{"id":302165,"date":"2010-11-26T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-26T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/%series%\/common-blessings-familiar-miracles-part-2\/"},"modified":"2010-11-26T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-11-26T17:00:00","slug":"common-blessings-familiar-miracles-part-2","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/common-blessings-familiar-miracles-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Blessings, Familiar Miracles, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>God&#8217;s mercy is new every morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":294104,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"https:\/\/web.familylifetoday.com\/fl2010-11-26.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:","filesize":"22.99M","filesize_raw":"24109929","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":""},"categories":[2822],"tags":[4929,4722,4159],"podcast_series":[7770],"cwp_profile":[3158],"series":[2101],"class_list":["post-302165","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growing-in-your-faith","tag-christian-life","tag-christianity","tag-gospel","podcast_series-common-blessings-familiar-miracles","cwp_profile-gary-thomas","series-familylife-today"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg?w=508","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2023\/02\/image-scaled.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-download\/302165\/common-blessings-familiar-miracles-part-2","player_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-player\/302165\/common-blessings-familiar-miracles-part-2","audio_player":null,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/familylife-today\/id212174303?mt=2&app=podcast","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0j5UaKdQOHQCuo1bt0ebEm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/feed\/podcast\/familylife-today","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"DBTonXGBaz\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/common-blessings-familiar-miracles-part-2\/\">Common Blessings, Familiar Miracles, Part 2<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/common-blessings-familiar-miracles-part-2\/embed\/#?secret=DBTonXGBaz\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Common Blessings, Familiar Miracles, Part 2&#8221; &#8212; FamilyLife\u00ae - A Cru Ministry\" data-secret=\"DBTonXGBaz\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg",508,508,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"kfairris@familylife.com","author_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/author\/kfairrisfamilylife-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"God's mercy is new every morning.","meta_box":{"show_notes":"","transcript_url":"https:\/\/transcript.familylifetoday.com\/fl2010-11-26.pdf","transcript_content":"<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Gary:<\/strong>\u00a0 The Garden of Eden is a great case in point.\u00a0 Here is a man and a woman in paradise.\u00a0 We define the Garden of Eden as paradise.\u00a0 They've got everything they need.\u00a0 And God says, \"Look, Adam and Eve, it's all yours.\u00a0 Enjoy it.\u00a0 You can have it all, except for that one tree.\"\u00a0 And what do they say?\u00a0 \"What's that one tree?\"\u00a0 Amazingly, Adam and Eve saw that one tree, and the Garden of Eden was insufficient.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 This is <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> for Friday, November 26th.\u00a0 Our host is the President of FamilyLife, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine.\u00a0 I think all of us could stand to cultivate what Puritan Jeremiah Burrows called \"the rare jewel of Christian contentment.\"\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd welcome to <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>.\u00a0 Thanks for joining us on the Friday edition.\u00a0 You know it\u2019s good for us to have a day like we\u2019ve had this week where we pull aside and gather together, many of us gathering with families or with friends, just taking a day out of the year where we stop and we reflect on the blessings that are ours because of God\u2019s providence and spend some time giving thanks.\u00a0 That\u2019s a good discipline for us to be in, not just one day a year but it\u2019s good to have a day a year where our attention gets drawn to those blessings and the fact that if we don\u2019t pull aside and give thanks we begin to take those things for granted.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Well, it's about what Gary Thomas, who gave a message we featured on yesterday's broadcast mentioned, how blessings become rights.\u00a0 We deserve it.\u00a0 You know what?\u00a0 We ought to have that, and we ought to continue to have that, and it won't be long, probably, before a building like we're enjoying will be considered a \"right.\"\u00a0 I hope that never happens.\u00a0 We've got a dedication out front, and a giant boulder to symbolize the significance of God's provision for this ministry.\u00a0 But, nonetheless, we, as human beings, tend to become ungrateful.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 We're going to hear part two of the message that you're talking about from Gary Thomas on today's program.\u00a0 Gary is an author and a conference speaker.\u00a0 He has been a guest on <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> in the past, and he was helping us understand a principle that he says he's learning to apply in his own life and one that all of us need to apply.\u00a0 It's the principle of learning to give thanks in all things and finding the things that we take for granted around us, and then practicing gratefulness to God for those things that we too often take for granted.\u00a0 Let's listen as he explains what he's talking about.\u00a0 Here is Gary Thomas.