Taking stock of God's goodness - Year End Inventory
Psalms 65:11 - Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.
At the end of each year, I like to sit down and take stock of the good and the bad that had transpired throughout the preceding months. To do that, I pull out a small and private notebook where I keep track both of requests which I put before the Lord at the beginning of each year, and then I tick each one off at the end of the year, whether they were granted or whether they were denied. In addition, I have an entry which I call "unexpected blessings in (year)". It is this particular section of my notebook that I enjoy most as I make entries of all the unexpected things that the Lord has blessed me with.
For 2006 I have plenty of items which I will enter under the title of "Unexpected blessings". Indeed Lord "thou crownest the year with thy goodness". In talking about God's goodness, there is a verse which unfailingly comes to my mind. Here it is:
Romans 2:4 - Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Isn't it amazing that it is not God's anger, but his goodness, that leads to repentance?
I like to take stock of God's goodness. Hope you do too.
Thanks for bringing up that thought, it allows one to rethink the past year and how great it really has been!
Not sure what you meant about "accepted things as facts". Did you mean to say "took things for granted"? As you said, we should rejoice over God's bountiful goodness whether we see it or not.
(that was really random....but that's okay)
joe
Danielle, The important thing is, I guess, that the Lord has brought you to a point where you now realize how good he has been and continues to be to all his children.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Hope you all have a blessed year 2007.
Note to Hiba: There is nothing in my hotmail account from you. I never got the e-mail you mentioned.
the Lord is on thy side...
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!
joe
Don't worry, you do NOT look like a monkey NOR do you smell like one too, NOR do you belong in a zoo :)
Anyways, Happy New Year and thanks for the birthday wishes. I hope that you Canadians had some fun--I hear it's boring up there....just kidding.
Here's a joke for the year:
A blonde, redhead, and brunette all go to rob a store. After they rob the store, they all walk outside and find themselves surrounded by police. The brunette decides to make a break for it and cries, "Look--its a tornado!" All the policemen turned to see and the brunette got away. The redhead then thought to herself, "That's a good idea. I'm going to try it to!" So she cried, "Hailstorm!" And of course, she got away. Lastly, the blonde decided to try her luck. She cried, "Fire!" And all the policemen fired.
p.s. she died.
Joe