The Glory That Is God's

Some days, it is best to just pause and give thanks.

There are days when you might be thinking, “This miserable world! I have nothing to give thanks for.”

Those whose lives have been turned around through prayer have often found that gratitude had to come first and then the bounty, the renewal, the healing followed.

In Science and Health: With Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baler Eddy, she writes: “Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more.”

That is one of the strange things about God…that it is almost as if we have to give up wanting what we would like to ask for before we receive it. But I guess it makes sense. If we really have faith in God, if we believe He can provide what is needed, we would be grateful and not needy or upset or grouchy or even frightened. This is a tall order in the middle of a calamity, but well worth the effort when God’s grace arrives and smooths away the problem.

Jesus gave thanks before healings. The most famous example is the resurrection of Lazarus:

Father, I thank rhee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. ((John 11:41 Father, 42,)

Many of us give thanks before eating, but there are so many other good things we do before which we can give thanks.

Are you a writer or in some other creative field? We can give thanks for the ideas we will receive when we sit down to work

A parent? We can give thanks for the children we have been given care over and the wisdom He sends to help us raise them.

Etc. etc.

Does this help? It does!

Over time, if we are grateful for good, we tend to receive more of it

One thing I love about my membership to Jshonline, the Christian Science website, is that it includes access to over a hundred years of articles and testimonials of healing — and anything you are worried about, they moat likely have testimonials of how that problem was healed through prayer. And not just physical problems: relationship issues, financial issues, fear, lack, help in dire circumstances, etc..

If humans can experience it, chances are someone has reported on how it was healed through prayer.

At one point in my life, I read dozens and dozens of these testimonies all at once. When one does this, two things happen.

First is that the part of our mind that doubts, the cynical part that believes the world is too solid, to real for something ephemeral like prayer or this “God” idea to do anything, just shuts up. The negative resistance temporarily dissolves, and we hear God more clearly and are healed accordingly.

The second thing is that you begin to see the patterns by which healings take place. Giving thanks first definitely shows up in many healings.

My hero (heroine?) Myrtle Smyth, the Christian Science Practitioner who lived in Belfast during the period of the Irish Troubles and had so many demonstrations of the power of God and prayer (I have written about her before), was a huge believer in the power of gratitude. She managed to visit Thanksgiving Square in Texas and to, after years of effort, bring something along those lines to Belfast. She had many amazing testimonies of giving thanks first and then receiving more than was needed.

Sometimes, things are so bad that we cannot think of anything to be grateful for, but there is always something. If nothing else, one can just think: Thank you, God.

Sometimes, we get caught up in how bad the news is and how terrible the world seems, and we forget all the wonders we have access to that people of earlier ages would have thought was the answer to all their prayers…or even people elsewhere today.

I know a sweet young woman in Africa who is studying hard but must take hours out of her schedule every Saturday to wash her laundry by hand. That is something most of us never do…but do we remember to give thanks for the washer or the dishwasher? Or the many other wonders in our lives that our own ancestors would have given almost anything to have?

Or what about the ability to instantly read articles written by people who live in entirely different areas from us? To share our thoughts and ideas instantly with both friends and strangers?

So today, whwn facing whatever hardships are coming your way, why not pause and give thanks? Perhaps the Oil of Gladness is all that is needed to open the way.

Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness... ((Psalms 45:7 to gladness)

Sadly, the archives of jshonline are only available to members. But the recent articles are available to the public. If you are interested in healings on a certain topic, let me know. Members are allowed to send links to specific articles.