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Gary:<\/strong>\u00a0 A while back, I woke up, and there was an issue my wife and I were working through, and I was so frustrated because we seemed to be going around and around with this, and I just have this thing \u2013 it's a disease of my brain, where I get fixated on something, and I'm building my case, like a lawyer, and I can't let it go.\u00a0 I'm going back over history, and I could present a great case before the Supreme Court, and I'm sure I'd win a 9-0 decision, the way I just fixate on this.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThen I start applying this \u2013 I just started thanking God for the many wonderful qualities of the astonishing woman I've married, and that reminded me of some other things.\u00a0 And so I started thanking Him for those things, and that reminded me of some other things, and I'm going on and on, and after about 20 or 30 minutes, I\u2019m laughing in bed, because I'm realizing how pitiful it sounded: there was one issue that was bugging me when I had 20 minutes' worth of thanksgiving to give God.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIt wasn't a case of recognizing the glass is either half empty or half full, my glass was 99 percent full, and I'm focusing on the one percent.\u00a0 And that's so often the way we are, not just with people, but with God.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThat's a dangerous place to be with our heavenly Father, because if your faith is based on God continually blessing you, if your satisfaction in God is based on God giving you new blessing after new blessing, you will never be fully satisfied in God.\u00a0 Because as much as God can bless you, you will become comfortable with those blessings and not even see them anymore.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIt's a neurological condition we have.\u00a0 The neurologists call it tolerance \u2013 our brain adapts to the familiar.\u00a0 What was once strange becomes routine, and our brain has learned to just accept it.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThis explains why Scottie Pippin, a young boy, could grow up in a virtual poverty situation \u2013 small house, 13 people \u2013 and become a professional basketball player, play for the Chicago Bulls and the Portland Trailblazers, earns $15 million a year, drives a $100,000 Mercedes, and floats on a 74-foot yacht.\u00a0 You might think that a man who grew up in that situation would be absolutely astonished every time he goes out to his driveway, touches that Mercedes saying, \"I can't believe I'm driving a car that costs more than the house I grew up in.\u00a0 I can't believe I can go out on a yacht that has more rooms than the house I grew up in.\"\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThat's not his attitude.\u00a0 He was followed by a reporter from <em>Sports Illustrated<\/em> during a pre-game warm-up in Portland, and he pointed up to the stands where Paul Allen, a founder of Microsoft and the owner of the Portland Trailblazers was standing, and he pointed at him and said, \"That man is worth $40 billion.\u00a0 How do you get to have a billion dollars?\u00a0 I just want one of them.\u00a0 Tell me, how I can become a billionaire.\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tNow, if I were to talk to most men here, who are, say, making an average salary of $65,000, I know some of you make more, some of you make less, but say I\u2019m your employer and I know you're earning $65,000, and I have a conversation with you saying, \"I want you to be happy.\u00a0 I know it costs more to raise a family these days.\u00a0 I'm afraid that you might be tempted to look elsewhere so I just want to know, would $15 million a year satisfy you?\u00a0 I can\u2019t give you a raise for three years, but I\u2019ll guarantee for the next three years you\u2019ll get 15.\u201d\u00a0 Would that make you happy?\u00a0 Is there a man here who would say, \u201cNo boss, I won't do it??\u201d\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd for the first few months, you would be amazed.\u00a0 You would call up your spouse and say, \"You won't believe it.\u00a0 We've got it made.\u201d\u00a0 You could have a new house and a new car, and you'd be astonished but you know what?\u00a0 At the end of three years, you wouldn't be astonished.\u00a0 It would just be the way things are.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThat\u2019s how our brain adapts. That's why addictions are such a strong thing.\u00a0 If you talk to an alcoholic they don't drink to become drunk.\u00a0 They drink to feel normal.\u00a0 Their brain has adapted to alcohol and so when you remove the alcohol suddenly it doesn't feel normal anymore.\u00a0 It explains how you can live by a railroad track and get a great night of sleep.\u00a0 Have a friend, a family member, come to visit.\u00a0 In the middle of the night, they feel like a locomotive is driving down their throat.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThey get up and see you at breakfast and say, \"How in the world do you guys get any sleep at night?\"\u00a0 You say, \"What?\"\u00a0 \"It sounded like a train was going to cut me in two at about 3 a.m.\"\u00a0 \"Oh, we don't hear that anymore.\"\u00a0 Do you know why you don\u2019t hear that?\u00a0 Your brain has adapted.\u00a0 That train signal is normal.\u00a0 It knows, \"You don't need to worry about it.\u00a0 You don't have to get up.\"\u00a0 Which means that the spiritual discipline of thankfulness will never relate to our situation, it will always relate to our attitude.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThe Garden of Eden is a great case in point.\u00a0 Here is a man and a woman in paradise.\u00a0 We define the Garden of Eden as paradise.\u00a0 They've got everything they need.\u00a0 They've got a great relationship with the Lord; they walk with the Lord in the cool of the day, a relationship that most prayer mystics could only dream about.