Archive for December, 2007

“Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.  Give thanks to Him and praise His name.” Psalm 100:4 NLT

This time of Thanksgiving is a time to thank God for all that He has done.  The original thanksgiving, even before the pilgrims, was for  celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops.   Every year since the birth of our church we have had the most precious time of the year around Thanksgiving. 

Chest of Joash is my favorite time of the year.  It’s the sweetest and most precious time that we have at our church.  It is such an awesome experience to share with all the families in our church.  To watch families come together with their sacrifice and prayers, some are so joyous and some are so broken.  It is a true privilege to be a part of something so life changing. 

Chest of Joash is truly life changing.  I have seen year after year the life change.  I always tell “My Girls” (my big girls), there is power in the chest.  God’s power.  I have been privileged to have the first hand account of many prayers.  Many of them my own.  As I have shared, my very first Chest of Joash I scrimped and saved what money I could believing that God would hear and answer my prayer.  I prayed for the salvation of my husband, it was  years later but God answered my prayer.  My husband has been serving faithfully and is constantly trying to pursue after what God would have him to do.  This is something many probably would never have dreamed would have happened. 

The first year that we came to the chest together, my husband said that God told him that we needed to give our car.  He had only been saved 3.5 months and he’s wanting to give our car!!  God is so good!!  We gave that car and prayed for a house that only God could get us.  As I’ve said before I pray for ridiculous favor and God is a God of ridiculous favor!!  He took me on such a journey through faith and trusting during the next year but I was steadfast like the persistent widow with the judge (Luke 18), and Jacob, I wasn’t going to let go until He blessed me.  In the end God blessed us with a house that has his fingerprints all over it!!

God just continues to always amaze me.  I love it!! Over the years as I said before I have been able to have the privilege to pray with friends and share in that special moment as they give their all and seek God’s face in their situation. 

This year I had the ultimate privilege!!  God was whispering to me during many of our services showing me another answered prayer.  Last year, one of “my girls” was praying for her husband and Satan almost kept her home last year because she didn’t want to go to the Chest alone.  Her husband had stopped coming to church he was running and trying to run fast.  That morning last year she was so upset and distraught, he said he wasn’t coming, she couldn’t get her boys up out of bed and she was going to stay home.  She pressed through and came.  She sat there in the service just weeping.  I, along with another of “my girls”, lifted her out of her chair and walked her to the chest.  She couldn’t say a word she was weeping so bad, her prayers were in her tears.  I was allowed to be her voice that day she dropped her marriage in the chest. 

This year her marriage is one of the many answered prayers!!  GOD is so awesome! So powerful, and ever so HOLY!!  Praise His name and enter His gates with thanksgiving!! 

I can’t wait to see the prayers that will be answered this weekend at the chest!!