Letters to a Samuel Generation is finished!

Letters to a Samuel Generation: The Collection is available! It's a beautiful hardbound book (blue cloth), weighing in at a very satisfying 216 pages. Becky did a gorgeous job with the layout. You can purchase it from Little Dozen or from Amazon.com.

The Blessing of Family

It's finished! Yes, Letters to a Samuel Generation: The Collection is finally available in hardcover. I'm excited. It can already be ordered from Amazon, and will be available from Little Dozen as soon as my sister gets home so we can set up the PayPal links ;).

In the meantime, I wanted to share the lone SamGen essay that didn't make the book. It was written in the early years, and looking back, it doesn't quite fit the discipleship theme that SamGen grew into. However, it was special to me when I wrote it and still is now. Without further ado:

Blessing

by Rachel Starr Thomson
originally written November 2001

Have you been to the movies lately?

Have you spent any time with teenagers?

Have you listened to the tone of the media?

If so, you may have noticed an alarming trend. Society believes, knowingly or not, that family is "uncool."

Youth leaders tell teens that their parents are out of touch, so they should come to their pastor if they have problems.

Older siblings spend oodles of energy trying to ditch their younger sisters and brothers in order to spend time at the mall, the movies, the bowling alley... anywhere where there are friends and no family.

Reunions, birthday celebrations, and Christmas get-togethers are seen as annoying obligations. And no amount of heartwarming, shallow movies about love and family seem to be able to offset the damage of this general slide away from family ties.

In church we hear about how curses are passed through the generations; at the therapist's we hear about how parents have permanently scarred their children and doomed them to life in and out of prisons, marriages, and happiness. This is probably true. But it is one side of the picture.

And as a product of the other side, I would like to protest.

Oh, my family has problems. We're human. But let me tell you about the blessings that have come through the generations.

When I was a little child, I had aunts and uncles around me constantly. I grew up feeling protected and loved. I didn't have to have anyone's constant attention. Just knowing they were there was security. About six years ago, my family moved away from our home in Canada and went to California, and I lost that shelter. Three months ago, I moved back home. A week ago I went to a cousin's thirteenth birthday party, and most of the aunts and uncles were there. And once again, I felt that shelter.

Every day, my paternal grandparents take a walk and pray for each of their grandchildren by name. Every day at evening devotions, my maternal grandparents ask the Lord to draw their children and grandchildren to Him. My walk with the Lord has been blessed in many unusual ways. And I don't have to wonder why. My mother, grandmothers, and aunts have taught me about being a woman, and more especially a lady. My uncles open doors for me. Uncle Stephen took me on my first date when I turned sixteen. Dad would take me out for coffee and ask about my needs and my interests every so often, just checking up on me. My cousins have taught me to lighten up and have fun, and to love people no matter what. My sisters and brothers have taught me to look for the good in people even when the bad is glaringly obvious. And when I've found the good, it's been beautifully, brilliantly, wonderful.

In my mother's Mennonite family tree, there are martyrs for Christ. In my father's Scottish history, there are preachers, pastors, and Sunday School teachers. For generations, there is prayer.

I have ten siblings to teach me about teamwork and growing up, eight aunts to giggle and trade stories with, four grandparents to show me what true priorities should be, six uncles to treat me like a princess, over forty cousins to laugh with, love with, and live with, and two parents to train me up in the way I should go. I am a product of generational blessings and generational grace. Have there been problems passed down? Yes. But I believe the good things outweigh the problems. To every one out there who thinks family isn't cool: Please, please, start building new relationships with those God has given you. Serve your sisters and brothers. Love your nieces and nephews. Pray for your children and grandchildren. It isn't ever too late to start.

a long and happy sigh of relief

The files for Letters to a Samuel Generation have gone to the printer. I hope to have the proof in hand by next week, after which the book will be available for sale.

Feels good.

why should today be any different?

My eyes feel like they've been staring at a computer screen all day. Likely because they have been :).

The official release date for Letters to Samuel Generation: The Collection is tomorrow. It's not going to happen. The usual unaccountable delays have stacked themselves up against me and my deadlines. However, I should be able to release it within the next two weeks. I shall not complain. In the meantime, you can read all the chapters here.

Coaching is going very well and I'm actually ahead in marking papers. As a result, I had an extra forty-five minutes to work on Taerith. I finished a chapter and posted it.

Other excellent news is that I've begun work as a copy editor for Home School Enrichment Magazine. I'm very excited about it and greatly enjoying the work thus far.

