As we were getting ready to start a new project for the kids, we gathered all the material we would need and right before we started my husband said “let’s pray!”. My reaction was: “for this too?!” and with the same calm he always has, he answered: “yes, that the Lord be with us and that everything goes well!”. We were about to build a wooden play set, not very big, a ten-hour-job max for two adults. We watched videos, we did our homework, checked all the wood and other pieces, we were ready to get this done; What could possibly go wrong, I fought to myself!
As we were progressing on the project I realized why the Apostle Paul would say in his first letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 5 verse 16 to 18: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
A lot of things in deed could have gone wrong during this small project: a splinter in the hand, a power drill gone in the wrong direction, a sawzall injury, or a beam falling over us… anything.
This made me think how continuously gracious the Lord is to us, everyday in every aspect of our lives; And I realized that we don’t have enough words to give Him thanks for all He does for us. How great and humble He is to find pleasure in the so little we have to offer.
Then I started to think of every time He protected me in the kitchen from spilling hot oil or boiling water over myself; and every time He was with me on the road keeping me and the kids from being crushed buy some careless semi driver, how He helped us buy our boy’s glasses at a time money was so short we couldn’t have replaced them otherwise. I remembered how with one salary we were able to support our growing family with so many challenges here and there without getting in debt. The more I was thinking the more He kept reminding me of things He did without us asking or giving thanks for.
Yes, the Lord is good and His goodness is also revealed in all those small things that we take for granted but are really in fact, the fruits of His blessing. This simple lesson I learned will follow me for the rest of my believer’s life: “pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks”.