Counting answers....

I recently bought a prayer journal. I have always kept a journal, but as I finished my last one awhile back I sensed the need to close that particular way of journaling. Having a blog has fulfilled something in me that journaling once did, plus I have a weakness in my right hand that makes it impossible to write for a prolonged period of time.

I love this taking note of prayers. It makes me realize how many things I have taken for granted; how many prayers He has answered through the years that I have forgotten. But I don't want to forget.

When you really start to pay attention to what you pray and how many times He answers, it fills you with a gratitude that does something to change you from the inside out! It's like what happened just this morning. I was struggling as usual in my prayer time. Many times I have been wondering when I am going to start my "real ministry" my "life's work", you know, that undefinable "thing" that God really wants me to do. I prayed when I turned fifty last year that I wanted to make the second half of my life count for eternity, really put my life on His altar.

Here it is 6 months later, and not much has changed, or has it?

I wondered, what am I really doing for Him? Who am I impacting? What do my small words matter? Maybe you feel the same things as you walk your child to school, fix a meal, clean the house, commute to work. My answer came as soon as I opened my email this morning! It might as well have been sent from Heaven.

I realized through that email that whatever we do, if we do it as unto the Lord, He blesses it. When we are a child of God that little thing matters because He sees our heart, our true motive. He takes that action that we might think is very small, and multiplies it with His Holy Spirit. He sanctifies every action and makes it an act of worship. Because we love Him, he notices it! That other person is blessed too as a result. So take heart today, you may feel your many tasks go unnoticed, but God notices every one!

"Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ." Col. 3:23,24 NLT

He answered my prayer this morning in the words of a dear friend who has been blessed and comforted by my blog. She and her husband are going through a very scary health issue right now. Just the fact that I can give her any comfort at all, means the world to me.

So I am counting answers to prayer today, starting with this morning's email #231, my brain worked last week and I learned some new things at work #232, Mom has turning point with her knee #233, I did not have to do the task I was dreading at work #234, my brother is having success with his diet #235, good prayer times #236, blessings of more rain on the roof #237,Praying with gratitude that He hears every one #238 and sometimes just trusting in the silence is an answer........

Join Ann along with me and many others here to continue counting our gratitude: