He Chose Us

Thanksgiving Week 2020.

What a year this has been for America … what a year this has been for the world! 

As I have contemplated the events and happenings of this historic year, I have come to a startling conclusion: 

We are the ones chosen by the loving hand of the Father to travel through the riveting times and challenging days of 2020.

Think about it for a minute … God chose us to represent Him during the period of time known as 2020!

You are not alive today by accident or my mistake … God chose you for today!

I remind myself of that fact often … that just as God chose a generation to walk across dry land through the Red Sea … He chose us.

Just as God chose a group of people to be alive when Jesus was on planet earth in the flesh … He chose us for today.

Just as there was a group of unsuspecting yet obedient followers of Christ to be alive during the persecution of the early church … we were chosen to be His witnesses during the COVID pandemic.

Just as there was a specific group of loving and Godly people ordained to be alive during the treacherous days of the Civil War … we were chosen to be His hands and feet during times of great racial division.

Just as there was a group of courageous men and women who stood for righteousness and truth during the horror of World War II … we were chosen to stand for Christ during the days of political divide in America.

We have been chosen!

“And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” – Acts 17:26 & 27

We can break out into a song of grateful worship and rich thanksgiving this week because we know that God has us here for His purposes. 

What a wonder!

We can rest in His sweet peace knowing that He is not far away but that He is close even during these days of division, unrest and sickness. 

He is with us!

And now … let’s talk about Thanksgiving …

I have informed my wonderful family that for those of us who are able to gather around a common table on Thanksgiving Day … we will not be discussing the election or a worldwide pandemic or even the things that divide us. We will gather for the express purpose of the giving of thanks!

We have so much more to be grateful for than we can ever imagine!

There is always something to be thankful for … and I intend to discover those specific blessings during the last two months of 2020. 

I will not waste another day of this awesome year with complaining, worrying or criticizing.

I will give my heart fully to discovering God’s purposes for my life in the middle of human pain and broken hearts.

I will not fritter away the value of the life that I have been given with negativity or with fear … but I will joyfully set my gaze toward the One who made me for such a time as this! 

“And who knows whether you have been born for such a time as this?” – Esther 4:14 

My purpose … on every day of my life … whether it is an “easy” day or a “hard” day … is to glorify God and to encourage others.

My calling … on every day of my life … regardless of who is in the White House … is to make hell smaller and heaven bigger.

My God-ordained destiny … on every day of my life … whether I have little or I have much … is to honor God with my words, my heart attitudes and my faith. 

I will do it!  Will you? 

Finally, in the spirit of this magnificent month of Pilgrims, feasting and pumpkin pie, I’d love to share with you a few of the things for which I am grateful.

I am grateful to serve the Lord at my moment in history. 

I am grateful for all of those who pray for me on a daily basis. 

I am grateful for my health.

I am grateful for the Bible.

I am grateful for the power of prayer.

I am grateful to belong to Jesus. 

I am grateful for all of you who choose to join me in the call to make hell smaller and heaven bigger!

Thanks for listening to my heart this week.  As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me.  And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is!