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Arise in Gratitude
Ever find yourself wondering where God is when life gets dark, frustrating, or just plain ordinary? Pastor Barbie invites us to sit with the reality that sacred moments aren’t just tucked away in mountain-top experiences or huge miracles. They happen in the middle of everyday messes, small joys, and even deep pain.
She tells relatable stories about being a parent, dealing with loss, and always wanting more. She shows how gratitude helps us notice God's goodness in every situation. She's not talking about ignoring the pain but about witnessing beauty rising from ashes and declaring, “I will see the goodness of God in the land of the living.”
Scriptures Referenced
Genesis 1:14; Exodus 33:15-19; Psalm 27:13-14, 116:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; Hebrews 12:1
Key Insights
- God is calling us to wake up and see what He’s doing.
- The enemy wants you to never be satisfied with what God has given you.
- Gratitude is a spiritual discipline and an act of trust, not just a surface emotion.
- Gratitude disciplines our hearts to judge a moment only after finding Him in it.
- Gratitude is the inevitable fruit of seeing God.
- The goodness of God should evoke a response in us.
Key Sections
00:00:00 - Welcome and Opening Reflection
Pastor Barbie sets a tone of expectancy by reflecting on how God continually leads us to step up and discover new layers of His goodness.
00:02:19 - Discovering Sacred Moments
We live in a culture filled with distractions. In the tension between busyness and spiritaul awareness, the stars overhead still mark God's holy timing and prompt us to slow down, pay attention, and witness the sacred moments.
00:07:46 - Shifting from Distraction to Witness
Many people feel pressured by messages that say “you don’t have enough.” But the truth is different: the real miracle isn't just a big healing or event. It's about daily practice. It's about noticing what God has already given us and building a thankful spirit that appreciates both the simple and the amazing.
00:12:07 - Holding Pain and Joy as Sacred
Pastor Barbie shares personal stories about being a mother, dealing with loss, and finding healing. She shows that gratitude is important not just in happy times but also in tough times. We can see the sacred when we recognize God's presence at births, in hospitals, and during all seasons, even when we are unsure of what God will do next.
00:17:21 - Practicing Gratitude as Obedience
Gratitude is challenged by disappointments and distractions, but the Bible shows it’s more than just a feeling. It’s a way of living and a choice to give thanks in every situation. This attitude can change how you see your faith and your relationships.
00:28:24 - Legacy of Gratitude in the Family
Pastor Barbie shows that being thankful every day creates a lasting impact on children, grandchildren, and future generations. Remember that sharing stories of God’s faithfulness makes a difference.
00:37:31 - Worshipful Response
Remember one thing to be grateful for and worship. Gratitude is learned and contagious, transforming both individuals and communities.
https://springhouse.captivate.fm/episode/arise-in-gratitude
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Gathering Times
- Sundays, 9:00 AM
- Sundays, 11:00 AM
- Thursdays, 6:00 PM
Contact Info
Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
CCLI License 2070006
Transcript
All right, then. Are you ready?
Speaker:Am I? I don't know. God is
Speaker:so faithful and he is so good, and I am excited about the word that
Speaker:he has today. You guys doing good this morning? Does it seem like
Speaker:I'm really close here for a minute? Yeah. Would you rather that I
Speaker:go up here? Oh, good. Because I was just going to be right over here
Speaker:and talk to you a little.
Speaker:I am excited about the Word. We are still in the arise
Speaker:portion of the series that we've been in, and it is all
Speaker:about those moments or those
Speaker:seasons in our life where God begins to draw us
Speaker:to step up in some areas. You know, has God ever done that
Speaker:to you? Gone. You know, this is good. This is good. But you know what?
Speaker:I've got more for you, and I would like you to step up just a
Speaker:little bit in this because I have more for. For you
Speaker:and in God. That is always the case. I was sharing
Speaker:earlier. You know, it doesn't matter how many times you read the. Well,
Speaker:it does matter how many times you read the Bible. But I will say,
Speaker:regardless of how many times you read the Bible, read the
Speaker:Word, there's always something new. There's always
Speaker:something that makes you go, wait a minute, was that there before? You know,
Speaker:was there really always a book of Genesis? You know, Anyway,
Speaker:anyway, I love that he continues to open his word
Speaker:to us, and that's my prayer this morning, is that he would open his
Speaker:word to us. We do have some visitors in the house.
