to pull her hair out. The class was rowdy and definitely not quietly doing their work. She finally asked everyone to get out a piece of paper, to write down the name of each class member going down the left side, and then to write one nice thing about each person. Later the teacher collected the papers and compiled each person’s characteristics on their own page. The next day, she handed each student his or her compilation of compliments.

Years later, the teacher got word that one of her students had died in Vietnam and she was asked to attend his funeral. The soldier’s family showed her that piece of paper from junior-high with the other students’ kind remarks about him; he had carried it in his wallet until the day he died. Other students at the funeral slowly pulled out their pieces of paper as well and said how much it had meant to them.

This is the true touching story of a teacher at a Catholic school in Minnesota, and it shows the power of encouragement. The student who passed away in Vietnam was Mark Eklund.

Thinkful Challenge

In this blogpost I would like to challenge you. 🙂 I want you to think of a person in your life that God has used to make you more like Himself. Perhaps God allowed the influence to be from afar. Perhaps it was a relative or a classmate. God uses so many things to shape us and purify us, but there are certain people who have made a particular impact on your life to move you toward Christ.

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Proverbs 27:17

Take some time to think. I am sure that there are many, but at least pick out one. After settling on that one, I encourage you to write a few ways that person has been used by God to help you grow spiritually. It may have been just by example; it may have been key comments at critical moments in the formative years of your life; it may have been through an extended discipleship relationship.

When you’ve completed your list, then thank them. Thank God first of all, and then thank the person. The best way is in person, but if you are far away or lack the courage, perhaps a hand-written letter (like, with stamps), or even an email would be acceptable. Yeah, probably not a text.

My Person

My response to the Thinkful Challenge brings me to Joan. We met up over 26 years ago when our family joined the mission with which we currently serve. She (being a fellow MK and someone who lived in Africa) and I had no trouble quickly connecting.

God used Joan in my life to make me think. Over the years she has influenced me with her life and with her words.

She challenged me in crafting a LPS (Life Purpose Statement). She encouraged me when I was discouraged. Over and over, she and her husband Paul poured courage into David and me.

I remember one time when we were speaking together at a ladies seminar on the Big Five. We used the theme of the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt as a platform to talk about the most important things to have in your life.

- Elephant – Life Purpose
- Cape Buffalo – Building Redemptive Relationships
- Lion- Spending time with King Jesus
- Rhino – Accountability Partner
- Leopard – Spotting Discipleship Relationships

Joan’s favorite animal is the African Leopard.

I felt so nervous to speak to all these women, but Joan would encourage me to just represent Christ. “Jesus does all the work,” she would say, “you are just a tool.”

Once, when she visited us in Africa, she went with me to a fabric store and helped me think of ways to decorate our home. She made things happen. She powered through obstacles.

A huge blessing from Joan is her love for our MK children. She has a special place in her heart for MK’s. No doubt about it. 🙂 The cool thing is that they love her back. She has earned their love.

One of my favorite memories of Joan is traveling to Israel together. It was the best trip of my life. I loved seeing all these places from the Bible come alive. What a gift to experience that adventure.

When visiting Abraham’s tomb, Joan, Avril and I had to wear big robes for covering. We felt oddly like nuns in this mosque.

We drank water from the well where Jesus had met with the Samaritan woman (John 4). We walked around the Garden of Gethsemane where our Savior wrestled through those difficult moments before dying for our sins on the cross.

There are so many things I could mention, but in the end, I thank God for how Joan pointed me to Christ. The Lord used her in conforming me to His Son.

Thinkful for Joan:

She gave words of affirmation when I felt so weak and incapable
She represented how a godly woman should invest her life, in discipleship and mentoring
She has cared for her mom during difficult years
She loves on missionary kids and makes them feel important
She is so funny and has a godly irreverence for religious traditions
She does cool, innovative and impulsive stuff
She has decorated her home in African style, celebrating her memories living there
She is a reader
She has taught us as missionary ladies about balance in our lives
She is not afraid of rebellious kids and loves sinners, like Jesus

Thanks, God, for the influence of righteousness that Joan has had in my life.

I am th(i)nkful.

In Everything

July 6, 2020July 6, 2020 / thinkfulkarin / 6 Comments

In Everything Give Thanks

He had walked into their town, seen dozens respond to the gospel, and helped them start a church. They held a special place in his heart. But after a few weeks, Paul was forced to flee because of intense Jewish opposition. Timothy and Silas stayed behind with the largely Gentile church.

