The people of Israel had been born into slavery (much like we were born into sin) and God had heard their cries and had decided to deliver them from their captors. During this passage Moses wanted to the people to remember, recount, pause to reflect on the fact that it was the LORD that led them through the wilderness. They didn't wander into it, God had directed them into the wilderness, and because of their attitude their journey was elongated into 40 years to which they were being humbled, their character had been tested, and a discovery was made regarding their faithfulness to the Lord's commandments.
As I reflect off of my life, my forty years...I can definitely understand what I have been delivered from and through....how GOD has humbled me. I can remember how my character (my integrity) has been tested....and I can see where I have decided to not just follow Christ, but obey OUR FATHER's commandments more consistently than I did 5, 10, 15, 25 years ago. To the extent I want to express my thankfulness for 40 years of life, by simply naming 40 things I'm thankful for:
1. I want to THANK GOD for my parents. Linda Sue Alexander and (belated) Raymond Earl Washington, Sr. for without them, without His blessing on them, there is no me.
2. I want to THANK GOD for the sweet memories of being cared for by my mom as a kid, learning to blow bubbles with bubble gum, and watching As the World Turns, and just prior to being school aged being kept by her.3. I want to THANK GOD for covering me, when she was away and my dad would do things that were out of his sickness that were mentally abusive.
4. I want to THANK GOD for covering us (my mom, myself, my siblings) when our dad wasn't in his right mind and things could've ended far worse.
5. I want to THANK GOD that a single, scared mother had loving parents that were willing to take her and her three kids for 5+ years to allow my mom to save money to buy her first home.
6. I want to THANK GOD for preserving my mother (who had a few surgeries) who worked tirelessly to provide for us, sometimes leaving us to be with our grandparents who loved on us, and allowing her to accomplish saving enough money to DELIVER us out of the bad neighborhood.
7. I want to THANK GOD for His hand over me as a kid that had asthma and spent a considerable amount of time in the hospital, that He didn't allow my disease to overcome me.
8. I want to THANK GOD for the good memories that I had in the desegregation program that afforded me to experience learning in a diverse environment.
9. I'm thankful that many of the dangers I experienced in 5144 block never took the life of my immediate family members.
10. I want to THANK GOD that my mom came home EVERYDAY, dog tired many of them, but all the same she came home.
11. I want to THANK GOD for my grandma who was a strong Christian woman, that taught us the reality of GOD, and drug us to church.
12. Although I felt it was a waste of time at the time, I'm thankful for Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church, and for any impression they have made on me to which I'm now serving the LORD with my life.
13. I want to THANK GOD for many friends I made when we moved to JENNINGS MO, some of which I'm still friends with....really!!!!
14. I want to THANK GOD for His presence never departing from us, that while my mom was working, that we were never in real danger.
15. I want to THANK GOD for my mom never being unemployed, and despite whatever hurdles she had as an African American single woman, HE carried her through them.
16. I want to THANK GOD, that my mom never killed us! ( I mean that prior to birth, as well as long after we started working her nerves as teenagers.)
17. I want to THANK GOD for being there when my mom needed help, and was too prideful to ask for any. (Our church Burning Bush Missionary Baptist Church had some people that loved GOD enough, to move and be a blessing to my family when He commanded it to be so.)
18. I want to THANK GOD for covering us when my mom began to date, that we were never victims of sexual abuse, or even physical abuse.
19. I want to THANK GOD for putting educators in my life that cared enough to take time help me in many areas, especially my Elementary School Guidance Counselor Mrs Guyton! ( I wish I could thank you in person!!!)
20. I want to THANK GOD for my brother and sister, boy the memories and I wouldn't change any of them. I am truly thankful for RED & BABYSISTER.
21. I want to THANK GOD for His presence being alive in both my little brother and little sister, and how HE reigns in their homes.
22. I want to THANK GOD for my truest two DERRICK and LEONARD DAVIS that we've been through so much together, and despite all of that....we are men enough to be able to cry together, experience GOD together, and still enjoy one another's company on a road trip. I pray get the honor of getting old with you two men. DERRICK I LOVE YOU, and pray you find yourself committed to CHRIST like you were over a decade ago...I'm praying for you brother.
23. I want to THANK GOD for shielding my heart and soul during my college years, when life could've ended up far worse for me. (Internet dating, driving across the country solo.....being a sheep amongst wolves at time...and you covered me in the midst of it all.)
