Thanks – giving

I know that it’s almost Christmas, but this message is in His perfect timing…

Thanks – giving

We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.… Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

Psalm 75:1   ESV    1 Thessalonians 5:18   NLT/ESV

Be thankful. Be grateful. Give thanks. Those phrases get tossed around quite a bit this time of year. Heck, I have plaques all over my kitchen shouting it! Yet these expressions can ring incredibly hollow when this is your first holiday after the death of a child, or a spouse or a parent…or a marriage. Or you’re in a locked prison cell, or overwhelmed with loneliness forged by a pandemic. Or your lap doubles as a dinner “table” as you sit on a curb eating while others pass by – ignoring your exitance…Even the loneliness of monotony can rob us of a thankful heart.

Rather than anticipating laughter and fun around the family dinner table – some anticipate pain, heartache, loneliness and loss.Yet…oh dear one…allow me to oh so gently encourage you…

This Thanksgiving Day, I encourage you…be thankful. Even if that means giving thanks in spite of your present crisis. In spite of your difficulties. In spite of crushed dreams and expectations.  In spite of your pain. When all is stripped away – His great love is enough to be thankful for. Don’t allow this season to be overshadowed by a pandemic, “Black Friday” or Turkey Day or whatever else the world has morphed this holiday into. Give thanks to and for the One who holds your very breath in His loving hands and gave the life of His Son for us.

Search if you must. Sift through the debris of your life if that’s what it takes – but find something and then give thanks. Even if it’s being thankful for the transforming power of pain…

While cleaning my hall mirror (wiping away grandchildren finger prints) I was struck with my own ingratitude. Why do the fingerprints on the mirror cause me pause more than the beautiful little fingers that smeared them there? How did I go from on-my-knees thankful for a warm bed, full cabinets and the peace-filled serenity of my home – to grumbling about check-out lines and slow drivers? How??

How do we go from being in awe of the Cross of Christ that saved us to finding church another duty to fulfill? Why is it so easy to overlook His bountiful blessings of breath in our lungs, a clear mind, a bed to sleep in, a grandchild to clean up after or a little one to hold? Some reading these words would give anything to have such priceless gifts.

If WWII Nazi concentration camp survivor, Corrie ten Boom, could thank God for fleas/lice in her prison bunk, surely, we can find something to thank Him for.

Magnificent Father, giver of all good gifts, thank You for saving me and lavishing me with such things as peace in the midst of difficulty, calm in the midst of storms and security in the midst of such uncertainty. Enable me to focus on what You have blessed me with rather than what I perceive as lack. You are good and You are faithful. How I love You!  In Jesus’ name. Amen

Written by Becky White for my Lord Jesus

Santa Claus?

Hello Friends!

Recently I shared the “Santa Claus” devotion to a group of volunteers at the Columbus Dream Center and was met with this question: “So, Becky, what does “trust God” look like?”

Allow me to briefly share how I responded to that very important question before you read “Santa Claus.”

First, I’ll tell you what it’s NOT – It’s not a religious response to real-life trials. It’s not pretending the challenge isn’t there or that the pain is not real.

Trust in the Lord God looks like tears flowing as you whisper a prayer of “help!” or praying even as you are emotionally numb from the duration of a trial. It looks like praying for that adult child, laying them in His hands one more time. It’s admitting to the Lord that your faith is shot as you pier into the reality of an addiction overtaking someone you love. It looks like turning TO God when your mind and all you see tells you to give up and turn FROM Him.

In the end, it’s clinging to the one thing we DO know – If He gave the life of His Son for us (dirty-rotten as we are), surely He has earned our trust when nothing else makes sense.

Merry Christmas to all!

Santa Claus?


“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”


The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
MATTHEW 18:3 PROVERBS 15:3 ESV


“He sees you when you’re sleeping, He knows when you’re awake, He knows if you’ve been bad or good, So be good for goodness sake!” Why? “Because Santa Claus is comin’ to town!” How many parents have used that song to encourage children to do everything from clean their rooms to being kind to their siblings? I know I did! And it worked, you know why? Children are naturally trusting. Assured that if they brush their teeth without being told or put their dinner plate in the sink, that somehow, on Christmas morning they will find an over-flow of packages under the tree. All placed there by a jolly ‘ol man dressed in red and smoking a pipe.


After all, Mom and Dad said so…


Because our God is not a mere myth that bribes us to be good, or a make-believe character that cannot stand the rigors of searching out the Truth of His existence. … my analogy breaks down before I even begin, yet there is a lesson to be pulled from this Norman Rockwell Christmas scene.


Encapsulated in one word. Trust.


Trust when His silence is deafening, when the loneliness is unbearable, when the diagnosis is what you feared, when the answer is “no.” Trust Him when difficult circumstances remain, when sudden trials envelop or hopelessness is palatable. Trust Him. With child-like faith. Trust the Lord God who gave the life of His Son for us, born on Christmas Day. Born to die in our place.


He is at work in your circumstance because you asked Him to be. You may not see the answer right now, but take Him at His word, with child-like faith. Don’t allow what you see (or don’t see) to cast a shadow over His faithfulness.

Prayer is the most tangible expression of trust in God.

– Jerry Bridges


Children trust that they will find presents under the tree – yet there is no evidence of packages anywhere to be found – until the Christmas morning rampage! Our Lord is calling us to a child-like trust that He is good and He is faithful, that He loves us. That He is moved to action by our prayers.



Father God, Thank You that You are at work in the situations I have brought to You – Behind the scenes of what my eyes can see, You are in complete control – come what may… I trust You!


Written by Becky White for the Lord Jesus


http://www.DevotionsForDifficultDays.Wordpress.com