Thessaloniki, Greece, was the capital of Roman Macedonia. It lay strategically alongside major trade routes. Today, the city has almost a million people.

Paul traveled there from Philippi and had to secretly slip away to Berea, helping the new believers there find Jesus the Messiah in their Hebrew Scriptures. But then, opposition again kicked in, and Paul moved on.

While staying in Corinth for 18 months, Timothy and Silas caught up with Paul and brought good news about the Thessalonian believers standing strong and true in the middle of persecution. Paul wrote to them expressing his thankfulness and love for them. It is at the end of his first letter to the Thessalonians that this verse is placed:

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
I Thessalonians 5:18

In everything we give thanks.

The “everything” doesn’t deserve the thanks; it’s the sovereign God behind “everything” that deserves the thanks. He has got this. He knows what He is doing. He can be trusted. For the Thessalonians, their present circumstances were hard, and thus, more than any other church, Paul taught them a lot of prophecy – the hope of Jesus’ return. If we struggle to thank God for the present, we can always be thankful for the hope we have that sufferings will be one day be rewarded, and this broken world put right.

New Testament Overview

My husband just completed teaching NT Survey here in South Africa.

Just for fun, I sat in on his classes and took the exams along with the other learners. I am amazed at how those books are coming alive to me the more I study them. One of my favorites is Colossians. It is similar to Thessalonians in that Paul sent them a personalized letter, but also in that there is a strong emphasis on giving thanks.

Colossae was situated inland from Ephesus.

Paul never made it there, but Epaphras who came to know Paul in Ephesus, went to Colossae and shared the gospel with them. He cared for their spiritual well being. Paul wrote “Colossians” to this group of believers. All four chapters have a verse referencing being thankful. Chapter three has three verses in a row (3:15-17) that give direct commands to be thankful, much like I Thessalonians 5:18.

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you 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.

Colossians 3:15-17

It Is God’s Will

“In everything give thanks, come what may,” is a very good motto to live by. But, to up the ante, it is not just a good motto to live by – it is God’s will for us, His directive to us. When Paul wrote that to struggling believers in Thessaloniki, he gave no wiggle room. There was no excuse for certain personalities or ethnic cultures or passing human emotions where expressing thanks just wasn’t done.

There was no escape. Given that “everything happens all the time,” they were to constantly be looking for things to be thankful for. God wants us to give thanks in everything.

Thinkful List Today:

God has given us grace to power through Covid-19 so far
David teaching an overview of the New Testament to hungry learners
Food to eat today
We have a bed to sleep in
Headache has not been bad today
That when I have pain and discomfort Lord Shammah is with me
This life is a vapor and soon I can be with the Lord
I got to clean the balcony today and had hot water and soap to do it
I got to have discipleship with a friend
If God wants me to give thanks, He will enable me to do it

Spot It?

May 4, 2020May 5, 2020 / thinkfulkarin / 4 Comments

African Game Drive

One of my favorite things to do is going on a game drive through the African bush.

It really helps if you have someone with you who is a good spotter. :). It can be tricky to catch a glimpse of rare animals that are camouflaged well in the bush. A special treat would be to spot the Big Five in one day! That is almost impossible, but it can happen.

David’s Devotionals

During the lockdown here in SA, our elders at Grace-Toti have given daily devotionals that have been so encouraging. David records his challenges right in our dining area.

He shared one that was very apropos for th(i)nkful:

“Today, I want us to ponder … thanking God for what is happening. The verse I want us to look at is 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

You want to know God’s will for you? Give thanks in all circumstances.

The word thanks, thankful, thanksgiving is mentioned thousands of times in Scripture, so it’s one of the largest themes in the Bible.

Now listen closely: Thankfulness is a both a natural response … and an unnatural discipline.

Thankfulness is a natural response to something good coming from outside yourself – someone gives you a thoughtful gift, does something to help you, makes your life easier or brighter, speaks an encouraging word to you. You feel an inner sense of joy …and for a selfish person it stops right there – joy at the wonderful thing someone did or said. Maybe they go on and talk about themselves some more!

Whole cultures can be selfish like this – Romans 1:21 is one of the saddest verses in all the Bible:

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile – empty, aimless – in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

In a selfish culture, if things move from average to negative, they demand that God fix that. But if things move from average to positive … they won’t call for days of celebration thanking God for His blessings, but they will talk about the great advances their scientists or industries have made.