24. I want to THANK GOD for never allowing me to become deaf to His voice.....that I always heard you.
25. I want to THANK GOD for every job opportunity that He's blessed me with, and the people I met that saw something in me, and planted a seed that has produced fruit for HIM.
26. I want to THANK GOD for the couple in FL. that took me out of my car, so I could have a place to lay my head until I finished my practical.
27. I want to THANK GOD for CHRISTIAN HOSPITAL that somehow humbled and tested me to prove my character and prepared me for my next assignment.
28. I want to THANK GOD for my daughter RAJIME, that TINA BRILEY and I decided to have despite the brokenness in our relationship we both believed she (RAJIME) was GOD's gift to us. RAJIME you saved my life in many ways...and helped me see the need of FATHER.
29. I want to THANK GOD that amidst all my dad had done, and didn't do...that his words of encouragement still ring true, to me ..."Never let anyone tell you can't do something, you can do anything you put your mind to." While I may not ever dunk, or be the astronaut I dreamed of being...I've reached the sky, and I want to make it to heaven.
30. I want to THANK GOD for blessing me with my beautiful, intelligent, funny, and creative wife CHERILYN WASHINGTON! I'm sure the odds were against us, and some folks bet we wouldn't make it...but get ready to celebrate 13 years of GOD's blessing upon us. 31. I want to THANK GOD for Bianca M. Green and our son Raymond E. Washington, III (TRE) that you are two talented little reflections of ours...and we pray all of continue to fall deeper in love with JESUS, and desire to spend your lives making Him famous in your unique way.
32. I want to THANK GOD for SSM Homecare..the only job that I actually think I truly poured my whole self into. For all the relationships I made, and have maintained since.....each one of you are a gift from GOD to me, and I pray you felt special, and still feel special to me!
33. I want to THANK GOD for the TEMPLE NON-DENOMINATIONAL CHURCH....oh my goodness where to start: Pastor Page, Minister Goldsby, Candace & Paul, The entire Mahoney clan, Kareem....Darryl and Denise Donaldson.....the list goes on and on......I learned so much, and while I thought I'd die there...GOD had a different plan, and I'm thankful for each of you, and pray those of you who have fought with me to maintain our relationship.....let's continue to fight the good fight!
34. I want to THANK GOD for CALVARY CHURCH! I don't know where to start.....but I'll say this you have become family to us, and trust me...some of you I WILL, WE WILL GROW OLD TOGETHER and will be able to laugh at those things that were challenges, and encourage those that come after us to TRUST in THE LORD, and remember that THIS IS HIS CHURCH!35. I want to THANK GOD for all of opportunities that I've had since coming to Calvary, from Saddleback Church, the Mission Trips, to Financial Peace University, to teaching it, to now the opportunity to shepherd a BEAUTIFUL FLOCK of people WHO DESIRE TO CHANGE LIVES and TRANSFORM COMMUNITIES simply through LGLP!!!!!!
36. I want to THANK GOD for Health....He's carried me through some things, and had it not been for the LORD on my side....tell me where...would I be.....where would I be.
37. I want to THANK GOD for Alvin Ray Center (step-father) a beautiful soul of man that really displays many characteristics of JESUS, that bought me my first BIBLE ( and Open STUDY Bible) that I pray I'll see and spend eternity with, but he has to commit to Christ!
38. I want to THANK GOD that despite every racial slur, every backhanded comment, every plot against me or my family due to our color never prospered, that never landed me or any of my siblings in a squad car, or even jail.
39. I want to THANK GOD for His WORD.......JESUS.....without that BIBLE that Alvin bought me, and without the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD upon me, every time I opened it up, I would've wrecked more people's lives than I did.
40. I want to THANK GOD for today.....that I get to spend reflecting tearfully, joyfully, on the GOODNESS OF THE LORD and ALL THAT HE's done for me. MY SOUL CRIES OUT, and SINGS HALLELUJAH!
Now there are so many more things I could've named....the privilege to baptize people in Africa, or the people I've baptized here, Brittany Place, for His mercies , and forgiveness, etc., etc....but I wanted to just have a short list of remembering how even when I wandered through life too, He never left me nor forsook, me and because of that I'm THANKFUL on this 40th year of my life. The wilderness was never designed to lead people away from GOD, but rather to lead them into deeper relationship with Him, and I can honestly say because of my years in my own personal wilderness, I'm so much more closer to GOD than I have ever been in my life.
What a beautiful way to share a few of your most memorable blessings.
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