\u00a0 There they are, naked and unashamed, the only holy nudist colony in the history of the world right there in the Garden of Eden.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tNo cancer, no arthritis, no Alzheimer's, no stealing, no keys to lose \u2013 you don't need keys in the Garden of Eden.\u00a0 Nobody is going to steal anything.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd God says, \"Look, Adam and Eve, it's all yours, enjoy it.\u00a0 You can have it all except for that one tree.\"\u00a0 And what do they say?\u00a0 \"What's that one tree?\"\u00a0 \"You don't need to worry about that.\u00a0 Look behind you.\u00a0 Everything is yours, just stay away from this one.\"\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAmazingly -- it astonishes me, but it shows the depths of our depravity -- Adam and Eve saw that one tree, and the Garden of Eden was insufficient.\u00a0 It was paradise, but it wasn't enough because one thing was forbidden them.\u00a0 So they took that fruit, and they ate.\u00a0 Which means the very first human sin was not lust, and it wasn't murder, it was discontentment.\u00a0 Even the Garden of Eden couldn't satisfy us.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWilliam Law, the great 18th Century Anglican, asked an intriguing question.\u00a0 He said, \"Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world?\"\u00a0 That fascinates me.\u00a0 What makes someone unusually holy?\u00a0 According to William Law, it is not he who prays the most or fasts the most, it's not one who is great at the spiritual disciplines.\u00a0 He says it's not even he who gives the most money, but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God wills, and who receives everything as an instance of God's goodness and has a heart always ready to praise God for it.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIt's a picture of a man or woman who walks around recapturing that wonder of God that He has provided for them so well spiritually and relationally and physically.\u00a0 And it doesn't matter the situation they're in, because they recognize God's goodness for that.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI have a friend who 25 years ago was hit by a drunk driver just before high school graduation.\u00a0 He had a severe spinal cord injury.\u00a0 Today he's got one eye that's three-quarters of the way sewn shut; he can't use his left hand; has to live in a wheelchair, he can't walk outside of it.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tEven worse, his voice has been radically altered.\u00a0 It's very hard for people to understand him if you don't know him and if you haven't talked to him before.\u00a0 And so when I take him out, and we're running errands, it's very humiliating, because people will treat him like he's a three-year-old, and they assume because he can't talk that there is something wrong with his brain.\u00a0 They talk to him like English is a second language.\u00a0 He desperately wants children.\u00a0 He's wanted to be married, but now that he's closer to 50 rather than 40, he knows that it's probably not very likely.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWe were doing an errand a few weeks ago.\u00a0 I was driving him around, and I notice that every year about the start of fall his voice changes, and I was asking him about it, and I said, \"Well, do you think maybe it's allergies, do you think you have some allergies?\"\u00a0 And he looked at me and he says, \"Oh, no, I'm very thankful to God that I don't have any medical problems.\"\u00a0 I did what you did.\u00a0 I laughed.\u00a0 I said, \"Scott, look at you.\"\u00a0 But see that tells me, thankfulness has nothing to do with our situation; it has everything to do with our attitude.\u00a0 We can always find something to be thankful for.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI think of 91-year-old Charlie Constantino.\u00a0 He was celebrating his 91st birthday, and his friends and family were asking him, \"Charlie, what are you most thankful for about being 91 years old?\"\u00a0 To be honest, Charlie had to think for a bit.\u00a0 It took him longer to get out of bed, his eyesight isn't as sharp, his hearing isn't as good, there are more aches and pains, but he finally thought of something and smiled.\u00a0 He looked at them, and he said, \"Well, at 91 years of age, there is very little peer pressure.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tJust about any situation that we get in, I've found thankfulness can transform your life.\u00a0 I don't want this to sound like an obligation.\u00a0 If it is, I'm doing a terrible job explaining.\u00a0 It's a privilege.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThere was a time in my life it seemed pretty dark to me.\u00a0 I was working for the public utility, I was going to seminary trying to finish up my thesis; I'd done the coursework.\u00a0 I was reading electric meters for a public utility, and it dawned on me one day as I'm going around being chased by dogs, going out in fertilized fields and trying to find lost meters and all that.\u00a0 But I'd read electric meters as a high school student during the summer.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI graduated from high school, went on to college, and during college I read electric meters in the summer to pay my college bills.\u00a0 I graduated from college, started working on a master's degree, read electric meters during the off days, to help pay for that.\u00a0 I finished up the master's coursework, and now I was working on the master's degree \u2013 still reading electric meters, still being chased by the same dogs, still slogging through the same fields, and I remember asking myself, \"What's wrong with this picture?\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI wanted intellectual stimulation, and all I was getting was fertilized fields, and I would be eating these warm peanut butter sandwiches out in the middle of nowhere with the smell of manure surrounding me.