The Face of Love

The publication of Letters to a Samuel Generation is moving along. In anticipation, and in honour of Valentine's Day, I offer the following reflection of the true nature of love.

The Face of Love

by Rachel Starr Thomson
Excerpt from Letters to a Samuel Generation
Available March 2007 from Little Dozen Press
www.LittleDozen.com

There once lived a man whose name, earthly speaking, was Jesus.

Spiritually speaking, His name was Love.

Long ago, in the darkness of a distant age, Love looked far into the future. He went to His Father and said, “There is no other way. I will go to them. I will become one of them, and I will die for them.”

In that time, before the foundations of the earth, Love was slain because of us. Many years later, when His now-human feet felt the pull of gravity and walked on hot Israeli sand, He said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

He knew what He was talking about. In spirit He had made the sacrifice long ago. In body He now came to carry it out on earth, and He did. He allowed Himself to be delivered into the cruel hands of men and sacrificed. Even now His sacrifice stands accepted in the heavenlies, and we have only to make it our own in order to receive forgiveness and righteousness.

To us He left His Spirit, that we might live out His law and His legacy of love.

"This is my commandment, that ye love one another."
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you have love one for another.."
"Love your neighbour as yourself..."
"Love your enemies, and do good to them that persecute you..."
"Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength."

There are things we must understand about love if we want to follow His footsteps. For one thing, it is not the heady infatuation the world thinks it is. Love is deliberate. It is a choice. True, sometimes the choice is easy to make. A pair of beautiful eyes can coax us into it. A child's laughter sometimes causes our heart to overflow with it. A mother's careworn hands inspire it.
At other times, only the Spirit of God can bring it forth. Take Jesus' command to love our enemies, for example. No one ever “fell” in love with their persecutor. Jesus wasn't infatuated with the men whose hypocrisy and self-protection sent Him to the cross. His thoughts toward them were less than flowery—“Nest of vipers. White-washed tombs. Den of thieves”—such words are not the stuff of poetry and love letters. Yet He chose to love them. He prayed for their forgiveness on the cross.

Richard Wurmbrand, who endured fourteen years in prison in Communist Rumania, wrote of the choice Jesus made that day, to love His enemies actively and wholly:
“When Jesus was on the cross, darkness fell upon Him and on the countryside. Soon an earthquake was to follow. Jesus knew what was about to befall mankind because of His crucifixion. He saw in the darkness and the earthquake signs of God's judgment similar to what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, and through His prayer He aborted the wrath of God. In that convulsion He became a lightning rod for us. God's wrath struck Him, and we the guilty were saved—all because He prayed.”

That prayer was a deliberate choice to love His enemies. It was an expression of the love that carried Him to the cross in the first place—the love that was His nature, His whole soul.
Not only is love deliberate, it is active. When Jesus told us to love our enemies, He also gave us instructions on how to do so:

"Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."
(Matt. 5:44)

Love is not a passive feeling over which we have no control. Love is action and choice. At times everything in us will stand behind the choice. At other times, our whole being will cry out against it. Yet obedience demands that we love no matter how hard or how easy the task. Love is the whole business of our lives as Christians.

What does love look like, practically speaking? It looks like Jesus. It looks like His work. Isaiah 58 beautifully describes a life that is given over to the business of love:

"Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out into thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

"Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward."
I have seen this kind of love in action before. I believe in God as I do because I know that His love is working in the world. I have been the hungry one who was fed by His people because they loved; the one who was clothed because they loved; the one who was given a roof over my head because they loved.

What does love look like?

It looks like a hug given to a difficult person because they are lonely and they need it.

It looks like the faithfulness of a mother who gives her life to husband and children.

It looks like laughter when things are going wrong.

It looks like unceasing prayer; for family, and for friends, and for missionaries, and for the lost, and for the hated, and for the outcasts, and for the prisoners, and for the enemy.

It looks like a drink of water to a thirsty man.

It looks like a loaf of bread to a starving child.

It looks like sacrifice.

It looks like hard work.

It looks like patience.

It looks like kindness.

It looks like humility.

It looks like Jesus.

We fear love, as we fear all things that are truly holy and heavenly. We fear it because it makes us vulnerable. It leaves us open to hurt. Of course it does. Isn't the Christian life about trusting God with all whole lives? Isn't it about tearing down our hardened walls and letting Him be our protector and judge? When we cease trying to protect ourselves and begin instead to give of ourselves, then we are beginning to walk the path of love.