Speaker:I am Barbie Laughlin. I'm the executive
Speaker:pastor here, and I've had the honor and privilege of serving in
Speaker:this house for almost 30 years.
Speaker:You know, I think I need to sit down now that I've said that out
Speaker:loud. Actually, you know, the goodness of God thing, I was sitting here
Speaker:just a second ago and had the most poignant, sweetest
Speaker:moment because I'm sitting here as people are walking up
Speaker:for communion, and I hear these two voices, and they are
Speaker:the most beautiful voices in the world to me. And I rarely get to hear
Speaker:them together. And it was Pastor Ronnie and Pastor Wayne who were
Speaker:in front of one another in the aisle. And I'm like, oh, God, I've
Speaker:been so blessed. I've been so blessed. And we are
Speaker:so blessed by what God has done and continue and by who
Speaker:he is. So we are going to jump into the Word and see what
Speaker:he has for us this morning. You know, what's interesting is
Speaker:that I can study and I can plan,
Speaker:and I really have no clue what's going to happen when I get
Speaker:up here. Which is good, because all I want to do is follow
Speaker:the Holy Spirit and follow his leading. I want to study, and then I just
Speaker:want to see where he takes us. Are y' all cool with that?
Speaker:Okay. Because if you said no, we were in big trouble. So we're going to
Speaker:stand up and we're going to get into the Word. And I will tell you,
Speaker:these scriptures may seem random, but they're not,
Speaker:or they weren't in my office, and I
Speaker:don't believe they will be by the end of this time together. So if we
Speaker:could read together. And God said,
Speaker:let there be lights in the vault of the sky to
Speaker:separate the day from the night, and let them sit
Speaker:as signs to mark sacred times and days and
Speaker:years. That last line. Let them serve as
Speaker:signs to mark sacred times and days
Speaker:and years. Okay, now we're gonna jump over
Speaker:into Genesis a little further. Then
Speaker:Moses said to him, if your presence does not go
Speaker:with us, do not send us up from here. How
Speaker:will anyone know that you are pleased with me and
Speaker:with your. Unless you go with us? What
Speaker:else will distinguish me and your people from all
Speaker:the other people on the face of the earth?
Speaker:And the Lord said to Moses, I will do the
Speaker:very thing you have asked because I am pleased with
Speaker:you and I know you by name. Then
Speaker:Moses said, now show me your glory.
Speaker:And the Lord said, I. I will cause all my
Speaker:goodness to pass in front of you, and I will
Speaker:proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.
Speaker:Father. God, I thank you so much for your word.
Speaker:I thank you so much for your
Speaker:word. It truly is a light in our
Speaker:path. It's a lamp unto our feet. I thank you, Father,
Speaker:that you alone have the words of wisdom, the words of life. And
Speaker:so, Father, thank you. Thank you for giving that to us.
Speaker:I pray our hearts are attentive to you and what you have to say today,
Speaker:Lord, not me. Let my stuff fall in your stand in
Speaker:Jesus name. And they all said, amen.
Speaker:Amen. I have read Genesis so many times
Speaker:as have you, and for some reason, it just
Speaker:hit me as I was reading this passage when it
Speaker:said that there would be lights in the
Speaker:expanse of the heaven. This was day four. That there would
Speaker:be lights in the expanse of the heaven, and that they would mark
Speaker:the sacred days. They would mark the sacred
Speaker:days. And there are a lot of ways we can go with this, but I'm
Speaker:just gonna sit here with this for a minute. You know, when you.
Speaker:Last night, did any of y' all go outside Last night, any
Speaker:of you close to, have you been
Speaker:outside in the last month? Did
Speaker:you happen to see that it gets dark in the evenings?
Speaker:And the last time, whenever that might have been, did you
Speaker:notice that there were stars in the
Speaker:sky in the expanse of the heavens? Well, this
Speaker:tells me that they are still marking sacred times,
Speaker:that they're still marking sacred times. And that as
Speaker:long as those stars are there and the lights are
Speaker:there, God's doing stuff. God's doing
Speaker:things. Because, see, here's what this says. Sacred,
Speaker:regarded as holy and entitled to reverence or set
Speaker:apart for a specific and elevated purpose. Dedicated and
Speaker:consecrated, hallowed, directly associated with
Speaker:deity and worship.
