God’s Providence Thanksgiving Day 2006

I have been reading a little book on prayer by Simon Tugwell.

On this day of thanks I am thankful for what he writes about God’s providence, even in the midst of our failures. Here are a few excerpts:

We may think of God’s providence … in terms of the way in which he integrates
all our free choices, mistakes and sin s and all, into his plan. He is that expert dancer
who can make dance even out of the stumblings of the most atrocious partner!. Our
hatred, our fear, become the occasion of our redemption, as we see so clearly on
Calvary …Even though we may not be able to deal with them, God is not defeated.

Our hope in his determination to save us. And he will not give in!

Of course, we must sometimes acknowledge sins and mistakes and we must try to
learn from them; but we should not foster the kind of worry that leads to despair.
God’s providence means that wherever we have got to, whatever we have done, that
is precisely where the road to heaven begins. However many cues we have missed,
however many wrong turnings we have taken, however unnecessarily we may have
complicated our journey, the road still beckons, and the Lord still “waits to be
gracious” to us (Isaiah 30:18).

From Simon Tugwell, Prayer: Living with God, chapter on The Way of Trust

So I give thank to the Lord who forgives all our sins, heals all our diseases!

Praise!

Leighton Ford,

November 23, 2006