Love recognizes that it needs others. In God's Kingdom there is no such thing as a lone wolf. God's great desire for us is that we might become one—and it is through our union, through our love, that the world will know that we are His. It is through our love that they will believe that our Lord lives and is in us.

Says George MacDonald, “We wrong those near us in being independent of them. God himself would not be happy without his Son. We ought to lean on each other, giving and receiving—not as weaklings but as lovers.”

The world needs lovers now as never before. Jesus Himself prophesied that in the iniquitous last days, the love of many would wax cold (Matt. 24:12). It is for us to keep love strong. It is for us to minister to the hungry, the cold, the outcast, and the lonely. It is for us to minister to our Lord by keeping the cords of love strong in His body.

The Wailing Aztecs, a Canadian folk band, once recorded a song which stated, “We don't need another love song. All we need is love.”

My brothers and sisters, it is up to us to write a love song with our lives. We cannot do it on our own power—the world is a place of hate and of selfishness, and it will always do its best to beat us down—but the Spirit of Love lives in us.

What does love like?

To the world, it looks like you.


Please feel free to pass this article along! It can be forwarded or republished online, in ezines, in church publications, and anywhere else you like. I do ask that you keep the author byline intact and include a link to www.LittleDozen.com.

my publishing life in links

I sent out another pre-release email for Letters to a Samuel Generation today. Got the introduction written last week. This week it's final editing/proofreading, then I'll pass it along to my whiz kid sister for formatting, get all of the information registered in official places, and gear up for honest-to-goodness publication in March. Who says publishing has to be slow? ;)

In all honesty, most books cannot be published anything close to this quickly, especially if they're going to be successful. It doesn't matter much for this book for a few unique reasons.

On another plain, my fellow Romany author Libby Russell just finished a freehand sketch of Lilia, one of the main characters in Taerith. She's beautiful and I'll make sure you all get to see her as soon as Libby's finished making artistically obsessive alterations. Libby's also doing sketches for me to illustrate the eBook version of Worlds Unseen (sorry, no link yet) which I plan to come out with (FREE!) this summer. I'm very grateful for all the work she's putting into it, because she's got a lot of talent and she's not charging me anything. Yet.

One Body

by Rachel Starr Thomson
Excerpt from Letters to a Samuel Generation: The Collection
Available March 5 from Little Dozen Press
www.LittleDozen.com

Imagine, for a moment, the following scenario.

A hand and a mouth have gotten together over lunch to “fellowship.” Somewhere in the conversation, talk turns to a common acquaintance—a foot, to be exact.

“Did you see Foot last week?” Hand asks. “He was down in the mud, trudging alongside the rest of the world.”

“Hmm,” Mouth hums in agreement. “I was witnessing at the time.”

“I was praising the Lord. Poor Foot seems to have his priorities messed up.”

“He would find life a lot more fulfilling if he'd spent less time in the mud and more time telling people about Jesus.”

“Praise the Lord we've got our priorities straight. Ministry comes first.” Hand thinks for a moment. “Hey, do you know what Eye was looking at yesterday...”

Meanwhile, Foot and Eye find it hard to throw themselves into their work of trudging and looking. After all, some rather more exalted members of the body seem to think there's not much purpose in mud and surroundings. Still, Foot and Eye don't have much choice about their work—but since it doesn't do any good overall, why bother working at it?

Of course, this creates some problems. Foot doesn't bother to go many places, so Mouth doesn't get much chance to witness to new people. Eye doesn't see needs, so Hand can't meet them. And so on.

The Apostle Paul writes about this very thing in I Corinthians 12.

“If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is is therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

“But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, but yet one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be feeble, are necessary...” I Corinthians 12:15-22

I've often noticed (and been guilty of) a strange phenomenon among Christians. We have got it into our heads that some professions are infinitely more valuable than others. An evangelist is worth more to the Kingdom than a carpenter, for example. Or a missionary does more for God than a grandmother.

The Bible has a completely different criteria for workers in the Kingdom of God then that which we seem to live by: “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.” (Colossions 3:23-24)

Whatsoever ye do. Be it babysitting, preaching, mothering, rocket science—whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as unto the Lord. We are commanded all through the scripture to be faithful in that which God gives us to do.

How many Christians resign themselves to the fact that they are not called to the mission field—meaning Africa, or Indonesia, or some such far-off place—and completely miss the mission field that God has already placed them in? We admire those Christians who are full time servants of God, without realizing that we share their position. In whatever we do, we are the servants of the Lord Christ.