Speaker:So if there are stars in the sky
Speaker:and there are lights in the expanse of the heaven,
Speaker:there are holy things happening. There
Speaker:are sacred things happening. There are moments that
Speaker:are entitled to reverence as the Lord unfolds them.
Speaker:There are days that are appointed in your life for
Speaker:specific purpose, and they're still being
Speaker:marked by the expanse, the lights in the heavens. See,
Speaker:here's my revelation, my day for revelation. The reason it's a day for
Speaker:revelation is because that's the day that it was created. My day
Speaker:for revelation is this is as long as there are lights in the vault of
Speaker:the sky, we are marking and standing
Speaker:witness to sacred seasons and appointed and
Speaker:holy times. We are marking
Speaker:those seasons. And I see the Lord in my life.
Speaker:It seems like there is just such a keen awareness these
Speaker:days. And they're not easy days, but there's this keen awareness,
Speaker:there's this keen calling in my spirit to pay
Speaker:attention. To pay attention. Not to social
Speaker:media, not to NBC and ABC and FOX
Speaker:News, but to pay attention to what God is
Speaker:doing in the earth, to pay attention to
Speaker:what he is accomplishing in the earth. It's like
Speaker:I asked him. I'm like, lord, what is this? Because it's been going on for
Speaker:several years, but, Lord, what is this? And
Speaker:he is teaching my spirit
Speaker:to stand witness. And he is
Speaker:calling his people to stand witness
Speaker:to what he is doing in the earth. And it isn't. There's an
Speaker:element of witnesses. Like, go and be witnesses.
Speaker:Absolutely. You go and you share the gospel. You go and share
Speaker:the message of Christ. But there's also an element to
Speaker:witness, to be aware and to see what God
Speaker:is doing in the earth, what God is doing in these moments
Speaker:in your life, what he's trying to do, to teach you.
Speaker:Because he's always trying to teach you to be
Speaker:aware and to be awake. Here's the thing. In seasons of
Speaker:witness. And trust me, whether you know it or not, you are
Speaker:in one because you are called to see what
Speaker:God is doing and to be aware and to grasp it
Speaker:so that not only can we witness it, but we can be a part of
Speaker:what he's doing in the earth and seasons of
Speaker:witness. Elroy, the God who sees
Speaker:me and the God who sees you
Speaker:is teaching you to see him in
Speaker:what you're doing. Now, listen, I understand there's a passage of scripture that
Speaker:says no man can see God and live. Okay,
Speaker:I get that, and that's not what I'm saying, but I am
Speaker:saying you can see him.
Speaker:You can see him. It's, you know, the old thing. You
Speaker:cannot see the wind, but you can feel its effects.
Speaker:You can know that God is moving in a
Speaker:moment if you are aware and see, he's getting
Speaker:me in these seasons to understand the
Speaker:sacred nature of where you're walking right now.
Speaker:Today. Today. Now, see, there are things that you
Speaker:know. Don't jump. Don't jump
Speaker:where you're walking today. Where you are walking today is
Speaker:in the season of Witness, when we begin to understand
Speaker:the sacred privilege of standing witness. Under the lights,
Speaker:God births a heart of gratitude for even the things we
Speaker:once found impossible to look upon. He
Speaker:begins to show us the collateral beauty of things. When the
Speaker:ashes are still ashes, you can see the beauty that
Speaker:will come from them because of the faithfulness of God and the
Speaker:gratitude that it can birth in your spirit.
Speaker:I am a
Speaker:blessed, blessed woman. I am
Speaker:a blessed woman. God has given me the best
Speaker:husband. He gave me exactly what I needed. He
Speaker:gave me three children. I have 11
Speaker:grandchildren. And those moments in my life have
Speaker:marked me. Those have been sacred moments.
Speaker:I remember holding each of my children.
Speaker:I remember holding James, Aaron for the first time and being
Speaker:scared out of my mind. God, are you sure you can
Speaker:trust me with this? Probably not, but anyway.
Speaker:And I remember staying up all night that first night in
Speaker:the hospital because I didn't know I was going to need my sleep later anyway.
Speaker:But I remember staying up and being in that bed and
Speaker:holding him for the first time in my
Speaker:arms and being overwhelmed
Speaker:with how precious and holy and
Speaker:sacred that moment was. I remember
Speaker:holding each of my grandchildren for the first
Speaker:time and how precious that was and how everything
Speaker:in you shifts at that moment. But
Speaker:equally as precious was in that same
Speaker:hospital, in that same hospital,
Speaker:I would crawl into bed with my mother and hold her
Speaker:for the last time.
