Today’s Prayer to Passage will be from the book ‘Jesus Calling’ by Sarah Young.

Today I pray, “Dear God, Thank You for everything You provide to everyone.  Thank You for Your gentle guidance.  Thank You for consistently being here, granting us hope.  Yours is a Love of perspective, as we are humans making it in this life as best we can.  Thank You for this life.  I love You.  Amen.”

Following my prayer, I held the closed book in my hands and opened it to reveal this passage:

“A THANKFUL ATTITUDE opens windows of heaven.  Spiritual blessings fall freely onto you through those openings into eternity.  Moreover, as you look up with a grateful heart, you get glimpses of Glory through those windows.  You cannot yet live in heaven, but you can experience fortastes of your ultimate home.  Such samples of heavenly fare revive your hope.  Thankfulness opens you up  to these experiences, which then provide further reasons to be grateful.  Thus, your path becomes an upward spiral: ever increasing in gladness.

Thankfulness is not some sort of magic formula; it is the language of Love, which enables you to communicate intimately with Me.  A thankful mind-set does not entail a denial of reality with its plethora of problems.  Instead, it rejoices in Me, your Savior, in the midst of trials and tribulations.  I am your refuge and strength, an ever- present and well-proved help in trouble.”
—SARAH YOUNG

God is our refuge and strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble.
—PSALM 46:1 AMP

I feel the need to also thank God for guiding me to passage responses that fit my prayers.  I am continually amazed.  I don’t think this delighted sense of surprise will subside any time soon.  I spent today with my cherished friend and as we were hanging out I told him that I had signed up to bring Macaroni and Cheese to a work potluck in two days.  He pulled out his seasoned hard-cover copy of ‘The America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook.’  Not giving it a second thought, I opened the book, naturally bypassing its table of contents.  I looked down at the pages before me.  I had opened the cookbook to the page titled ‘Classic Macaroni and Cheese.’

My friend was a little confused.  I giggled and said, “I have a talent.  I’ve been practicing.”  Now if I could only cook!  That’s another story altogether.  He flipped the page to see how many Macaroni and Cheese recipes there were.  There were three.  Two presented on my pages and one on the following page.  His response, “Oh, yeah.  You’re definitely gonna want to make the classic one.”  Classic.

“Thankfulness is not some sort of magical formula; it is the language of Love, which enables you to communicate intimately with Me.”