Escape Plan

No temptation regardless of its source has overtaken or enticed you that is not common to human experience (nor is any temptation unusual of beyond human resistance); but God is faithful to His word.  He is compassionate and trustworthy.  He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability to resist, but along with the temptation, He will always provide the way out as well, so that you will be able to endure it without yielding, and will overcome temptation with joy.  – 1 Corinthians 10:13 AMP

Last Sunday, I sat in church listening to a sermon about the temptation to quit.  Though I couldn’t remember the exact verse, I knew that somewhere in the Bible that God said He’d never tempt us more than we could handle and promised that he’d always give us a way out.  (I was tempted to pull out my phone and look it up on my Bible app, but that since might make it look like I was bored and on Facebook, I resisted.)

Then later that day, I visited a dear friend who is fighting cancer.  As we sat in her living room, bathed in the warmth and brightness of the afternoon sun, she shared how tempting it was to quit her fight and just let the cancer win. Exhaustion and chronic pain were wreaking havoc on her emotions, sending her into ups and downs as if on a never ending roller coaster ride.

As I reached into my purse for the church bulletin, hoping to share my notes from the sermon about being tempted to quit, my 3pm alarm went off.  I looked deep into my friend’s eyes and asked her what she was thankful for.  She turned and pointed to her “blessing board”.  

It’s really an amazing thing. Her entire refrigerator is covered with white butcher block paper. She and her family have been recording their daily blessings on it in bright magic marker, watching the paper fill up with bright and beautiful remembrances of God’s goodness and presence in her home. 

Her temptation to quit the battle against cancer gets pushed aside quickly by the plethora of blessings that leap off that page.  Thanksgiving fills her heart and distracts her mind.

Like watching quick clips from a movie, my mind reeled through years of giving thanks to God everyday at 3pm.  Ahha!  How many times had I wanted to quit?  To quit giving thanks because my kids’ lives were out of control, or my husband and I were fighting, or the work was too much and the bills were too many.  I have been tempted to quit looking up, giving thanks, and living out my faith in God too many times to count.

But God…is using a simple alarm to remind all of us that He is faithful and trustworthy every day.  Thanksgiving is our way out of bitterness, anger, un-forgiveness, and negativity. Counting our daily blessings is God’s escape plan for us.

I locked eyes with my friend and whispered, “Today is a gift from God.  We have so much to be thankful for.”  Nodding in joyous agreement, we knew that thanksgiving had sent the temptation to quit fleeing in fear of our faith.

The Power of Giving God Thanks Will Ignite Your Faith and Change Your World!

Thank You for Being a Part of the 3 O’Clock Wake Up Movement