And once again Father, we come to my favorite weekly post here at PhatherPhil.org; Thankful Thursday. As we draw closer to Thanksgiving Lord, it seems as if more and more folks are taking time out to focus on the many Blessings You bestow on us. And while my heart sings seeing such a wonderful outpouring of gratefulness this time of year Father, it also highlights to me one important thing that I think sometimes we all miss…
Your Blessings grace our lives EVERYDAY; not only at Thanksgiving, not just every Thankful Thursday, but every minute of every day.
Even when we don’t have a Holiday to direct our attention to Your many gifts Father, it’s important to recognize and celebrate the fact that we exist and thrive within Your mercy and grace each day. By keeping that fountain of gratefulness flowing in our hearts, we’re better able to weather our personal trials and at the same time to share that perspective of gratitude with others around us.
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” – Colossians 3:17 (ESV)
When we do everything from that foundation of thankfulness Lord, our lives become brighter in so many ways.
And on that thought Father, here’s this week’s Thankful Thursday list! Looking back over the past seven days Lord, I’ve been especially grateful for:
399. Feeling better following a two-week-long respiratory illness.
400. An update to the Android version of the YouVersion Bible App that brought some great new features.
401. That nine years ago tomorrow, You Blessed Shannon and I with our youngest son, Aidan.
402. The encouragement, kindness and support I received from one of my Facebook friends this week.
403. A fun “one on one” dinner out for Aidan and I while Shannon and Jonathan were at church groups last night.
404. Getting caught up on bills last weekend.
405. That even in our brokenness, our sin, and our pain You forgive us, and seek to draw us to You.
We continue to live bathed in Your grace Lord. 🙂
Heavenly Father,
We thank You Father God, for the many Blessings You bring to our lives each day; both those that fill our hearts to overflowing with Your benevolence, and those that Bless us quietly from the sidelines. Please help us to maintain grateful hearts, and to reach out and share Your many gifts with others.
To start off our week together Lord, I want to thank You for the many Blessings You graced my family and I with this past weekend. As I still wasn’t feeling very well, we spent much of Saturday at home, save for a much-needed grocery shopping trip, and finished the evening off by curling up on the couch together and watching the final chapter in the Harry Potter movie series. Sunday we started our day with an inspiring worship service at Ewell’s St. Paul, and then joined some close friends for a brunch to celebrate the birthday of one of their children. The afternoon was filled with a marathon of housework, homework, bill-paying and laundry, but at the end of the day we were all able to relax a bit before bed, and enjoy some quiet time together. You know Father, as my Walk with You progresses, I find myself appreciating those times of unity with my family more and more. I’ve always enjoyed “family time”, but the more connected I become with You, the more connected I feel to them as well. 🙂
In her message this weekend, Pastor Kris made a statement that’s been churning around in my head ever since. She told us that one of her seminary professors had once said that if you look at the Bible as a whole; the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Gospels, the one underlying concept that’s consistent throughout and that ties it all together, is love. Now Father, while initially this may seem like an awfully simplistic and obvious statement, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was a fundamental point that quite often we miss.
Throughout the Scriptures as well as in our lives today, we see many examples of the wide range of ways You show Your love for us. Some are obvious, and come in the form of Blessings that clearly enrich our mortal lives and bring us immediate joy. Others however, may be perceived as negative events that seem to complicate our lives and cause us difficulty. The point that we need to remember however is this; just because things don’t always go as we expect or desire them to, it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t an act of love on Your part nonetheless. I liken it to when I have to discipline my children. I certainly don’t enjoy reprimanding or punishing them, but in my desire to be a loving, caring and responsible parent, sometimes it’s necessary for me to correct and guide them by providing a response that makes the point apparent and relevant to them.
In one of the most beautiful, and I believe powerful passages of the Bible, the Apostle Paul describes this love that You’ve given us, and the importance of it in our lives:
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (ESV)
I view love as the “glue” You use to bind our hearts to Yours Father. You bestow it on us freely, and through Christ’s example, You lead us to share it with others in a similar fashion. Such an overwhelming gift Lord, and one that grows more and more prominent as our walk to You progresses.
Heavenly Father,
We thank You Lord, for the love and Blessings You give to us freely and abundantly each day. Please open our hearts and our minds, that we may more fully come to recognize Your acts of love in our lives; both those that fill our hearts with overwhelming joy, and those guiding actions which while sometimes painful, are done as the caring, loving, responsible Father that You are.
You know Father, with the multitude of Blessings You surround me with each day, I find it both fascinating and wonderful that when I allow my thoughts to drift and ponder those many gifts, my wife Shannon’s face is always the brightest star in the sky. Of course Lord, I’m by no means discounting the other miracles You’ve placed into my life, but the longer that she and I are together and the more we go through, the more I realize that Your intentions for marriage are truly foundational.
And although I would never presume to comprehend Your scope on the subject Father, over the time that I’ve been married to Shannon I do believe I’ve come to understand some of the fundamental reasons why You’ve brought us together…
You desire that we should have intimate companionship.
Although obviously sex is a piece of this Lord, it’s not entirely to what I’m referring. We’re Blessed with many relationships throughout our lives, but when we honor the divine nature of marriage by nourishing, encouraging and sharing completely with one another, it provides an amazingly deep, intimate connection that only You could have designed.
Marriage confronts us with the fact that we’re generally self-centered beings by nature, and helps us learn to place others first.
Our flesh wants. It’s that simple. From the first minute we become aware of ourselves, we’re driven by our earthly shells to seek gratification in the basic and flawed attempt to find happiness. In many ways, it’s the ultimate paradox; to find the peace and contentment that a relationship with Jesus offers, we must first learn to see past our selfish natures and give of ourselves with a joyous heart. In the same respect, for our marriages to live and thrive we need to learn to place our spouse, and our union, ahead of ourselves.
By joining us together as man and wife, You draw us closer to You through that union.
When we’re brought together through the union of marriage, we’re in fact taking on a third member of the family… You, Lord. Through Your ordainment of a couple’s commitment to one another, You connect through that Blessing in an amazingly powerful way. While it’s obviously important for each of us to seek and nourish a personal relationship with You Father, it’s no less important to cultivate and maintain a deep connection with You as a married couple. By keeping You as an integral part of our marriages, we bring ourselves closer to one another in the process.
“And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” – Ecclesiastes 4:12 (ESV)
Heavenly Father,
Through the gift of marriage Lord, You draw us together in example of Your love for us. Please help strengthen our commitment to one another, and to glorifying You through our nourishing of this holy union.
Last night Lord, we had an absolutely fabulous evening. As you know, my family and I were Blessed to have the opportunity to attend a “Listener Appreciation Concert” held at Calvary Assembly of God in Dover, sponsored by the local Christian Radio Station, 88.7 The Bridge. The production featured Christian Artist and Songwriter John Waller, who led a wonderfully inspiring music and worship concert for those in attendance.
Among the songs that Mr. Waller played, one of the last on the program was his hit from the movie “Fireproof” called “As for Me and My House”. While he was singing on stage, this video played on the room’s two projection screens:
It was a powerful statement, and a rousing moment of worship Father. Thank You so much for placing this song in his heart, that we might be inspired by it’s message.
Heavenly Father,
As we begin the weekend Lord, please guide our decisions and actions to best serve Your desire for our lives. Make Your presence powerfully apparent to all that seek You, and bring Your comfort and aid to those truly in need.
Last night Father, as I was preparing to shut down and head to bed for the night, a message appeared on my Facebook wall that made me pause, and then to pray.
On August 15, I wrote to you regarding an inspiring story of faith I’d heard on 88.7 The Bridge on my way to work that morning. It described the Baptism of Kim Miller; a young lady dealing with terminal cancer, who instead of dwelling on the terrifying and painful nature of her situation, chose to give thanks and praise for Your Blessings in her life. The church she attends made a video of her powerful testimony, which was then shared on the radio that morning.
Following that conversation Father, I emailed Kim on Facebook to let her know that her story had touched me, and that I was praying for her. We ended up “friending”, and I’ve been following her journey since.
Last night, the message came across my screen that Kim had gone home… Into Your waiting arms Lord. And while my spirit aches knowing the hole this undoubtedly leaves in her family’s hearts, I’m rejoicing in the knowledge that she’s arrived in the one place where her pain and troubles are surely at an end.
“When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”” – 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 (NIV)
Kim’s powerful and courageous testimony of faith touched so many lives Father, including mine. Yet while we nurse the sorrow of her passing, Kim has achieved that victory the Apostle Paul spoke of, continuing on alive and well in her eternal home.
Death has no sting for those who dwell in Christ. You’ll be missed here Kim, but we’ll see you again soon enough.
Heavenly Father,
We thank You Father, for the victory over death You delivered us through Your Son, Jesus Christ. We pray that You keep the family of Kim Miller wrapped in Your holy presence, and comforted in the knowledge that she rests in Your loving embrace.
Hi, I’m Phil Malmstrom, a.k.a. Phather Phil. I’m self-employed, father of two wonderful young men, an ordained minister who delights in spreading Jesus’ Message of Hope and Love, a science-fiction junkie, an aspiring photographer and above all that one of God’s Children who rejoices in His Blessings each day.
Hi, I’m Phil Malmstrom, a.k.a. Phather Phil. I’m self-employed, father of two wonderful young men, an ordained minister who delights in spreading Jesus’ Message of Hope and Love, a science-fiction junkie, an aspiring photographer and above all that one of God’s Children who rejoices in His Blessings each day. 