Perhaps we classify “ministry” as something someone else does as a way of avoiding responsibility. Anyone with some talent can preach a sermon, but who dares live one? We can all “do” church every Sunday, but are we willing to live as the Body of Christ all the rest of the week?

On the other side of the fence, many in ministry seem to be using the “lower” callings of others to give themselves an ego boost. Instead of humbling ourselves before the Lord and allowing Him to lift us up, are we guilty of exalting ourselves before men? Does our pride get its weekly fix by trampling other Christians down?

How much are we, in our thoughts, words, and actions, crippling the Body of Christ? These are the people that Christ gave His life for. Every brother or sister in the Lord is a temple of the Holy Spirit, whether they work at a gas station or a mission station.

“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly; according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” (Romans 12:3-5)


Please feel free to pass this article along! It can be forwarded or republished online, in ezines, in church publications, and anywhere else you like. I do ask that you keep the author byline intact and include a link to www.LittleDozen.com.

where were YOU for Robbie Burns' Day?

I was at the Kildare House, a local pub, with Alexis, Becky, and Leah. We had British food and tea and stomped the table while Tartan Army, a local Celtic band, played rousing folk music and men wearing kilts and tam o'shanters sang along. My sisters, who did not order tea, filched mine with shocking regularity despite my protests. I drank very little of it, nor did I eat more than two pieces of the kidney in my steak and kidney fries. But the steak was good :).

After that we drove to Chapters just before it closed, and I used the gift card Deborah gave me for Christmas to buy three lovely hardbound books: a copy of Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby, and two small books of poetry by Christina Rossetti and William Blake.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

(from Blake's Auguries of Innocence)

On an entirely different note, I spent an hour or two fiddling with the page on LittleDozen.com which features all of my Samuel Generation articles, so the contents page now includes little quotes and descriptions and is hopefully much more accessible to the general browser. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Amazing Grace

I'm featuring a new article on www.LittleDozen.com entitled "Amazing Grace."

His voice is gentle as He asks, “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?”

She raises her eyes, just a glimmer of hope beginning to warm her heart. “No one, Lord.”

And oh, so quietly He says words that cause the heavens to shiver, that cause all of creation to draw in its breath and gasp in astonishment. “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.”

Did you hear it? Did you hear what He said? “Neither do I condemn you!”

Do we understand that God does not wish to condemn us? That though His justice must demand the ultimate penalty for our sins, it breaks His heart to do so? This is why He died! In that moment on a dusty bit of Israeli earth, the Messiah proclaimed His heart and the reason for His coming! He threw His mantle of protection, the ransom of His blood, over the woman and set her free.

Read the whole article here.

new article featured on LittleDozen.com

"Safety and security are terribly important to us as human beings. I can't remember being born, but I imagine a baby is asking the same question as it enters the world... Is this safe?

"God built this instinct for safety into us for a reason. After all, if we didn't have it, we might have run ourselves off of the face of the earth a long time ago, jumping off cliffs because, well, it looked like fun at the time.

"At the same time, God gave us the will to deny that instinct for safety. He built other desires into us as well - desires for freedom, for growth, for new horizons. And that's a good thing, because He very rarely allows us to live in safety for long. It takes a crazy sort of courage to follow in the steps of the Lord; the same sort of courage it takes for a soldier to go into battle. Even if that soldier is guaranteed victory in the end, as we Christians are, there are no promises that the journey to the end will be a smooth one."

Read "A Question of Security" on www.LittleDozen.com.

Miracles

I was just posting more articles to LittleDozen.com, and I came across this one, written in 2002. This has been on my mind again lately... thought I'd share it with you.

Miracles
by Rachel Starr Thomson
www.LittleDozen.com

I was born into a Christian home, and so many of the words of Jesus are familiar to me. They're so familiar, in fact, that I often forget to listen to them. There's a great temptation to take for granted that which is most precious, only because God has blessed us with an abundance of it. Perhaps this is true for you, too.

I can quote many of Jesus' words in my sleep. “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.” “I have come that ye might have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly.”

But recently I was reading a portion of the Bible, and I stumbled across some words of Jesus that were not written in red. I did not expect them to be there, and they took me by surprise. They are in a prophecy, in the Book of Isaiah:

“Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion” (Isa. 8:18).