Speaker:Just as sacred, just as
Speaker:holy, One was exceeding joy
Speaker:and one was exceeding pain. But equally as
Speaker:sacred, these moments that God entrusts us with
Speaker:in our life, if we just look for the beauty
Speaker:in those moments, see, we can spend
Speaker:our life looking for the miraculous
Speaker:and only seeing God in the. I stood right over here
Speaker:several years ago, and I was standing over here, and it was an
Speaker:altar gathering like we do, and a young lady came up,
Speaker:and as soon as she came up, she started to weep.
Speaker:And she said, I went to the doctor this week, and I'm having
Speaker:twins, but there's no membrane between
Speaker:them. They're conjoined twins. And I said, you
Speaker:know what? I don't know what God has planned here. I don't know what he
Speaker:has planned here, but I know that he's good. So we're going to
Speaker:pray and we're going to trust him. And about three
Speaker:weeks later, I'm standing in the exact same spot, and I see her
Speaker:come through the back doors, and she comes down and she goes, I went to
Speaker:the doctor. There's a membrane.
Speaker:She said, there's a membrane. And then about. Oh, I don't know,
Speaker:about four months. No, about a year and four months. Because they were
Speaker:toddlers, and the back doors open, and
Speaker:she's got a little boy, one by each hand. She said, I just wanted you
Speaker:to see him. We serve a God of the
Speaker:miraculous. Absolutely, we serve a God of the
Speaker:miraculous, but we don't spend our lives waiting on the miraculous.
Speaker:What we do is spend our lives day after day after day after day,
Speaker:watching God's goodness, God's goodness.
Speaker:And so I'm like, lord, I don't know what's going on with me, Lord,
Speaker:it's like, I'm just seeing you and all of these things. What are you
Speaker:doing? And he took me to Genesis
Speaker:33. And I'm like, what? Genesis 33.
Speaker:I will cause my goodness to pass in front of you,
Speaker:and I will proclaim my name. And I'm like, okay, okay,
Speaker:okay. But you know what's really cool
Speaker:is that Moses didn't ask him if he
Speaker:could see his goodness. Moses asked him, can I see your glory?
Speaker:It's two different words. And the Holy
Speaker:Spirit just went, all your life, you were
Speaker:raised as a glory girl. You responded
Speaker:to me in moves that went this way or went
Speaker:that way. And this is how you expect to see me, is in those
Speaker:specific moves. But I'm gonna take you from being a glory
Speaker:girl who has to have a different kind of manifestation
Speaker:to understand that my presence is right there. I am going
Speaker:to teach you, train your heart
Speaker:to Be aware of my goodness. To be aware
Speaker:of my goodness. Oh, Jesus, help me.
Speaker:Gratitude disciplines our hearts to judge a moment
Speaker:only after finding him in it.
Speaker:Lord, how can I be grateful in this? This is hard. This is
Speaker:painful, Lord, this is not what I expected. This
Speaker:feels like suffering, Lord. But all
Speaker:the while, if you look for him,
Speaker:if you will look for him, you will see things.
Speaker:I just. I have just. I've just never
Speaker:ever been as aware of the goodness of God
Speaker:as I am these days. And they're hard days. You
Speaker:look around in the world and you're like, God, where are you? That's the
Speaker:appropriate question. Because he wants you to find him, because he
Speaker:is there. Then if your heart is going, God, where are you? Where are you
Speaker:in this? Dig in deeper. Spend some more time
Speaker:with him. Get on your face in the room with nothing
Speaker:going on and talk to him. Because, see, there are these
Speaker:preachers.
Speaker:Hiding behind keyboards
Speaker:with imacs in front of them who are
Speaker:preaching a gospel of distraction. And you know what really
Speaker:makes me mad is everything they say is, oh, you could have more.
Speaker:If you will just do this like and follow, like and follow. If
Speaker:you will like and follow, then you can make $70,000 in four and
Speaker:a half minutes and your life will be different. And what it's teaching
Speaker:us is that what you have is not enough. What
Speaker:God has provided for you is not enough. And so there's
Speaker:this constant longing for more. And media is telling us
Speaker:that we're doing it wrong. Do it the way they say to do it. We
Speaker:don't have enough, so we have to do it. You know, you'll have more if
Speaker:you don't. Passive income. You don't wanna work for it. You want the passive income.