\u00a0 I'd come home and tell Lisa, \"When I get a real job, I will never eat another peanut butter sandwich again.\"\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBut it showed my ignorance when I said \"when I get a real job,\" because I had an experience a few days after that when I pulled up to a house, and a man came out, and said, \"Hi, Gary, how are you doing?\"\u00a0 It didn't surprise me that he said my name, because we wore them on our uniform.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tHe said, \"Isn't it a beautiful day?\"\u00a0 I looked around and, you know what?\u00a0 It was.\u00a0 And we know, here in western Washington, we can\u2019t take those for granted.\u00a0 I mean, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.\u00a0 It was a piercingly blue sky, and I'd missed it, because I was all upset about the situation I was in.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThen he looked at my left hand, and he said, \"Gary, you're married.\"\u00a0 I said, \"Yes, I've been married for about four years.\"\u00a0 He goes, \"God has given you a wife.\u00a0 Isn't God good that He has given you a wife?\"\u00a0 He said, \"Gary, do you have any children?\"\u00a0 I said, \"We just had a baby girl about four months ago.\"\u00a0 \"God has given you a baby?\u00a0 Let me see a picture.\"\u00a0 I showed it to him \u2013 \"Isn't God good?\u00a0 And look at this, Gary, God has given you a job to provide for your wife and your daughter.\u00a0 Isn't God good?\"\u00a0 And with all sincerity, I looked at him and said, \"Yes, God is good.\"\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tNothing about my situation had changed.\u00a0 Everything about my perspective had changed.\u00a0 I still didn\u2019t particularly like the job, but I realized what it was doing, that God had given me many blessings and He was a providing a vehicle for me to care for those blessings.\u00a0 I realized that God is good.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSo when you're finding areas in your life that are rubbing up against your own satisfaction and contentment, ask God to open up your eyes to the common blessings and the familiar miracles.\u00a0 This could change your parenting \u2013 as parents \u2013 and I'm as guilty of this as anyone \u2013 most of us parents have only two prayers that we pray for our kids.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tFirst, we say, \"God protect them,\" and then we say, \"God, change them.\u00a0 Keep them from doing anything stupid and keep stupid people from them.\"\u00a0 And you could put virtually all our prayers under those two things, and that's how we pray.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tCan I suggest a third prayer?\u00a0 God, thank You that my son has made a commitment to follow you.\u00a0 Thank You for my daughter's voice.\u00a0 Thank You that my daughter reaches out here.\u00a0 Thank You that my son does that.\u00a0 In fact, if you will spend as much time thanking God for those aspects of your kids' life, as you do asking God to change them, you're going to renew your relationship with them.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIn fact, I would say that if our children are more aware of where they fall short in our eyes, than of the fact that we point out, more than anyone else, the evidence of God's grace in their life \u2013 if they feel that way, they may have a Pharisee for a parent.\u00a0 God doesn't treat us that way.\u00a0 We're not to treat our kids that way.\u00a0 Our job is not just to correct them, it's to point out \u2013 \"I see God moving in your life.\u00a0 It's right here and, you know what?\u00a0 I thank God for that.\u00a0 Thank God he\u2019s moving in your life.\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd with your spouse \u2013 we\u2019re not allowed to seek a new spouse, but you can seek a new marriage.\u00a0 Instead of praying that God would change your spouse, you start praying as I did that morning and say, \"Lord, thank you for this about my spouse, thank You for that.\u201d\u00a0 Maybe you don\u2019t have 20 minutes worth \u2013 may you have one thing you can be thankful for \u2013 just wear God out with that one thing, like a mantra.\u00a0 \"Lord, thank You for this,\" \"Thank you for that.\"\u00a0 Focus on that.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBut as important as anything, as much as this will change how we look at our vocations, how we look at our children, how we look at our spouses, and I want to leave us with this \u2013 it will change how we relate to God.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIf you're disillusioned with God, I would say it's because your eyes have become closed to the common blessings and the familiar miracles.\u00a0 Intimacy with God is entered through thankfulness.\u00a0 Psalm 104 says, \"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.\u201d\u00a0 How do we begin a relationship with God?\u00a0 With thanksgiving.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 That is Gary Thomas with a great reminder that we should approach the throne with thanks and praise on our lips, and I have to confess there are times when I rush in with a list of things that need to be fixed rather than with any gratefulness for what God has provided.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 There is no doubt about that.\u00a0 I have an application for each of our listeners out of what we have heard both yesterday and today.\u00a0 First of all, for the single listeners, whether you're single and never been married or single having been married at some point and now you're not.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tPerhaps it's not by your choice but nonetheless you are single, and you can find much about your circumstance to be ungrateful for.