You have a choice:
focus on the best memories,
or rehash the worst ones.
Philippians 4:8 (CEV)
Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly, and proper. Don’t ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise.
Don’t stop remembering the good.
1 Samuel 7:10, 12 (NIV)
But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites . . .
Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
Ebenezer means “stone of help.”
Where’s your Ebenezer?
“O beautiful for heroes proved
in liberating strife,
who more than self their country loved,
and mercy more than life!”
Katharine Lee Bates (1893)
Matthew 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn.
This Memorial Day weekend, our hearts hurt for those who mourn.
Their loss–recent or long passed, family or friend, life or limb–leaves a broken place in their souls.
Lord God, hold those who mourn safely in the palm of Your hand. Cover them with Your perfect peace. Bless their souls.
My Father, who art in heaven,
Thank you for calling me by name.
Thank you for your coming kingdom.
Thank you for working your will in my life
here on earth as you do in heaven.
Thank you for my daily bread.
Thank you for forgiving my trespasses
(and for granting me grace to forgive others).
Thank you for leading me away from temptation
and delivering me from evil.
“Count your blessings,
name them one by one;
Count your many blessings,
see what God hath done.”
Johnson Oatman, 1897
Do my thank-you’s = my blessings? Might be I owe God some thank-you’s.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)
Give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
“This is God’s will for you.” God’s will in my circumstances, or God’s will in my thankfulness?
Both! The circumstances aren’t a surprise to God, and a thankful attitude shouldn’t come as a shock.
Are you thankful?
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NASB)
In everything give thanks.
“In everything.” All the time. Good and bad.
God sets a high bar. 
Iran is in the news. Folks are afraid they’ll use nuclear weapons to bully the rest of the world. Right now, the Iranian authorities bully their own Christian citizens.
According to Open Doors, an organization supporting persecuted believers in more than 60 countries:
“Christians in Iran are forbidden from sharing their faith with non-Christians. Consequently, church services in Persian (Iran’s national language) are not allowed . . . Leaders of groups of Christian converts have been arrested, prosecuted and have received long prison sentences for ‘crimes against the national security.'”
Lord, we pray for your faithful followers in Iran, those who hide in their homes, those who worship in prison cells and those who risk so much to share the gospel. Shelter them with your love, strengthen them with your power, protect them with your Spirit. Grow your kingdom in the midst of persecution.