Speaker:And the whole thing, the whole thing
Speaker:is a distraction from the fact that God has been good to you.
Speaker:God has provided everything you need. He
Speaker:has opened his hand according to scripture
Speaker:and provided for you, supplied everything that you
Speaker:need. And the enemy wants us to be so distracted and
Speaker:so busy trying to gain more that we do not appreciate
Speaker:what is right, right in the room with us.
Speaker:Gratitude. An awareness of God and His work
Speaker:that allows us to be grateful. And I'm like, lord, what is this thing
Speaker:you're doing? You know, I know it's a spiritual occurrence
Speaker:thing that you're waking me up, Lord. And he gave me this.
Speaker:Did you know that there is such a thing?
Speaker:To actively see God's hand, to
Speaker:witness his work and stand witness. There's that word, witness
Speaker:to what he is doing in the Space and in the moment
Speaker:to stand witness to what he is doing. This literally
Speaker:means God, give me eyes to see, Lord. Give me an
Speaker:understanding of what I'm looking at, but give me eyes
Speaker:that see you. And when that happens, there's
Speaker:this gratitude thing that begins to well up. When I first read
Speaker:that, doesn't that seem like a transformer's name to you?
Speaker:I want to see that one transform.
Speaker:But the goodness of God to be able to see it. And as
Speaker:they said a few times, we get so distracted that we don't
Speaker:see it. And as the Lord began to shift that in me,
Speaker:this was what I felt like. He told me our prayers need to shift from
Speaker:show me your glory to allow me to stand witness to your
Speaker:goodness. Allow me to stand witness
Speaker:to your goodness. To the goodness of the
Speaker:Lord. Well, what does that even mean, goodness of
Speaker:God? The tool of God. It includes his beauty. Can
Speaker:you look at ashes and go, I see the potential beauty here.
Speaker:I see what you can do in this moment.
Speaker:His fairness, his joy. That joy
Speaker:that you get when there's no reason for you to be
Speaker:happy, but there's something on the inside of you that still cries
Speaker:out, God is good and he is faithful and we will survive this.
Speaker:And if not, I get to live with you forever.
Speaker:He'll either keep us here or take us out. And my mama used to always
Speaker:say, you can't threaten me with heaven.
Speaker:The goodness of God. That we would see the
Speaker:goodness of God. You know, David had a life, you
Speaker:know. Yeah, he did, Connie.
Speaker:And you had a life. Good, the bad and the
Speaker:ugly. We all got a history and we all got a future in him. Amen.
Speaker:Cause that's what his word says. The goodness of God. We can see the
Speaker:goodness of God. And I think about David and his failures
Speaker:and his falls and him drooling against the wall while he
Speaker:was literally holding Goliath's sword.
Speaker:Makes. Anyway, it's a long story. We'll get into it somet.
Speaker:But his life story was crazy. Yet he was still known
Speaker:to be a man after God's heart. Why?
Speaker:Because he knew the goodness of God. He knew
Speaker:the goodness of God. This is what I remain confident of. This
Speaker:I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of
Speaker:the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart
Speaker:and wait for the Lord.
Speaker:Sometimes it's not immediate. Sometimes all you see is the
Speaker:crash instead of the people crawling out of the car.
Speaker:Sometimes all you see is the immediacy of the moment and your
Speaker:breath catches and you don't know what to do in that moment. Can
Speaker:I encourage you be still and know that he's God and
Speaker:give him a minute to wait. This word right here, when it says wait for
Speaker:the Lord, it literally means lay down.
Speaker:Lay down and wait on me.
Speaker:Just lay down. See, we can wait about this long. And I know
Speaker:this because I've stood behind some of you in the checkout counter. Anyway,
Speaker:you can wait about this long. What if he asks you to just
Speaker:stretch out? What if he asks you to just wait in that for
Speaker:just a little bit? What if he says, just wait on
Speaker:me until you see his hand? Because, see, even when he took
Speaker:Moses, he didn't just. He went and he put him in the cleft of
Speaker:a rock and put his hand over him, and he could
Speaker:only see him from one angle. Sometimes you just
Speaker:gotta move around a little bit to catch the right angle
Speaker:to see what you need to see in that moment. But I
Speaker:ask you this. Like David, Hardships, blessings, and
Speaker:all people throwing stones at him. Conviction, losing child.
