O Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!

Last September, our church announced a worship project for visual artists based with the theme of Psalm 107:1a,

"O Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good..."

In response, Brian, our Sunday School leader, church elder and friend created this beautiful scene of a morning sunrise with Lamentations 3:22-23 as an additional inspiration.  It was breathtaking to my eyes, but even more so to my heart.

At Christmas, Brian gave us the painting much to our surprise and enjoyment.  With very little artwork in our house, and none so beautiful as this one, we had several places we wanted to put it.  After much thought, we found the perfect place for it...above the dresser in our room.  This way each morning when we woke up, we would see this amazing sunrise and be reminded of God's promises and goodness, that His steadfast love truly never ceases, His mercy is new each morning and sufficient for the day, His faithfulness is perfect and we are to give thanks to Him because He is good.

While scripture warns us in Ecclesiastes 3 with an extensive list that "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven", we never seem to be prepared for the unpleasant, hard, devastating seasons.  For the Miller family, 2012 was that season.  Friends equated our situation with Job, although we are grateful it wasn't that bad.  Nonetheless, we lost many very dear loved ones, in a short time, each one more acute than the last.

In the midst of hurt, when we take our focus off of the Lord and shift it to ourselves, our pain is amplified and  we lose sight of all of God's goodness.  So as Romans 12:12 tells us, "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."  As we rejoiced in the Lord, simply because He is good, He began to heal our hearts, and His steadfast love amazed us, in fact it overwhelmed us.

We are thrilled to say that while we still give thanks simply because He is good, we have a very special reason to give thanks!