"THANK YOU, JESUS"

Here's my heart poured out for you today...

“Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.” Psalm 50:14-15

"Thank You, Jesus." These three words have been whispered, proclaimed, sobbed, screamed, and spoken more times than any human could ever count. They have been prayed in complete silence as tears stream down a face and they have been forced out in faithful worship amidst great pain and trial. Today the incredible woman of God sitting right next to me whispered them. There I was, seated in choir during church, head bowed in prayer, as the pastor led us. Even in prayer, I was caught off-guard, moved, and rattled to the core by her praise.

You see, this woman just recently lost her husband in a sudden tragedy, leaving her a devastated, unprepared, unequipped widow and single mother of beautiful triplet daughters. Without question, she has been through more pain, faced more questions, devastation, and loss than my mind could ever fathom. All of this, and yet the words she chose to whisper today were, "Thank You, Jesus." Complete second-nature to her, I doubt she even realized they slipped out.

These sweetly hushed messages of thanks moved from within her tender heart, out through her praising mouth, up to Jesus Himself, and throughout the heavens. I believe her praise will ring through eternity. Much smaller in scale, she also happened to rattle the cages of my heart. Suddenly, I was finding myself even more in complete awe, love, and sheer wonderment of this Jesus, my beautiful King...

At that very moment, through this amazing little vessel of God, I was experiencing a new face of Christ. I was coming to know Him in a whole new way. I realized immediately that even those who have experienced deeper pain and loss than I could ever imagine, were exceedingly fulfilled and joyful because of Jesus and their relationship with Him. Clearly He is our fail-proof Savior.

After all, after just traveling down the roller coaster of sudden widowhood and back up the unforgiving hills of life, amidst painful vacancy, this daughter of God still whispered thanks to her Christ. While trudging through the desert of loneliness and loss, she has still chosen Jesus to be her companion this very day. He is her all-in-all in every way possible. Today I was infinitely blessed to share the company of such a woman; a woman who freely proclaimed, “Thank You, Jesus.”

These three precious words hold such power, such promise, praise, worship, hope, faith, trust, peace, joy, and comfort. These three have passed through the lips of children in their Sunday schools, through the mouths of moms and dads as they watch their grown child move out into the world, and through the widow’s mouth whose life is now held together only by the peace Jesus gives her that passes all human understanding. They are whispered by the woman standing with hands raised despite her recent diagnosis of cancer, the one riddled with sores upon every surface of her body, and even the parents who have warred the pain of holding their precious child who was taken to Heaven far too soon.

Though we have each been placed in a world broken and decayed by the presence of sin, we who know and love our Savior, continually find ourselves saying, "Thank You, Jesus..." This thanks flows out of the deepest part of us, for only Jesus knows what He has done for us, who He is being for us, and what we are going through. We can't help but thank the One who is carrying us in His Mighty arms through the flames and trials this very moment. He is the perfect Healer, Protector, and Lover of all…

Jesus is the Universal person to all people. He fulfills all roles and heals every wound man could ever come to know. He is the Father to the fatherless, Mother to the motherless, Husband to the widow, Friend to the friendless, Brother to the one who has lost their only...I could go on and on. He knows our every need and steps into each role that echoes with vacant silence.

Though I am far from home and all those I love, and though I walk the blind path of faith, stepping constantly into the deep unknown, I still joyfully and recklessly proclaim, "Thank You, Jesus..." After all, He is my All-in-All. He is my mom, my dad, my brother, sister, best friend, future husband, my Savior, and my King. He is my Everything.

To sum up today, I conclude one thing...Christ is too awesome to describe. He is unspeakably good. There aren’t enough words to proclaim who and what He is. He is inescapably beautiful, mighty, awesome, powerful, and praise-worthy.

Though we have each been forced to crawl through wastelands of pain, loss, anger, and question, we can’t help but lift our hands, hearts, and lives in total abandon. We lift our thanks in sacrifice, praise, and worship to Him who gave His very life for us. Though we are at a loss to describe Him, and fumble with the title to behold Him, the words still escaping our lips are those that rattled and wrecked me today: "Thank You, Jesus…"

“He who sacrifices thank offerings honors Me and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.” Psalm 50: 23