Speaker:Are you confident that you will see his goodness?
Speaker:Some of you are in a mess, Some of you are struggling, Some of you
Speaker:are in broken places. You're having a hard time. And
Speaker:are you confident underneath, underneath,
Speaker:like, physical stress, underneath those moments where you're not really
Speaker:figuring out, is there something on the inside of you that says, God, I will
Speaker:see your goodness. I will see your goodness, and I'll
Speaker:wait for it. Are you looking for it? Are you looking for it?
Speaker:Or is the problem all you can see?
Speaker:Is the issue all you can see? Or are you looking for
Speaker:him in it?
Speaker:Has your heart shifted to that of one who
Speaker:witnesses the sacred? Has your heart shifted to that,
Speaker:to me? There are three heart postures when you. You can know you're standing
Speaker:as a witness on the planet. There are three heart postures, and I think there
Speaker:are three cries in our heart, and they are this.
Speaker:I need to see God.
Speaker:I need to see God in this.
Speaker:I need your presence, God, I need to see you
Speaker:in this situation. I need to see you
Speaker:in this situation. And then you move
Speaker:from that to go, I will, I will.
Speaker:I will see you, God, in this God, I trust you, God.
Speaker:I know what your word says. I can't see it yet, but I will see
Speaker:you in this situation. And then there's the victorious part
Speaker:that goes, ha, I've seen him.
Speaker:I see your hand in this, God. It took a while.
Speaker:I had to lay there for a while, but I see your hand. I
Speaker:finally see your hand. But the issue Is so often
Speaker:we need to see him. We cry out, I will see him. But when we
Speaker:do see him, we don't tell anybody. We don't tell
Speaker:anybody. Do you know what God did? Do you
Speaker:have any idea how he met me in this moment? I
Speaker:thought I was going to die, but I didn't. God met
Speaker:me there. I have seen God. See, there's a before,
Speaker:during, and after in all of it. And each of you sit in one of
Speaker:those right now. Some of you need to see God in your
Speaker:situation. You need to know that he is there. And some of
Speaker:you need to allow faith to arise and go, okay, God, I am confident,
Speaker:shaky, but I'm confident that I'm going to see you in this.
Speaker:And, Lord, after we've sussed this out and I can
Speaker:figure it out in you, I'm going to tell everybody what you did.
Speaker:I want to tell everybody what you did. When with a pure heart,
Speaker:we ask to see his goodness in our situation, he gives us
Speaker:glimpses of a greater work in that moment. And the lens through
Speaker:which we see life changes and gratitude
Speaker:awakens. Things look different. Things look
Speaker:different. Pastor Wayne was sharing about this in one of our flow
Speaker:meetings. It looks different. The lens that you
Speaker:wear, the lens that you allow the Holy Spirit to
Speaker:flesh out life for you, changes
Speaker:with gratitude. With gratitude. When you begin
Speaker:to look and see everything you have instead of everything you do not have.
Speaker:When you begin to see the potential of the moment instead of what the moment
Speaker:looks like at that time. Because see, gratitude
Speaker:trains your heart to see the goodness of God. What does
Speaker:that say? Trains our heart to see the goodness of God
Speaker:regardless of our circumstances. Listen, gratitude is
Speaker:not a moment. Gratitude is not standing and going.
Speaker:I thank you, Lord. Gratitude is a lifestyle.
Speaker:It is a place that we plant ourself and decide to
Speaker:live a grateful life instead of having a
Speaker:dissatisfied, unfulfilled heart all the time.
Speaker:So what do you do? What do you do? What is our
Speaker:instruction? What do you mean? It's an act of obedience. It's a lifestyle.
Speaker:It is a choice. It is an act of obedience. Well,
Speaker:rejoice always. Pray continually.
Speaker:Give thanks. When?
Speaker:In just the ones you like. In the easy
Speaker:ones. In the ones that involve ice cream.
Speaker:Those are easier. I will give you that. Give thanks in
Speaker:all circumstances. For what? This is
Speaker:God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do you know
Speaker:how many times we get the question, what's God's will for my life?
Speaker:What? Start here, start here,
Speaker:Start here and see. David saw the goodness of the Lord. You've
Speaker:seen the goodness of the Lord. We have all stood witness to the goodness of
Speaker:the Lord, or we would not be sitting here today. His
Speaker:faithfulness has brought you to this place at this time.