In that one verse I gained a whole new perspective of what exactly God is doing with us. When we think of signs and wonders, we tend to think of flashy miracles and supernatural phenomena—the fire from heaven sort of things. We talk about the miracles that Jesus did as being signs and wonders, and we overlook something very important. Jesus himself was the real sign. Jesus was the real wonder.

I've heard a lot recently about how God is moving around the world to confirm His word through signs and wonders. Christians are seeing the sick healed, the demon possessed delivered, and even the dead raised. All of this is true, and we ought to give glory to God for it. But let us not forget that our lives, our daily walks, are the real signs and wonders to the world around us.

In the book God's Smuggler, Brother Andrew talks about working in a candy factory where he and a young Christian woman endured the mockery and contempt of a large staff of worldly, foul-mouthed young ladies. Together, the two Christians did their utmost to show love and respect to their co-workers. They prayed for them, talked kindly to them, and refused to lash out in anger. The result? One of the leaders among the factory workers was converted, and one by one the workers came to Christ. They started meeting together to pray and study the Bible, and in a place that had once been a haven of vanity, the praises of God began to ring out.

Nothing supernatural happened here, if what you're looking for is something scientifically inexplicable. Yet, the greatest miracle of all did take place—lives were changed. The sign and wonder that brought about the change was the patience and forgiveness of two young Christians.

You may not think that your efforts to serve God in the little things matter, but they do. God will see to it that your faithfulness is used for His glory. He calls us to serve Him in everything we do, cheerfully, with our whole hearts. This is not only for our benefit, but also that the world around us may understand that we have something they do not. Our attitudes, our words, and our actions, are for a sign and a wonder to those we interact with.

Not one of the apostles decided to follow Jesus because He did a miracle for them. They followed Him because He called, and in His life they saw a chance for something more. He was pure, and loving, and zealous for God in a way that they had never known. The chance to be with Him was a chance for a new life.

God does use miracles and supernatural happenings to bring people to Him, but He is more likely to draw someone through what they see in your life. If what people see when they look at you gives them hope, then they will seek the reason that you are the way you are.

Whatever trials you may be facing, remember that they are not for you alone—the way you come through them will speak volumes to those watching.

Is your marriage on shaky ground? Stand on God's word, and don't give up hope—you are for a sign and a wonder to a broken world around you. Are your children in rebellion? Stand on the Word of God. Pray. Stay faithful to the call of God on your life. You are for a sign and for a wonder in a world that has given up hope.

Teenagers, are you tempted to rebel against your parents and follow the crowd? You, too, are for a sign and a wonder. Don't cripple the rest of your generation by making their mistakes with them and taking away their only glimpse of something better. You are for a sign and a wonder to them, to show them a higher road.

Finally, are you living in a second-choice life, entangled in the consequences of bad choices made in the past? No one is in a better position then you are to show the world that they need not die where they have fallen. Cry out to God, and He will lift you up, higher then you could ever have thought possible. You, maybe more than anyone else, are for a sign and for a wonder to the house of Israel.

It is not easy to be a sign, because it means that you must be constantly under God's hand—to be changed, chastised, and purified. But every step of the way will be worth it. Every part of the journey, though you go through fire and water and back through again, will yield a reward.

Do not expect everyone to understand. When the Holy Spirit came down on Pentecost, people accused the disciples of being drunk. When Jesus cast out demons, the Pharisees claimed that He did so by the Prince of demons. When the Son of God bowed His head on the cross and died, onlookers laughed. Many were blind, and they could not see what was happening in front of them.

But some did. Some opened their eyes. And today, some are looking for a new life…

"Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion."

Thanksgiving As the Will of God

"Thanksgiving is one of the most powerful acts of faith we can possibly carry out. It is a grand announcement that our allegiance is fixed. It is a joyous defiance of Satan and all of his works. It is the singing of praises in prison that leads to the bursting of the prison doors (Acts 16:25). It is the simple reaching of a child to a Father who is there, and that Father has never failed to reach right back."

With Thanksgiving coming up, I thought I'd post an article that I originally wrote three years ago for Letters to a Samuel Generation. Whatever circumstances you may be in, I hope this article encourages you to embrace the will of God in this moment--that you give thanks.

Enjoy!

For This Is the Will of God

by Rachel Starr Thomson

"One act of thanksgiving made when things go wrong is worth a thousand when things go well."
- St. John of the Cross

At one time or another, we all find ourselves in circumstances beyond our control. Jobs are lost and once-stable finances reach a crisis point. Illness strikes. Churches lose sight of their vision and split into factions--and someone is always caught in the middle. Death comes.
And there is nothing we can do about it.

