Praise Fest

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Over the 38 years I have followed Jesus Christ, gradually He has brought order to my Bible reading and prayer time. One piece of it is writing in a Thank-You log, a steno notebook I keep with my Bible. Most days, I record praises and answers to prayer after reading the Scripture. On the last day of each month, I read all the entries for those weeks. May 2023 culminated with a praise fest, as usual, as I was reminded of all the blessings and answers God had given me. Psalm 147:1 says, “Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!”

Occasionally, I’ll pull out a few old logs from storage and read portions. It’s a joy to recall the ways God showed up in the past.

Have you found ways to keep track of answered prayers? I’d love to read comments you share. Soon, I’ll tell you how a book recommended by a leader at Stonecroft Ministries really ramped up my prayer life.

Freedom Story

There’s a wonderful narrative in Acts chapter 16, verses 16-40 that includes three miraculous rescues. The imprisonment of Paul and Silas arose strictly from greed and exploitation. Not only were a jailer and family saved and Paul and Silas released, but a slave girl was freed from demonic oppression and her owners’ abuse. She may even have gotten away from them. The Bible doesn’t tell the rest of her story.

The other prisoners in the jail were witnesses to Paul and Silas’ prayers, hymn singing, and the marvel of them being released from bondage by way of a violent earthquake. They also observed Paul’s mercy in keeping the jailer from suicide and, best of all, the jailer’s conversion. Verse 34 says of that jailer, “he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.” I’m sure this new believer’s testimony spread far and wide, way beyond the prison walls. All because a group of slave owners mistreated a slave girl for profit.

The earthquake and loosening of the prisoners’ bonds are pictures of the seismic changes in my life when God unchained me from the prison of my sin and set me free to love and serve Him.  I didn’t want anything to do with God, but He got my attention and brought me to Jesus. I trusted in Him as my Savior. Once I was lost, but now I’m found. I was blind, but now I see! I am filled with joy as I read this account of the jailer and his family, remembering when I became part of God’s forever family, too.

Why not take some time to recall your freedom story and rejoice in the Lord?

Please click below to listen to “Freedom,” a song written by Kathy Enix and me, Lynn Lilja.