\u00a0 I'd like to challenge you, as a single person, to take 30 minutes tonight and just evaluate everything in the past year of what you can give thanks for.\u00a0 I would predict this, Bob \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 30 minutes, really?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Thirty minutes \u2013 I would predict that if you would spend 30 minutes doing this, a sheet of paper would not contain all of what you would be able to write down.\u00a0 Secondly, for the married folks who are listening to today's broadcast, I'd like to challenge you to do this \u2013 why don't you write a tribute to your husband or to your wife that just is a tribute of thanksgiving?\u00a0\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tJust write down all the things that you are grateful for about your spouse and write it to her or to him and work on it and type it up and maybe even frame it, and then read it to them on a romantic date night or on a special getaway that you might have.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 What if you're not getting along?\u00a0 What if you're mad at each other?\u00a0 What if you've had some conflict?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 I think it would be a good idea to go ahead and do it.\u00a0 That would make it even all that much more important to do this little project.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThird, for those who have families, you might find it interesting to have a family night and see how many things you could come up with in 15 to 20 minutes that your family could list in terms of what you are most thankful for.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tCreate a little easel maybe in your kitchen where you enjoy dinner, or get some butcher paper and scotch tape it to the wall \u2013 and just make sure it's not a magic marker that bleeds through against Mom's wallpaper.\u00a0 Begin to list all of the things you are grateful for as a family.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 There is something contagious about gratitude and about thanksgiving, isn't there?\u00a0 It can provoke all of our hearts to be more grateful and more thankful and, certainly, this is the time of year when that ought to be the direction in which our hearts are pointed, but, frankly, we ought to be pointed in that direction every day of the year.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIn fact, I\u2019m thinking about the devotional guide that your wife, Barbara, put together for families on the subject of gratitude, called <em>Growing Together in Gratitude.<\/em><em>\u00a0 <\/em>\u00a0It\u2019s designed to give families stories that you can reflect on over the dinner table or during your family devotions, whenever you want to do it.\u00a0 These stories help us understand why we should be grateful people.\u00a0 They do help cultivate a heart of thanksgiving and gratitude in us.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got Barbara\u2019s book <em>Growing Together in Gratitude<\/em> in our FamilyLife Today Resource Center.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIf you go online at FamilyLifeToday.com you can get more information about this seven-day devotional for families.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s really what it is; it\u2019s a week-long devotional, or you could do it over the course of a month or whenever it makes sense for you as a family.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great devotional for families to read through together called <em>Growing Together in Gratitude <\/em>and you can find out more online at FamilyLifeToday.com.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI should also mention that we\u2019ve got copies of Gary Thomas\u2019 newest book called <em>Pure Pleasure: Why Do Christians Feel So Bad about Feeling Good? <\/em>\u00a0He really helps us understand more biblically what our response ought to be to the things that delight us, to the things that bring us pleasure.\u00a0 It\u2019s not more spiritual to be against pleasure, and that\u2019s what he looks at in this book.\u00a0 We want to encourage you to get a copy of Gary Thomas\u2019 book, <em>Pure Pleasure:<\/em><em>\u00a0 <\/em><em>Why Do Christians Feel So Bad about Feeling Good?<\/em>\u00a0 You can order that from us online at FamilyLife.com and we\u2019ll make arrangements to get a copy of Gary\u2019s book sent out to you.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd with that we\u2019ll wrap things up.\u00a0 Hope you have a great weekend.\u00a0 Hope you and your family are able to worship together this weekend, and I hope you can join us back on Monday, when Chuck Colson is going to join us along with his daughter, Emily.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to hear a very moving story about Grandpa Chuck and his daughter Emily and some of the challenges they have faced as a family as she has sought to raise an autistic son.\u00a0 We\u2019ll hear that story on Monday, and I hope you can tune in for that.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, and our entire broadcast production team.\u00a0 On behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I'm Bob Lepine.\u00a0 We will see you back Monday for another edition of <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tHelp for today.\u00a0 Hope for tomorrow. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWe are so happy to provide these transcripts to you.\u00a0 However, there is a cost to produce them for our website.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider <a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/site\/c.dnJHKLNnFoG\/b.3782043\/k.384D\/Support_Us.htm\">donating today<\/a> to help defray the costs?\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t2010 Copyright \u00a9 FamilyLife.\u00a0 All rights reserved.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<a 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