In crisis times, life becomes a complicated dance. We try to keep our feet in the path God has laid out for us, but His will isn't always clear. We are stepping in the dark. God is a god of light, and He does not keep us in the dark forever, but the fact remains that we often "see through a glass darkly." Things will become clear--later. For now, we are called to put our hand squarely in the Lord's and step into the mirk, believing that He will lead in the right direction. My problem is that I don't want to go where I can't see. I have a strong aversion to walking in faith. I want to know exactly what God is thinking and doing every second, so that not one of my own movements will be risky. I am a believer in the common misconception that if I know God's will, everything will go smoothly.

If you're doing a mirky dance of your own, I have one piece of good news for you. I don't know if God wants you to go east or west, spend money here or save it there, pray for recovery or for strength to be weak. Those things you must discover for yourself. Those are the minutae of God's will--the specific steps that will lead you in the right direction.

But there is a broader will of God, one that applies to you and to me no matter where we are, and it is that will that I want to share with you. It's written in the Bible, in black and white, where anyone can see it. Obedience to it in the dark times, I find, brings an amazing amount of light. In this article, I'm only going to deal with one aspect of this greater will of God, and I hope that it encourages you as it does me.

It is God's will that we give thanks.

I'm not telling you that you must go leaping and skipping, strewing flowers in your wake, when you feel more like laying down to die. God does not ask us to manufacture emotions where there are none. God's will is not necessarily that you feel thankful--it is that you give thanks. The giving of thanks is an act of obedience, a matter of the will. Anyone can do it. And because God is a merciful, loving God, who knows what it's like to feel despondent and helpless (if you doubt it, read the Gospel accounts of Gethsemane), our act of thanksgiving is often followed by joy and peace, which are gifts of the Father and do not come out of our own strength.

"In everything give thanks," Paul says, "for this is the will of God concerning you."

Something almost mystical happens when we give thanks in times of trouble. We proclaim to the world, to the devil, and to ourselves that God is still in control, that we are still His children, and that He is still blessing us--no matter what it may look like. The beauty of this is that it's true. He is in control. We are His children, and He is actively working everything for our good (Rom. 8:28).

When we choose to give thanks in a difficult situation, we choose to believe in God. We choose to believe in His promises. And because His promises are true, this choosing on our part brings light into darkness. Satan can do a great deal with a bitter heart. He can't do a thing with a heart that stubbornly insists on blessing God when the world seems to be falling apart.
Witness Job, whose own wife told him to "curse God and die." True, the Book of Job does not seem at first glance to be a shining example of thankfulness. Job spends much of the book lamenting. But on closer examination, the oldest piece of writing in the Bible reveals a heart that is dead-set on being thankful. True, Job is at a loss to find anything to bless God about in the ash heap where he sits. So, he looks for something he can be thankful for--and finds it in the past.
"The LORD gave," he says, and how many beautiful memories are involved in that word "gave!" "The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21)

A remembrance of God's faithfulness in days gone by not only gives us something to thank Him for, it also reminds us that the same faithfulness is working now, and we will see the fruit of it in the future. As Job declares, "I know that my Redeemer lives, and he shall stand on the earth in the last day."

David also knew the secret of determined thankfulness. The shepherd king spent years on the run--from his king, from his conscience, from his son. Yet he continually exorts himself and his followers to bless the LORD. Psalm after psalm begins with an admonition to thankfulness. Here are the opening verses to Psalms 103-106:

"Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name."
"Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty."
"O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people."
"Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever."

Thanksgiving is one of the most powerful acts of faith we can possibly carry out. It is a grand announcement that our allegiance is fixed. It is a joyous defiance of Satan and all of his works. It is the singing of praises in prison that leads to the bursting of the prison doors (Acts 16:25). It is the simple reaching of a child to a Father who is there, and that Father has never failed to reach right back.

Whatever circumstances you face today, or tomorrow; whatever decisions you now pray and mull over, do not forget the greater will of God.

Shout blessings in the desert caves that hide you from your enemies.

Sing praises in the prison cells where life has beaten and shackled you.

Remember His faithfulness on the ash heap; look to His promises when you are most in pain.

Give thanks, people of God.

And know that your Redeemer lives.

* * *

Read more devotional articles at www.LittleDozen.com, soon to be compiled as a hardbound book: Letters to a Samuel Generation: The Collection.