Now, many hundreds of years ago in the Anglo-Germanic languages, the words think and thank came from the same root. So … a THANKFUL person will feel that inner sense of joy … and then think … and attach that joy to that other person. They will assign credit to that person … and give value to what they’ve done. “They were so kind; that was so thoughtful of them.”

But this is all inside the head and heart. Now, what do you do with that?

The first mistake I mentioned was selfishly feeling good … but not feeling thankful.

Our second mistake is feeling thankful … but not expressing our thankfulness to that other person or group of people.

I mentioned at the beginning that thankfulness is a both a natural response … and an unnatural discipline. For those who struggle to speak up, to express their thanks, perhaps due to being shy or an introvert, this is where the unnatural discipline kicks in. The command is not just feel thankful, but GIVE thanks.

Colossians 3 mentions thankfulness three times in three verses – verses 15-17. Take a look at it if you wish:

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ [the message about who Jesus is and what He’s done] dwell in you 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.

There are three phrases: be thankful, thankfulness in your hearts, and giving thanks. Let’s look at them:

Firstly, God says “be thankful.” The Greek verb is in the prolonged sense, so be continually becoming thankful. Being thankful is a routine practice of spotting and highlighting the good that God or others have done.

Most of us love going on game drives. Sometimes you can go with rangers in the open trucks, and way up front on the front grill, there is a seat for the spotter. Some spotters are amazing in the way they can pick out little details that the average person would miss. The swishing tail in the tall grass, the way those birds are behaving.

When God says very simply “Be thankful.” He is saying “my child, you are the spotter.

I am at work all around your world. The earth is filled with my glory. You benefit from the common grace that I shower upon mankind every moment of every day. As the Most High, I rule in the kingdoms of humanity; I establish the times and seasons of nations, but I am also orchestrating every detail of your life; I am sending my Son back soon and am making things ready. YOU ARE THE SPOTTER!

Look for my fingerprints, and point others to me! Others may see nothing but dead grass, nothing but panic and pandemic, shriveling economies and withering hopes. Even some of my own children feel this way. But you must be thankful. You must search and spot and speak up about the things for which people can be thankful.”

Verse 16 – with thankfulness in your hearts – “Thankfulness” is a heart attitude that creates an impulse to express gratitude to God and to others. The attitude of gratitude. Your heart is your wanter. Whatever you really want, that’s what’s in your heart.

So being thankful is the routine practice of spotting things to be thankful for. But thankfulness in the heart is the energy to express it.

Verse 17 – Whatever you say or do, do it as the representative of Christ, “giving thanks” to the Father – here is the command again that we saw in 1 Thessalonians 5. Give thanks; that is, speak out your list of things to be thankful for. You must move your mouth … or maybe your pen or keyboard. Don’t hold it inside – don’t just feel thankful.

You can thank God for His amazing character – His love, patience, mercy and compassion, His sovereign control of all of my circumstances for my good and His glory. You can thank God for giving us His Word – our record of who God is, what He has done, His plan for the ages. You can thank God for the beauty, power and complexity of the creation.

You can thank Him for your needs being met, for friends and family, for body parts that still work, and a heart that beats automatically while you sleep. These things are just common for us … but take your eyesight away. What if you only had tomorrow what you thanked God for today?

In this pandemic, you can thank Him that the virus isn’t even more deadly; thank Him for hard working healthcare professionals, for governments trying to do the right thing, for crime that has dropped way off due to the lockdown and no alcohol sales. Many of our hospitals are reporting that there is nothing to do – with isolation and no alcohol, the ER is quiet.

All of these are thanking him IN the trial – the trial dominates the scene, but you are the spotter and you draw attention to things around the trial to be thankful for. But the deep blue hero zone is where you thank God FOR the trial.

Father, thank you for the coronavirus, because … we’ve had time together as family, more time in your Word and in prayer, that we are being refined and made godlier as we learn to trust and not fret; that you are speaking to people and to nations; that our church has reached thousands with God’s Truth over the internet during lockdown. We can thank Him FOR the trial.

Thankfulness is both a natural response … and an unnatural discipline. In times of suffering and anxiety, thankfulness is a discipline. The dread of the valley of dark shadows grabs our attention; the wind and waves of Peter’s walk on the sea challenge our ability to focus.

We need to press through and be “thinkful”, a word my Karin coined. Being th(i)nkful is choosing to download God’s strength to think thanks about every circumstance in my life and to express that thanks orally or in written form.

