I once heard of a little boy who refused to say his evening prayers one night — not out of defiance, but because he couldn't think of anything that he wanted. He didn't see much point in praying when there wasn't anything to ask for.

When his mother heard his dilemma, she suggested that he give thanks instead.

So the little boy got on his knees and thanked the Lord for everything that he could think of — from his favourite toy to the fact that he wasn't blind like the boy down the street. His evening prayers were longer that night, because he was thankful for more than he wanted.

We often have a similar dilemma: we find it hard to pray, not because we don't have anything to ask for but because we're too disheartened to pray. Our prayers seem to hit a stone ceiling. Our prayers go unanswered for years. Or we simply don't receive the peace that we used to enjoy in times of prayer.

But maybe we can't pray because we've forgotten to be thankful. Like this little boy, what if we took time today and turned our prayers into words of only thanks?

Our prayers might be longer than usual, because we find ourselves thankful for more than we want.

Prayer: Father, thank You for Your love and goodness that showers upon us more than we deserve. Give us grateful hearts. In Jesus' name. Amen.

There's only one problem. The book isn't finished yet.

Thankfully, this author-friend has previously written multiple stories. I've read many of them to the end, and none has left me disappointed. I agreed to read her unfinished suspense novel, because I trust that she knows the ending.

And she's a good author.

Each of our lives is an unfinished story. With a job loss soon and a chronic illness that means my health is always uncertain, my life feels like a suspense novel with an unwritten ending. I suspect that I'm not alone. Unknowns lie ahead for all of us.

But in the heart of the Author of our stories, they were written before time began and before we came onto the scene. He figured out plot and character and set the stage from the beginning. He has been unfolding that story year by year, revealing new chapters and adding tension and expectation.

Our God has written multiple stories throughout the centuries. We can read many of them in His Word, and we won't be left disappointed.

Psalm 147:11 – The Lord takes pleasure … in those who hope in His mercy. (NKJV)

When we trust that the Lord knows the ending to our story and what's going to happen in the chapters ahead, our faith gives Him pleasure.

He does know the end.

And He's a really good Author.

Hebrews 12:1b-2a – Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. (NKJV)

Prayer: Lord, thank You that we can put our trust in You as You unfold the stories of our lives. Help us to run our race with endurance as we fix our eyes on You. Amen.

I once heard Ron Mehl use as a sermon illustration a story told by Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, about a single missionary who served the Lord in China for many years. In 1948, all missionaries were expelled from the country and told never to return. This woman returned anyway.

Before the ship sailed for China, Mr. Trotman met the woman at the dock to pray for her and to encourage her in the Lord. Watching her step onto the ship, he called out to her with one final word. He gave her a verse to hold on to no matter what she might encounter.

Not long after her return to China, this woman learned the price of her decision. She endured severe persecution, involving imprisonment and torture. Many were encouraged by the guards to take their lives. Some did. Later, this woman confessed to having entertained the idea herself. Two years of suffering wreaked havoc on her mind and her body.

When the missionaries were finally freed and allowed to return to their home countries, this woman looked first for Dawson Trotman. She couldn't thank him enough for his words that day at the dock. She had replayed those words and his prayer in her heart many times.

More importantly, when the persecution and pain and torture were more than she could bear, she recalled the verse Mr. Trotman had given her. Many times, when she was at the breaking point, she meditated on the words of that verse. And the hope that filled those words kept her from breaking.

The verse he gave her saved her life.

After telling this story, Dawson Trotman was surrounded by his listeners. "What was the verse you gave her?" they eagerly asked.

But he refused to tell them.

"Please tell us," they continued to plead. "What was the comfort that enabled this woman to endure her suffering? What was the verse that gave her such hope?"

Dawson Trotman finally replied, "There are hundreds of them."

Mr. Trotman was undoubtedly intent on sending his hearers to their Bibles in search of those verses full of comfort, such as these:

Isaiah 43:2 – When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. (NKJV)

Joshua 1:9 – Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (NKJV)

Zephaniah 3:17 – The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. (NKJV)

We can never exhaust the wealth of comfort found in God's Word. Only here do we find strength to overcome whatever we are called upon to endure.

Let's search His Word diligently for these powerful truths and hold to them tightly day after day.

Prayer: Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You that it's living and powerful, able to save and to comfort in our greatest need. Cause our hearts to be drawn to Your Word and away from the vanity of lesser hopes. Give us the joy of feasting on Your Word on both good days and bad. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

I am now the proud owner of a rocket stove: a high-efficiency, wood-burning, outdoor cooking stove designed to be used for camping or emergencies. I never really wanted a rocket stove. In fact, I had never even heard of one.

The day started out innocently enough. A friend and I attended a class on outdoor cooking methods. They held a drawing for a free rocket stove, and all thirty of us entered.

In all my life, I've won two drawings: a fake flower arrangement and duck eggs. I figured that I wasn't at risk of winning the rocket stove.

I — the only person there who didn't want the rocket stove — won the rocket stove.

It was one of those moments when I found myself asking, "Why?" "Why me? I didn't want this." "Why this? This isn't what I've been asking for." "Why now? I have no idea what I'm going to do with this." For some reason, I was supposed to win the rocket stove, and I have no idea why.

