Thankful Thursday!

My Thankful Thursday post today is the devotional from Spurgeon's Morning and Evening from last night! This just touched me, so I wanted to share it with you!

“And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.”
Exodus 17:12
So mighty was the prayer of Moses, that all depended upon it. The petitions of Moses discomfited the enemy more than the fighting of Joshua. Yet both were needed. So, in the soul’s conflict, force and fervour, decision and devotion, valour and vehemence, must join their forces, and all will be well. You must wrestle with your sin, but the major part of the wrestling must be done alone in private with God. Prayer, like Moses’, holds up the token of the covenant before the Lord. The rod was the emblem of God’s working with Moses, the symbol of God’s government in Israel. Learn, O pleading saint, to hold up the promise and the oath of God before him. The Lord cannot deny his own declarations. Hold up the rod of promise, and have what you will.
Moses grew weary, and then his friends assisted him. When at any time your prayer flags, let faith support one hand, and let holy hope uplift the other, and prayer seating itself upon the stone of Israel, the rock of our salvation, will persevere and prevail. Beware of faintness in devotion; if Moses felt it, who can escape? It is far easier to fight with sin in public, than to pray against it in private. It is remarked that Joshua never grew weary in the fighting, but Moses did grow weary in the praying; the more spiritual an exercise, the more difficult it is for flesh and blood to maintain it. Let us cry, then, for special strength, and may the Spirit of God, who helpeth our infirmities, as he allowed help to Moses, enable us like him to continue with our hands steady “until the going down of the sun;” till the evening of life is over; till we shall come to the rising of a better sun in the land where prayer is swallowed up in praise.

I am so thankful that God cannot deny his own declarations! I've never been promised a life without pain or struggle, after all look where we live, but God promises to be there with me, guiding me, loving me, disciplining me until I reach heaven and will praise him forever more! Prayer is such an amazing tool, but for me it seems so hard to do! I struggle in my private prayer time! I get overwhelmed by the vast amounts of concerns that I don't know where to begin! I am reminded to just be there with God! Let the Spirit guide me!

I'm also thankful my husband made it home from Pittsburgh early this morning!

I'm thankful that God showed a lesson to my children yesterday when they were praying for a friend at school! This time he provided miraculous healing! It was great to point that out to them, and then discuss how sometimes God heals but in different ways. Ways that may not be the way we would want it, but this time he chose to show those doctors a thing or two! What is so great also is so many kids wrote on this child's carepage that they were praying! My son called me from school and I got to pray with him over the phone!

I'm thankful for the army God is raising up! May we as parents be prepared through living our lives in accordance with God's word, KNOWING God's word, and TEACHING it to our children!

Have a blessed day today!