Virtually every sin that we commit is a result of a lack of thankfulness. So let’s obey this command from God’s Word this morning. Let’s become the spotters, highlighting the myriad things for which we can express our thankfulness.”

Be th(i)nkful! Be the spotter!

Powerless

April 20, 2020 / thinkfulkarin / 2 Comments

Balcony Chat

David and I enjoy eating on our balcony when the weather affords it – which is often here in Southern Africa. Today we were discussing the oncoming challenges of Covid-19, and feeling a bit overwhelmed I asked him, “What is a good verse for such a time as this?”

After pondering for a moment, David responded with “our eyes are on you” from 2 Chronicles 20:12. The setting for that verse is King Jehoshaphat and the great horde of three aligned armies coming toward them. The nation of Israel looked small and meager in comparison to all the enemies marching toward them. They felt overwhelmed and frightened, so the king called out to the Lord in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem and he said:

“O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

An interesting note is that as the people prepared to go out to face their enemy, King Jehoshaphat appointed specific people to go out front in special attire and … amazingly … sing thanksgiving to the Lord. How many armies have you ever heard of that had singers as the front line? This is what they sang (verse 21): “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

First Thank

What a great model for us to do when we feel overwhelmed by all that is happening around us. The “great horde coming against us” is the coronavirus; one doctor said “I view every person coming toward me on the street as a bullet – it might graze me, hurt me badly, or kill me.”

We are fearful of the unknown, and fearful of the responses government and business are making to the unknown. We don’t know what to do, but we will fix our eyes on the Lord. We will choose to think thanks right in the middle of the battle. Just like the Israelites had no idea how God was going to work this all out; they still sent singers to sing thanks to the Lord.

Like most people, I struggle so much with ambiguity. It is a hard thing for us as humans. Right now there is LOTS of ambiguity. But this is exactly what God has designed for us presently. So, with God’s help, I want to grab that ambiguity and think thanks right in the middle of it and power through the difficulty on the supernatural wings of gratitude and grace.

I relate easily with Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 where he pleads for the Lord to remove his thorn in the flesh. The Lord graciously answers no, but adds that His grace is sufficient for him, for His power was able to make him just perfect in weakness.

This, too, will pass. Even if we should lose our earthly lives, we will be with the Lord forever.

So What Happened?

You would not believe it. 2 Chronicles 20:22 says: “And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush…” The enemies around the Israelites started to turn on each other, the whole alliance melting down such that they obliterated each other. By the time the Israelites arrived at the watchtower of the wilderness to look toward the horde in verse 24, the enemy was all dead, just bodies everywhere.

When they began to sing and praise!! The Lord is pleased when we are thinkful. When we choose to think praise and express it even when our circumstances are dreadful around us, we power through in faith offering up a sacrifice of praise and trust in the Almighty One.

So what about me? How can my thinkfulness change the great horde of Covid-19 that is approaching? How can my choosing to think thanks help when people around me are dying, loosing their jobs, and facing hopeless circumstances?

Well, here are a few things for which to be thankful:

God is getting our attention; even this great Western World is a vapor and is going to pass away soon;
God is giving families the opportunity to spend quality and quantity time together, for parents to invest in their first disciples;
God is bringing our impurities to the surface through the heat of change and pressure so that we can repent and yield that area to God;
God is giving us more opportunity to read and pray and write;
God is shifting our values away from vain entertainment industries and toward the meaningful others-serving medical and teaching professions;
God is teaching us to trust His character and promises even though we cannot understand His ways in this storm;
God has given mankind the smarts to invent electricity, the internet and tech devices through which we can communicate and gain valuable information (there was no such help in past great pandemics);
God is opening up opportunities for me, and little churches now going online, to witness about the hope and forgiveness found in Jesus;
God could be freeing me from the heart idols of comfort, control and people-pleasing that have dominated my life;
God is giving a precious opportunity to meet on Zoom with a supporting church

Powerless Is Good

That statement seems so contradictory. How can it be true that when I am powerless, I can be strong? It is because we have a supernatural God. He delights in showing Himself mighty on our behalf, but doesn’t delight in doing what we tell Him to do. No, His ways are higher and better (Isaiah 55:8-9). He delights when we let go, open our hands, worship Him and embrace our Father’s will in our lives no matter what He chooses.

