The Good Things

      When I first started blogging these post of encouragement about faith, and dealing with depression, anxiety, and other daily life issues I used to get nervous when I saw that someone commented on one of my post. Over time this passed as most of the comments were praise or more words of encouragement and sometimes people added verses as responses that furthered or confirmed my point. I really enjoy the last ones best to honest, not that I don't enjoy praise or encouragement, after all I am human and I love recognition, but I realize that what I'm writing and the responses I get have very little to do with me.
      My husband really likes this song by Chris Cornell called "Can't Change Me"; in it there's a line where he sings 'she's going to change the world,' Nick says it always reminds him of me. It used to bother me, and still does to some point. It's not that I dislike the song, in fact Chris Cornell is my favorite male vocalist, it's that he looks at what I'm doing and the response I get and goes 'wow she's capable of anything.'
      Why should his admiration and praise from others bother me? It's because I don't feel like the praise really belongs to me, I really feel like I'm just doing the Lord's work in a very small way. When I think of someone deserving of praise though, I think of missionaries, preachers, saints, apostles, Jesus and the Father! I always tell my husband when he plays that song and shares with me how proud he is of me for my blog, my book, and the work I do with children, that it's not me. I am not going to change the world, God is going to change the world, I just asked Him to use me.
      If there's one thing in my life that is praiseworthy, it's that, that I have asked the Father to use me and am doing my best to be obedient. I truly believe that all good things come from God, and because of that, that all glory and praise belong to Him as well. I'm not trying to say don't tell me nice things, or don't accept praise yourself, I'm just bringing up the point that maybe when someone is praising us for something good, we should realize that the Father had His hand in it too, and He deserves praise as well, more so really.
      I've been thinking about writing a post on this for a while now, every time I get praise from someone really. I have felt strongly for a long time that we as a community, as a whole Kingdom under Him who has freed us from the bondage of the world need to take time to recognize that nothing, and I do mean absolutely nothing, is  of any value when we don't do it for His glory, when we aren't praising and thanking Him. We need to realize our gifts and talents are of Him and from Him, and praise Him for them.
       Experience taught me this, it's amazing how you can do something you love and still feel unfulfilled, like something is missing. I have been responsible for other people, and physically caring for someone other than myself since I was 12 years old, and I love it, but for a long time I felt like something was missing. Then, I heard a song on Klove, in it the singer says 'do all that you do for the glory of the Lord' he mentions a bunch of rather mundane jobs in this song, but tells you to do it for the Lord. So, I started to turn everyday over to God for His glory in my morning prayers. When I started to look at it as I was working for God, doing these things for Him, I started to feel fulfilled by them. So, my point is, do all that you do for the glory of the Kingdom, and pass all praise on to the one who truly deserves it, the one who provided you with what you have to use and all other good things in life.

Psalm 103:2
Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things He does for me.

James 1:16-17
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows