John The Baptist - It's a Miracle!

Luke 1:23-25 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. "The Lord has done this for me," she said. "In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people."

I must say, that while driving on the road, there is one thing that irritates me to no end: the lack of the appreciative hand wave. If I have taken the time to slow down to let someone in, or moved over to another lane to allow room to merge - is it so much to ask for a simple hand gesture of thanks? A wave of the hand to acknowledge the fact that I had done something nice? Not a parade in my honor, not a rolled down window and shout of thanks, not even a gracious horn honk - just a wave in my general direction. And yet, I rarely get it. It certainly makes me think twice whenever I decide to show generosity on the pavement - yet I still do.

In these verses, we are told that Elizabeth up and disappears for the first 5 months of her pregnancy. Now this is not exactly the right way to understand it. As soon as Zechariah was 'with' her, and she found out she was pregnant -she didn't run away - she secluded herself to spend these days in prayer to God. She was thanking Him for the awesome miracle that He had blessed her with. A woman in these days had a lot of weight placed on the fact that they could give their husbands a child. Not only did God bless Elizabeth with a baby, but this baby would be great in the sight of the Lord. She took the next five months to spend time with the Lord giving Him all the thanks for this miracle.

Today, thank yous seem so far and few between with one another, I can't imagine how few 'thank you's actually make it to God. Our Biblical examples show that not only was the length of the thank you inspiring - but the immediacy as well. Elizabeth didn't wait until John was born - she began praising God and thanking Him as soon as she found out she was pregnant. Is there anything - simple or miraculous - that we should be thanking God for right now?

Ten Lepers - Thank You

Luke 17:15-16 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

It was April 26th and Johnny had just been invited to a teen party at Terry's house. Apparently a party at Terry's house was a monthly event, and this one was the fourth one this year. Terry's parents often threw these parties so that they could get to know all of Terry's friends and make sure he was hanging out with good people. This was a first for Johnny since he had just recently moved into town and had just gotten to know Terry and some of the other kids he hung out with in school. On the evening of the party, there was loud music, lots of food and sodas and plenty of people. Johnny was served his food by Terry's parents and after he thanked them he went into the living room and mingled a bit. Johnny enjoyed getting to know new people and was glad Terry invited him. As he left that evening, he thanked Terry and his parents for inviting him to come and what a wonderful time he had while he was there. Later on when the party had died down and everyone had gone - Terry's mom asked about Johnny. Terry wondered what made Johnny stand out. Terry's mom told him that of all the kids at the party - even the ones who came frequently, that he was the only one who thanked them - including their own son.

Thankfulness is something we are required to have as Christians. Yet many of us lack the ability to do so. The Bible is very specific in mentioning that it was the Samaritan who came back to thank Jesus for healing him of the leprosy. Samaritans were the outcasts, the strangers in this town - they didn't mingle with the Jews, and yet - it was a Samaritan that came back to thank Jesus. He came back loud and quick.

Johnny stood out because he was thankful when nobody else had been. The Samaritan stood out because he was thankful when nobody else would be. Do we stand out because we are thankful even when no one else is willing to say it? Are we quick with our appreciation or do we tend to wait until it's convenient for us? Are we truly thankful in all things? Can we see what Jesus is doing in our lives and show Him our gratitude by saying a prayer of thanks? It's so much nicer when we personally talk to Jesus and tell Him, "Thank you".

Samson - Check Your Attitude

Judges 16:18-20 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, "Come back once more; he has told me everything." So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him. Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him.

This has been a whirlwind week. We went out of town on Sunday to Orlando for my birthday. We visited the Holy Land and then went to the "ICE" exhibit and shopping at the outlet malls and seeing 'Bolt' the movie and then traveling back home on Wednesday evening only to clean house in anticipation of everyone coming over for Thanksgiving Day. Does it ever seem to you that you need a vacation after your vacation?

It got me to thinking about life in general. I teach Public Speaking two days a week to high school students, I work part-time for Weight Watchers - 4 meetings a week, I homeschool my four children - beyond the everyday housewife things. I volunteer in the 3rd-4th grade AWANA for girls and do the Bible Lesson once a month as well as small devotionals on Wednesday evenings for 6th grade girls. My mom always asks, "Dorothy, I don't know how you do it." The fact is, I know that there are a lot of us women (and men) out there who have at least this much on their plate, if not more. It's only by the grace of God that we get through each day without a melt down as it is.

Samson has done some miraculous things, things that - without God - would be impossible. Sometimes it's easy to start thinking that we have it all under control - like Samson did. Samson became full of himself and thought that he could do it on his own - that betraying the secret God entrusted to him would be of no consequence. This attitude cost him a great deal. How often do we start to take credit for the things God has helped us accomplish. We need to remember that each day we are given is a gift from God and if we make it through to the end of that day - there is only One who deserves that glory. Thank you God for the energy to make it through today, thank you that my children are tucked in bed happy and healthy. Thank you for my jobs and the opportunity to share You with other people - whether by words or example. Thank you for another day to serve You...