Speaker:And we are all still standing under the
Speaker:expanse of the stars in the skies. There's still
Speaker:that canopy above us, witnessing sacred moments. And we are beginning
Speaker:the opportunity and the privilege to stand with them and
Speaker:witness the sacred in the earth. If we will just do
Speaker:it. If we will just do it.
Speaker:He's been good to me. And, you know,
Speaker:I was thinking about. I shared this
Speaker:many years ago, but there is one instance,
Speaker:you know, those sacred times, it says that they are marked,
Speaker:that they would mark sacred times. I believe there's something in
Speaker:our own spirits that mark sacred times,
Speaker:things that happen in our life. And I had one
Speaker:many years ago. I will never forget it. Ever
Speaker:forget it. It is etched into the
Speaker:eternity on my soul. It is etched there. And
Speaker:it was. Many of you all know, and a lot of you don't,
Speaker:because there's a lot of new people. But I had
Speaker:a niece who was diagnosed with leukemia when she
Speaker:was almost three years old. And this was back 25, 30 years ago,
Speaker:when the prognosis was not
Speaker:good, when you were diagnosed with this.
Speaker:And I had the awesome privilege and
Speaker:opportunity of attending her wedding later in life because God was
Speaker:so faithful. But there was this moment in that process
Speaker:that marked me. I don't know that I
Speaker:have ever or will ever see
Speaker:gratitude in the same way again.
Speaker:My sister Angie, I don't know if she's. Lord,
Speaker:my sister, she's younger, 15 months younger than I am. And Heather was her
Speaker:daughter and is her daughter. And
Speaker:they. I have to tell you, I am just going to say this.
Speaker:When Angie was young, she was very emotional.
Speaker:She was the youngest of the family. Do I need to say anymore?
Speaker:She was the youngest child, and she was a little spoiled.
Speaker:You know, I got that on good authority my own. And.
Speaker:And she was beautiful, little princess girl. And actually, she is still
Speaker:beautiful, but she was very emotional. And
Speaker:later in life, she just stopped.
Speaker:Stopped. And one day I asked her,
Speaker:I said, I don't understand what's going on. You
Speaker:know, what happened? And she said, well,
Speaker:Heather had gone in for another spinal tap. And
Speaker:my understanding is that those are extremely painful.
Speaker:And she said, I was sitting beside the bed holding
Speaker:her hand, and she said. Heather looked at her and
Speaker:said, mommy, if you won't cry, I won't.
Speaker:And from that moment forward,
Speaker:their deal was, we're going to be strong
Speaker:we're going to walk through this. And from that
Speaker:moment forward, if there were
Speaker:tears in her life, I didn't see them.
Speaker:And then flash forward, they walked through everything
Speaker:together. And God was so faithful and he was so good, but it was a
Speaker:journey. And we're sitting in a cabin in North
Speaker:Carolina, in the woods of North Carolina. I know. Cause I got lost going
Speaker:there anyway. And we've had a day and we've had the
Speaker:dinner and the families all come in, but everybody's gone to their own cabins
Speaker:and everybody's doing their own thing. And the only. It's quiet.
Speaker:And I'm sitting on the sofa with Heather, my niece, and
Speaker:Angie's sitting in a chair across the room. And
Speaker:Angie, in her way, I just. She is an amazing woman.
Speaker:She just goes, okay, let's do this.
Speaker:And she looks over at Heather and she says,
Speaker:you know, when I got pregnant with you, I so wanted
Speaker:a little girl. I so wanted a little girl. But we didn't find
Speaker:out. And I would have been happy with whatever, but we so wanted a little
Speaker:girl. And she said, and when you were born, your voice was so
Speaker:deep that when you cried, I didn't know.
Speaker:And. And your daddy said, you got your girl,
Speaker:you got your girl. And she said, I was the
Speaker:most grateful woman on the planet.
Speaker:And she said, and then I got to enjoy you.
Speaker:And we, you know, we played. We had our life until you were
Speaker:two and we sat in front of that doctor and the doctor
Speaker:gave their news. And she said all I could remember, said, I
Speaker:remember Mama would always say,
Speaker:don't ask God for everything, lest you seem ungrateful for what you
Speaker:have. And she said, so all I did
Speaker:was say, God, can I see her turn three?
Speaker:Can I see her turn three? And she said,
Speaker:you turned three and I was the most grateful
Speaker:woman on the planet. I was the most grateful
Speaker:woman planet. And she said.
