I have asked Ellen to share one of her devotionals in this Thanksgiving week post. So, from the TRBC Times of November, 2009, here is what she wrote. Our granddaughters Audrey and Amy were 4 and 2 at the time.
“Audrey and Amy eagerly waited for the mailman. They might get another package from Grandma Nye. She sends one every couple of weeks, and she knows exactly what little girls like. She sends stickers, paper dolls, candy, books, coloring books, markers, etc. It has become a great source of anticipation.
There was no package on this particular day, so Audrey got on the phone and told grandma all the things she wanted in the next package, and asked her when she was going to send another one. Their mother overheard the conversation and said, ‘Audrey, you’ve got to quit bugging Grandma.’ Audrey replied, ‘I’m not bugging Grandma, because she loves me.’
What a wonderful illustration this is about the way our heavenly Father looks at our prayers. We’re not bugging Him; He loves us, and He loves to hear our petitions. There are so many promises in the Word. How about Jeremiah 33:3? ‘Call unto me and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.’
What promises can you claim from God’s Word today? I just finished reading a lovely story by Mrs. David Cavin, whose husband pastored great churches for 46 years. It was 1939, and they had just accepted their first pastorate in El Reno, Oklahoma. The church had only 29 members, and still fewer in attendance, but they were just thankful to be in the ministry. They were paid $10 a week if there was any money left after the bills were paid, which often there was not. She would prepare Sunday dinner, but the Sunday School class, which met in the living room, would raid the refrigerator and leave little for their meal.
When Thanksgiving Day came that year, they were scraping the bottom of the barrel. They had only enough food in the house to feed their 2 year-old son breakfast. She and her husband prayed and claimed the promise of Psalm 37:25, which says, ‘I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.’ She did not have anything to fix, but by faith she set the table. About noon, someone knocked on the front door, and as her husband answered it, someone knocked on the back door. She opened the back door to find a neighbor, who was an atheist, holding a large bowl of mashed potatoes. She said, ‘I don’t know what I was thinking this morning, but I peeled too many potatoes for just the two of us. I’m wondering—could you use these?’ As she came back into the kitchen, she met her husband coming in from the front porch with a large pan of chicken and noodles. A member of the church had to leave on an emergency, and had brought that dish by. God had provided food for Thanksgiving!”*
Remember, you’re not bugging God when you pray; He loves you, and He wants you to ask.
*From the Baptist Bible Tribune, November, 2009
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” (Matt. 7:7)
YOU and GOD 