{"id":190,"date":"2010-04-27T23:02:38","date_gmt":"2010-04-27T23:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ultimatejoy.wordpress.com\/?p=190"},"modified":"2010-04-27T23:02:38","modified_gmt":"2010-04-27T23:02:38","slug":"thankful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/?p=190","title":{"rendered":"Thankful"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each day we can respond to the opportunities God places before us. Not opportunities to be famous, powerful, or rich, but opportunities to worship and glorify Him. These opportunities will often be found amidst the ordinary days and routine moments of our lives.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Today, I stepped away from the busyness and unrelenting pace of life to have lunch with a good friend.\u00a0 Without meaning to, she spoke a truth into my life.\u00a0 She told me about a friend of hers with MS who is now confined to her bed.\u00a0 It was a sad story to be sure, but it also was a story that made me realize how terribly blessed I was.\u00a0 I often complain, yet, I drove to meet my friend in my car on a bright sunny day, walked under my own power into the restaurant and then sat for almost two hours drinking from the deep well of the companionship of a beloved friend.<\/p>\n

The Holy Spirit knew my heart and searched out a place where I needed to yield my selfishness to Him.\u00a0 Too often, my prayers are filled with complaints and not praise. Yet my friend\u2019s story made me realize that despite what I feel is the unfairness in life, God has given me so many abundant gifts that I don\u2019t even think twice about them \u2013 much less pray about them!<\/p>\n

God\u2019s love as shown on the cross creates our emancipation from sin and selfishness. This life-changing truth is not something you can understand by sitting down, putting your hand under your chin, and thinking hard about it. The Holy Spirit must reveal it to you and that happens only if you open up your heart and mind to his promptings.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t expect a lesson from the Holy Spirit today.\u00a0 I thought I was going to lunch.\u00a0 But, in the story of a friend, I found myself worshipping God and responding in love to the way that He made me.<\/p>\n

Joyful opportunities abound in every day life. Responding to the Holy Spirit’s promptings will only increase our capacity for joy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each day we can respond to the opportunities God places before us. Not opportunities to be famous, powerful, or rich, but opportunities to worship and glorify Him. These opportunities will often be found amidst the ordinary days and routine moments of our lives. Today, I stepped away from the busyness and unrelenting pace of life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}