#500. (Psalm 145)

Read this first. Take your time, I'll wait.

1 I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. 2 Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. 3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. 4 One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. 5 They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. 6 They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. 7 They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. 8 The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. 9 The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. 10 All you have made will praise you, O Lord; your saints will extol you. 11 They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, 12 so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. 14 The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. 15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. 16 You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. 17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. 18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. 20 The LORD watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. 21 My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.

I so wanted to have the song Forevermore (Psalm 145) by Travis Cottrell to play here. BUT, I couldn't find it so I posted the whole thing. :)

This my friends is my 500th blog post. 500!!! I can't believe it.

What a journey this has been. I wouldn't change a thing about it.

Yesterday morning, Emma and I read Psalm 145 as we started our school day. I could hear a certain worship leader singing those precious words all day long. Anyway...

I have been praying for quite some time about a huge thing in our lives. There is a need that has to be filled by God alone. Two weeks ago, I just hit a point where I said "God, I know it's you and you alone in this." I also was reminded that sometimes, we have to choose to praise in, what I call the "stinky" times of life. Even in those times God is worthy of all our praise. I believe that is what we call a sacrifice of praise and that kind of praise pleases our God. I know and believe this with all my heart. BUT,

Over the last few weeks, it's been a choice that I haven't made as often as I should have. There are good days, and then there are not so good days. On those not so good days, I have allowed my stinky attitude about the on-going huge thing to take me to a pathetic place. (Think poochy lip disease.)

I wasted a LOT of time thinking about that thing and I let it become an idol. It was consuming my thoughts, my emotion, my time, and even my affection. My stinky attitude was becoming a tacky accessory in my daily wardrobe.

So two weeks ago, God gave me an attitude adjustment. I was reminded that He is very aware of the thing that feels so consuming to me. He showed me, through His word that I needed to keep moving forward. Keep doing what He had called me to do and do it to the best of my ability and to NOT STOP praying about this. (Praying had been replaced by my complaining.)

So I went back to the basics. Study the Word. Pray. Listen. Wait. Wait some more... :)

Yesterday morning when Emma was reading Psalm 145 these verses are the specific words that so ministered to my heart:

The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. 14 The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. 15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. 16 You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

and

18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. 20 The LORD watches over all who love him

He watches and sees each and every part of our life. He knows the need before we even realize there is one! He has each and every minute of my life planned and I can trust Him.

Emma and I may have been doing school, but I was thinking about these verses and thanking God for reminding me that He had this thing under control.

The mail ran very late yesterday and we were still finishing up some afternoon reading when it came.

I was unusually alone in our family room while I sorted through the junk, the hospital bills, 5 advertisements for gym memberships and tanning salons, when a large envelope caught my eye.

I didn't recognize the name on the return address and held it thinking "Who is this? A blog reader? Who reads my blog in Boonville, NC? Hmmmmmmm....I don't know..." Finally, I opened the envelope.

Inside was a BEAUTIFUL card with Prov. 3:5-6 on it. Verses that I have been praying over a specific thing Chad and I are doing. (More on that in a later post) I smiled, because it was just timely. (That card in and of itself is a sermon. LOVE it.)

I still didn't recognize the name so I opened the four page handwritten letter and proceeded to read an incredible testimony of God's faithfulness. The entire time, I kept thinking, "I know this story...why do I know this?"

I will not tell you the details, but I will tell you this person and their family has suffered an incredible loss. The kind of loss that tops my "what if..." list when Chad is really sick with a Crohn's attack. The kind of "what if" that can ONLY be followed by "Then God." And boy oh boy, "Then God" has happened for this man and his children.

I wept and kept reading, praying for this family asking God to bless them, to delight them. As this godly man continued to share his story, the puzzle pieces fell together. How he knew of me and my blog all made sense.

God used this young father and his family to encourage my family. Their obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit met a large portion of the "huge" thing I have been praying about for quite some time.

This man is a living testimony of the book "You Were Born For This". He was God's delivery man for a miracle.

I am in awe. Absolutely, in awe of how our God works.

So, I will exalt you my God. I will praise your name forever....

And I will teach my children that God says when you are obedient to Him, He will supply all your needs. Today, I can tell you He is serious about that.

AND sometimes, He does it in the wildest ways!


I hope that you experience the lavish love of our Father today. In fact, I'm asking Him to open His hand and meet that huge need in your life.

Thanks for taking this journey with me and goodness...

if you read all of this post, you are amazing!

Blessings,
steph.