LORD, Thank YOU For YOUR Mercies, Today And Every Day.

Common mercies!

"GOD has shown kindness by giving you
rain from heaven and crops in their seasons;
HE provides you with plenty of food and
fills your hearts with joy." Acts 14:17

We ofttimes forget that the common mercies 

of life are evidences of our FATHER'S loving 

thought and care for HIS children. There is 

no such thing as 'chance' in this world. 

GOD sends the rains, orders the seasons, 

and brings the harvests. In enjoying the gifts--

we should not forget the GIVER. 

In accepting and using the blessings--

we should not fail to see the HAND 

which brings them to us! (J.R. Miller)

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"What shall I render unto the LORD 
for all HIS benefits to me?" Psalm 116:12

The Christian, as he journeys onwards 

in the pathway of life, ought frequently 

to look back, and review the way by 

which GOD has led him. If we would 

keep alive our gratitude--

if we would have it to increase 

more and more, until, like a holy 

flame, it burns within us--

we must often, in thought, retrace 

the varied turnings and windings 

of our earthly pilgrimage.

We are so prone, amid our daily 

duties and our interaction with 

the world, to forget and overlook 

the divine benefits received, that only 

by a careful and frequent retrospect, 

can we continue, from day to day, 

cherishing a spirit of true and 

ever-increasing thankfulness to GOD. 

But, the oftener we make the review, 

the greater cause will we have for saying, 

with David, 

"Who am I, O LORD GOD, and what 
is my father's house, that you have 
brought me hitherto?" (2 Samuel 7:18)

Christian! you cannot indeed reckon 

up all the benefits you have received 

from the hand of GOD--
for they are as numerous as the stars
of heaven or the drops of the mighty ocean!

Your common mercies--alas!
too lightly valued . . .

  the air you breathe,

  the return of the gladsome sunlight,

  the succession of the seasons, and

  the quiet and gentle stillness and repose of night--

all these, with their unnumbered host of attendant
blessings, are scattered on your path! (John MacDuff)

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Let us praise God for common mercies,
for they prove to be uncommonly precious--
when they are once taken away! (Charles Spurgeon)

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GraceGems has published J.A. James' uplifting article,
 "The Olive Branch and the Cross".