Within one week, we held a successful multi-denominational prayer meeting, an old friend was put into a coma in a car accident, a current friend was offered a wanted job, two other friends underwent surgeries, and the young adult son of another friend died. I went from great elation to deep sadness, with several stops in between, in just a few days.

What holds us steady when our emotions get whipped around like that? God, of course, but how, exactly does he make himself known? How do we access his grace, his power, his holiness? David filled his prayerful poetry with the heights and depths of his emotions. His psalms have spoken for generations of believers, as we wrestle with the God we also praise:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent. Psalm 22:1-2, NIV

On the other hand:

I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.
I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. Psalm 9:1-2, NIV

Through my tears and joys this week, “Holy God” has been my breath prayer. Unlike the poet David, I am fresh out of words. But his holiness is our steadiness in this joyful, terror-filled life.

Come Holy Spirit, be our life.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we
ask or imagine,” Ephesians 3:20 NIV

On summer Sunday evenings, my husband and I enjoy paddling a
canoe around our local forest preserve lake. For many years, we easily handled our
75 pound aluminum canoe. But after lugging the boat to the water one day in
1999, I said, “Let’s look for a something lighter.”

We searched the web and scouted out large outdoors stores on
our fall vacation that year. An Old Town Discovery 119K seemed just right. Our
combined weight was well under the weight it could carry and the boat itself
only weighed 43 pounds. But we couldn’t find one in stock anywhere on vacation.
The day after we arrived home, we pulled into the parking lot at our local
dealer. As we walked up to the outdoor display, I said to Jerry, “There it is! God
must want us to have it!”

We purchased it, easily hoisted it onto our car and took it
out to test it. Jerry stepped into the little boat and held on to the dock as I
climbed in.

“This feels cramped,” I said, squeezing my overweight body
against the end of the boat. 

Jerry paddled a few strokes. “This is harder to row than the
aluminum canoe, too. We’re drawing several inches.” 

Dismayed, we stored the new green canoe in the garage and devised
a golf cart contraption to carry the old one.The golf cart conveyance worked, but every time I saw that green
canoe hanging from the ceiling, I thought, “God,
what’s the plan on the canoe? We spent $500. 

We tried to sell it, and even though a few people came to
see it, nobody ever even gave us an offer. I finally stopped asking questions
and accepted it as one of God’s mysteries. 

Then, in 2003, I lost 40 pounds See article and Jerry lost 20. Something
clicked one July day and I said, “Let’s try the green canoe.” You can guess the
rest of the story. Jerry could paddle around easily with 60 fewer pounds and I
had plenty of room in my smaller body. 
The solution of losing weight had never crossed my mind. I’d
been overweight for years and expected to continue to be heavy. But God had a
surprise for me and a solution to the canoe problem. Sometimes situations
remain mysteries, but sometimes, God has a solution for us way beyond our meager
imaginations! 

Jesus, we want your solutions, not our own feeble ideas. Help us keep taking our problems to you, so you can surprise us with your solutions.

Praise the LORD.
Give
thanks to the LORD, for he is
good; his love endures forever. Psalm 106:1 NIV

 
Whether
in spite of or because of, give thanks. 

Give
thanks in spite of a wild child.
Give
thanks in spite of a pink slip.
Give
thanks in spite of singleness.
Thank
him, regardless of all.

Give
thanks if you can see.
Give
thanks if you can speak.
Give
thanks if you can read this.
Give
thanks if your child grasps reading.
Give
thanks if you have a comfortable chair.
Give
thanks for purple, scarlet, and indigo.
Give
thanks for the morning and evening light.
Give
thanks for tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and onions.
Give
thanks for African savannah and Brazilian rain forest.
Give
thanks—the kingdom has come, is coming, and will finally, fully, and forever,
arrive. 

Father, You know what you are doing and we give
you thanks