tonight.....

i found myself wondering tonight:

how many times have i gone through my days, experiences, blessings, joys; with my whole heart thanking and praising our God, though all the while failing to realize that these things are actually answers to my prayers?

how many times have i felt His peace so strongly and warmly, so all-encompassing and fulfilling; and rejoicing, thanked Him over and over again, yet forgetting that prior to this feeling, i had cried out and cried out and called to Him repeatedly?
day in and day out, moment after moment, pleading for His peace.
for His comfort.  relief.

i wonder this because, after 2 things today, and countless others i am very sure.
but 2 things in particular i found myself contemplating while doing dishes [i find myself doing dishes quite often, and quite often my deepest thinking occurs while i am doing them].
i found myself contemplating the peace that accompanies me as i re-soap my washcloth,
the joy that is able to flow from within.
able to flow without and surround and fill me.  
washing bowls and plates and mugs of coffee that just a few hours before were shared with new friends, mentors, Spirit-filled Christ-followers.
recalling conversations and moments and smiles and laughter and much peace.

all the while i am thanking God for this gift of peace, and it struck me.
it stuck me quite speechless there in the late-night presence of our porcelain kitchen sink.

This was an answered prayer.
and answer to relentless prayers prayed over and over again over the past month [or more].
so often they have near-become my mind's mantra.

but these things,
these people,
these events of this blessed Monday,
have been answers to the desperate pleas sent to my Father, my Creator, my God.  my Lord.
my Jesus, Messiah, King.  Good Shepard.
Holy One.
Lamb.

He is so very Good.

i have been trying [not always successfully, for i am a mama who hasn't yet mastered the art of waking up earlier than everyone else]
to read psalms and proverbs to A, 'B, and L every morning during our breakfast time.

reading David's laments and praises.
his pleas and cries and heart pouring out to the same God, same Father, same Adonai.
Lord.
and He listens.
David knows He listens.

our Great God listens.
and He not only knows our hearts and our needs and wants to bless us with what He knows we need and has placed in us to desire,
but
He hears our cries as well.

and i feel there is something beautiful and powerful
and necessary
about recognizing when He not only blesses, but answers our pure, real and unabashed outpourings.

how beautiful.

how is our God answering the cries of your heart on this lovely rainy Monday?
{this post was written previously, in Feb. 2011}