Speaker:So I just said, God, can I see her turn four?
Speaker:And she said, we spent the year and I watched you turn
Speaker:four. And before she could get the words out of her
Speaker:mouth, Heather, who's sitting beside me, this 27
Speaker:year old gets up and runs across the room and climbs
Speaker:into her mother's lap and tucks her head in.
Speaker:And she said, I was so grateful, she said,
Speaker:and you turned five. And she said, but here's the thing, she said, I never,
Speaker:I would have never even imagined this
Speaker:day. I couldn't let my heart go there to go. God, can I
Speaker:see her get married? Can I see her grow up? She said, every
Speaker:single day of your life. I have been
Speaker:grateful. I have been grateful for. For every
Speaker:moment that we've had together. And all I could think was, oh, I
Speaker:shouldn't be here. This is such a private moment. Why am I here? But I
Speaker:couldn't move and I wasn't gonna leave. And I was like. It was the
Speaker:most beautiful thing in the world because I knew my s. You
Speaker:know what? I have always known and loved my sister. But I
Speaker:think I saw her for the first time to go. She
Speaker:has lived on that razor's edge between
Speaker:not knowing what God was gonna do or not do and trusting
Speaker:him and just asking for. Because she knew the goodness of God that
Speaker:surrounded her life on a daily basis.
Speaker:Sometimes all we're doing is asking for more and we can't see and
Speaker:be grateful for what we have today. To
Speaker:live in a posture of gratitude, to go God,
Speaker:to be able to sit in that room and watch someone
Speaker:that we didn't know what was going to happen. To watch her marry Chris,
Speaker:who is crazy in to have.
Speaker:She's got a baby now. She's got a little boy. And God
Speaker:just was so amazing through all
Speaker:of it. But it's the attitude,
Speaker:that posture of gratitude that my
Speaker:sister taught me, it's not about all of that. It's about
Speaker:this and it's about now, and it's about what God has done
Speaker:in your life. Everybody's waiting on this big thing.
Speaker:You're the big thing. God is the big thing. This moment now is all that
Speaker:we're promised. We know that. So to live in gratitude
Speaker:for what he has done and all that he's doing. And
Speaker:I honestly say with David, what shall
Speaker:I return to the Lord? What shall I return
Speaker:to the Lord? For all his goodness to me.
Speaker:For all his goodness to me.
Speaker:I ran across this thing and I thought, lord, this is so.
Speaker:This is so. If I were
Speaker:little. Actually, that's not an excuse. We can do it.
Speaker:You'll see. But to go, Lord, I want this heart
Speaker:of gratitude. I want this to be
Speaker:how I worship you. This is what I want to do,
Speaker:to return to the Lord all his goodness. And I want you
Speaker:to pay attention to the ancillary things in this video I'm getting
Speaker:ready to share with you. Because the beautiful part of it is, is that if
Speaker:I learn. If I learn to see and appreciate the goodness
Speaker:of God, I can teach my children to see and appreciate the goodness of
Speaker:God. And if you will, it will be perpetuated through the generations
Speaker:and the changes that come. So I'm gonna Ask them to take the
Speaker:lights down and crank this up for me, if you would.
Speaker:You can. Go ahead. Start us up there, Jonathan.
Speaker:Here's the thing that's in
Speaker:all of us. We lost it somewhere along the
Speaker:way, but it's there.
Speaker:Grandma and Grandpa are encouraging you. Mama's singing in the
Speaker:background. Do that for your babies. Do that
Speaker:for your babies. You know, this week, actually, last night,
Speaker:Rowan and Norin was gonna watch Kung Fu Panda.
Speaker:And in the beginning, at one point it says, you know,
Speaker:you must bow to your master. At which Rowan looks up and says,
Speaker:I don't bow to anyone but the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker:And Nora said, pass the ketchup.
Speaker:You win. Some guys, there
Speaker:should be something in our hearts that testifies to the
Speaker:goodness of God as we stand witness to all
Speaker:he has done. And so we're going to stand for just a second, and we
Speaker:are going to sing. And I'm going to ask you to take just one
Speaker:moment and think of one thing
Speaker:and be grateful. And we're going to sing. We're going to sing like he
Speaker:sings. We're going to lift our hands. I'd like to see some feet
Speaker:moving, if possible. We are going to declare the goodness of God. Let's
Speaker:go. Let's.