Often life is this baffling. We have something in mind when we pray, and God answers differently. We have expectations about life, and God orchestrates life opposite to those expectations. There are things we don't really want out of life. God chooses those things for us, and we wonder why. Why me? Why this? Why now?

We busy ourselves with the whys, because life doesn't always go as planned.

Despite my whys, I have decided that I'm going to learn how to use my rocket stove. It's a gift — something I was supposed to have, something I'm supposed to enjoy, something I would have wanted if I had known how nice it would be to have one.

And life is the same way.

I may never know why God answers certain ways, why He gives or allows certain things, or why He chooses the timing He chooses.

I'll never know why He even cares about my little life, but He does.

That's reason enough to accept all He chooses — the wanted and the unwanted.

When I use my rocket stove for the first time, I will discover why all those people wanted one. And if I had God's perspective on my life, I'd choose everything He's choosing for me — because life isn't a drop-your-name-in-a-basket-and-risk-it type of existence.

Life is our name written on hands that are loving, wise, and good — the hands of One Who knows how to turn all the whys into wanted gifts.

Prayer: Father, we praise You that You are wise. You care about our lives, and You choose gifts that we never knew we wanted. Help us to trust You in the midst of our whys, knowing that our whys are not baffling to You. In Jesus' name. Amen.

One leg or two, he could still soar. But to walk through the everyday ins and outs of life, to live with an unchangeable circumstance day after day, to survive one-legged in a two-legged world, took courage and determination. For him, living life was an effort foreign to the others.

None of these things stopped this little sandpiper. He hopped alongside the others, determined to survive in this two-legged world. His was a one-legged life, but he made it work.

When he hopped by, I almost missed him. I almost missed his silent courage and seemingly effortless determination. I almost missed this tiny reminder that obstacles can be overcome and that hurdles produce courage.

Sometimes, life seems like a one-legged journey in a two-legged world: off-balance, too much effort, a hindered hop from one hurdle to another. But life doesn't have to stop just because it's hard.

This one-legged sandpiper kept going.

Is there anything stopping us?

Hebrews 12:1b-2a – Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. (NKJV)

Prayer: Lord, thank You for the hurdles of life, the hard things day by day that keep us turned in Your direction. Help us not to cave in to our circumstances, but to see them as opportunities to run the race with an endurance that comes only from keeping our eyes fixed on You. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Think with me what it's like to ride with someone who knows all the back roads — the "easy" roads, the "secret" way to get places. Yet we also know the truth — they're not really "secret". They're just not commonly known.

The Bible talks about a "secret place" — not a place that God is hiding from us, but a place of shelter, safety, protection, and security in His presence. Unfortunately, not many of us dwell there on a consistent basis.

Attitudes and anxieties fester, and it's difficult to dwell in the secret place. We listen to lies in our head, and we step out. When we have finally resorted to its safety, it seems the smallest irritation lures us away.

So what can we do? We can learn to identify those lures in our lives that cause us to step out of the secret place. We can beware of "trigger thoughts" common to all of us, like these:

"What if …"
"I'm tired of …"
"He always …"
"She never…"

Whatever takes our mind off the sufficient control of the good God in whose shadow is the safest place to be is the very thing that will push us out of the secret place.

Each morning, it's imperative that we spend time securing that spot in the secret place. Then, as we go throughout our day, we guard against attitudes and thoughts that cause us to step out of its safety.

How can you and I "dwell in the secret place of the Most High"?

Step in … and stay.

Prayer: Father, thank You for being our shelter, our hiding place, a safe place from all that seeks to destroy our peace. Help us as we guard against all that lures us away from that secure place in You. May we step into that safety daily and stay there by Your grace. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Sitting in a booth in a Shari's Restaurant the other day with a friend, I looked outside as someone's car alarm was blaring incessantly. I wondered what was taking the guy in the back seat so long to turn it off. This happens to me frequently. It's embarrassing.

Suddenly "the guy in the back seat" took off running, carrying something close to his chest. The car alarm continued to blare in front of a whole line of onlookers watching from their booths.

Just as he jumped into a waiting car, someone in the restaurant cried, "Call the cops!" and the car reeled away in a mad escape.

I had just witnessed a burglary.

Burglary. Just the word sounds evil, dirty, like something I would never do. I would never take something that belonged to someone else! And certainly not in front of curious onlookers trying to enjoy a meal!

Then, I read in Scripture that we are not our own. I don't belong to myself. I am God's.

If my life is not my own, what kind of theft am I committing when I make decisions without Him in mind, without considering if my decisions would reflect His ownership over me, or mine?

This would be "grand theft", because we have been bought with a price far greater than we could have paid.

Belonging to the Lord is true freedom, and He is a careful Guardian. We don't need to take what belongs to Him into our own hands and do whatever we think is better.

What kind of lives would we live in secret and in front of onlookers if we remembered that our lives are not our own?

They are either His, or stolen.

Prayer: Father, You are the good Guardian of our lives, the One Who knows what is best. May we never seek to take what rightfully belongs to You. May onlookers observe, in us, lives that are fully Yours. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.