“For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

2 Corinthians 12:10

Thinkful Going Viral

April 6, 2020 / thinkfulkarin / Leave a comment

Going Viral

Sometimes it’s a video of a reporter suddenly seeing an approaching wild animal, or neighbors welcoming home a teenage cancer patient, or an incident of heroism or racism, we are used to referring to a rapidly spreading story as “going viral.”

YouTubers hope that their music, sports, cooking, drone or humous video will go viral and get a million hits. Famous people thrive on seeing their tweets go viral – even negative attention is better than no attention at all, right?

What Does Viral Mean?

A couple definitions of viral are:

of the nature of, caused by, or relating to a virus or viruses:“a severe viral infection”
contagious; descriptive of an image, video, or piece of information that is circulated rapidly and widely from one Internet user to another – “it went viral“

Lately, we have heard the word “virus” a lot – almost too much to bear. The coronavirus has deeply impacted our lives; stopped our mobility, filled our hearts with heavy news, sent some of our loved ones to suffer or die alone, upended our economy, and snuffed out our jobs. This virus has demonstrated how the phrase “gone viral” got its name. From the first cases in Wuhan at the end of 2019 … to epidemic … to pandemic … to civilization-altering.

Imagine Good Viral

Can you imagine with me for a second how something good could go viral? Let’s take the concept of a person being thinkful. Here you have one person that chooses to download grace from the Lord to think thanks about every circumstance that comes into their life. They actively express that thanks. They either write it down, express it orally, or post it in written or video form on social media.

Let’s say they “infect” just two people to follow their example. Then those two people express how they are choosing to think thanks amid adverse circumstances and infect two more people. In a short time, the exponential power of “overcoming thinkfulness” can move a simple choice to pandemic status.

Example of Going Viral

Debbie began to float the idea of sewing face-masks to help our community. It started with her talking to a local doctor and then she garnered other ladies to help.

As of this evening, we have been able to provide over 400 face-masks for our Amazimtoti healthcare providers, police officers, and gas station attendants.

We now have Debbie, Chrisna, Sarah, Jacky, Daphne, and myself sewing like crazy to try to be a testimony for Jesus in a needy time. Common masks are almost impossible to get, so providing the masks with an insert about our church and scripture is greatly appreciated. I love seeing it grow exponentially.

Thinkful Viral

The beauty and danger of something going viral is that it takes so little. Just one cough droplet or the accidental touch of an infected area can have huge ramifications. So also is the power of one person choosing to think thanks. It takes one person inspiring another and encouraging that person to do likewise. These days it likely happens on the computer from all our isolated homes.

Won’t you start? Just be the one to set the example. Many of you are already doing it; I see it on social media. You have developed brain neural pathways of looking for things to think thanks about throughout your days. You give your thanks to God as a present. He is deserving of this gift, this sacrifice of praise, even when we don’t understand His ways. Especially then.

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.

It Didn’t Happen

October 10, 2019 / thinkfulkarin / 2 Comments

It Didn’t Happen!

Driving our truck into Durban to file some papers with the Durban municipality, I hit and killed a pedestrian. Distraught after speaking with the police, I drove up two blocks and was hi-jacked at gunpoint at a traffic light.

STOP!

No, I was not part of those two incidents. But I did realize that I had forgotten my ID documents that I needed for the municipality and had to turn around and go home to fetch them.

My husband shared this scenario with me the other day. Instead of voicing his frustration about forgetting the ID documents, he gave thanks for things that didn’t happen on the way to Durban.

An Anxiety Study

Dr. Don Joseph Goewey conducted some research about anxiety awhile back and found that:

85% of things we worry about never happen;
Of the 15% that did happen, 79% of the people found that they were able to handle the difficulty better than they thought, OR that the difficulty taught them lessons worth learning
So, he concluded that “97% of what we worry about is just a fearful mind punishing us with exaggerations and misconceptions.”

“My life has been filled with terrible misfortune, most of which never happened.”
Michel de Montaigne

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.”
Corrie Ten Boom

Resisting The “What Ifs”

I remember, when my 4-year-old daughter and I were part of an attempted hijacking in Johannesburg, that afterwards I struggled hard with wanting to think out scenarios that could have happened. I realized then the genius and beauty of that first phrase in Philippians 4:8 – think about what is true!The truth was that I did not get shot. The car wasn’t taken. Elly wasn’t kidnapped. We did not even get physically injured. I did have a visual image of a man holding a handgun that I will have for the rest of my life, but the Lord has helped me work through it.

Happenings Highlight Non-happenings

This is my friend Elaine. In the second picture she is getting stitches in her finger. You may wonder why I would highlight this difficult challenge that she is going through. I want you to read what she wrote as she updated people on her accident:

“Dominic, Karissa and I were breaking up her tile floor to replace it. While throwing pieces in a bucket I accidentally scraped my hand on a sharp piece of scrap tile. It cut through my glove and cut a nice deep slice in my index finger on my left hand. 6 stitches put me back together again! So thankful it doesn’t hurt today!!! We have done A LOT of construction projects over the years and never have had an accident! Funny how we don’t think about what God has protected us from until there is an injury. But even in the injury I am thankful that God protected this from being worse…no cut tendons or other important parts!! God is good and today, I thank Him for what He DOESN’T allow to happen!”

One of the blessings of getting hurt or being sick is that it often can highlight so many things that we take for granted. It is good for us to remember and to express gratitude.

Thank You, God for all the hard things that didn’t happen today!

Doing Th(i)nkful

September 11, 2019September 11, 2019 / thinkfulkarin / Leave a comment

A Shocking Hypothetical

The first “Th(i)nkful” Seminar ever was on October 18, 2015, in North Wilkesboro, NC, where my dear friend, Joanna Chapmon, hosted a ladies’ afternoon. I explained and illustrated the skill and benefits of thinking thanks.

Then came the closing exercise. “Each of you has just been diagnosed with third stage cancer. Now, write down on your 3×5 card three things that you’re thankful for in this difficult situation.” Stunned looks turned to thoughtful stares and slowly they began to write. A few minutes later, we were all blessed by the myriad insights the ladies had in response to this hypothetical difficulty.

Th(i)nkful in Action

Now, let me introduce you to Nancy. She and her husband are walking through a valley of challenge as her husband Mike deals with 4th stage pancreatic cancer. Nancy is an RN working for the Carolina Center for Behavioral Health.

Since they have been our friends for decades, we prayed when the diagnosis came; we prayed through the treatments; we prayed through the good news; we prayed through the bad news.

Recently, when Mike went through a difficult day of surgery, we prayed again. The next morning I woke to read this Facebook post by Nancy:

Thank you Lord for the blessings of this difficult day.
1. The cadre of believers that surrounded me to carry the load and distract me during surgery
2. The folks that brought me bags of snacks
3. The folks that brought me drinks, change for the vending machine and gave of their precious time to encourage me with their presence.
4. Our surgical oncologist Dr. Nguyen who is immensely skilled and so very kind and compassionate.
5. The friends that wanted to come visit and weren’t offended when we ask them to visit us another day.
6. Michael’s OB/GYN who stopped by twice today to check on him ( if you want to know ask)
7. Our sweet nurse Lisa who did everything she could to help Michael be as comfortable and well taken care of as possible. We are thankful she will be his nurse tomorrow too. And NO she WAS NOT PLAYING CARDS!!!
8. So very, very, thankful for our Pastor Mike Hamlet who was with us at 6:30AM during check in and pre-op and then came back this afternoon because we were struggling and needed his comfort and prayers.
9. For all of you reading this who prayed before, during, and after the surgery. We thank God for you. You have lightened our burden and we are so grateful for you!
10. Karin Brown, we are thinkful.❣

Nancy is wisely putting into action being thankful in all circumstances. She is carving the brain neural pathway of looking for things to think thanks about and expressing them.

So, I’m praising God and giving a shout-out to Nancy, saying “well done!” I feel Nancy is miles ahead of me in implementing thankfulness. I know it’s so hard for her, and yet she is choosing to download the grace to winnow through the glass chards of broken hopes to think gratitude. She can do this with confidence because God is trustworthy and sovereign.

Doer of the Word

Are you actively practicing being th(i)nkful – giving thanks in all things? Most of us are familiar with Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). He spoke with authority; the people were astonished. Jesus ended his talk by using a powerful seaside contrast between the wise man and the foolish man. Remember singing about this as a kid?

The wise man and the foolish had both heard the same messenger and the same message in the same presentation. One acknowledged, but the other implemented. The former felt that he knew better and shaped his life accordingly. It was all great until the storm. The wise man’s house stood on boring rock, back from the edge … and did just fine in the storm.

Be careful of the deception that James wrote about … thinking that because we hear something we really own it (James 1:22). To know you should be giving thanks is not the same as doing it. How can you and your family create a habit of being th(i)nkful?

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18.