Secrets to a Thankful Heart: Pennies from Heaven (Part 2)

by Marilynn Chadwick

(...Continued from yesterday)

What about you—have you ever seen a sign or wonder? If you start paying attention, you might be surprised like I was when I started to find all those pennies!

I continued to save these little reminders—pennies from heaven—I called them. Over the next months, pennies continued to appear. One day, I shared my “penny story” with my friend Kenna. I told her how these crazy pennies kept showing up. Pretty soon, she began finding her own pennies.

A few days later in my morning quiet time, I was reading in John’s Gospel about the man we know as “Doubting Thomas.” Jesus’s disciples suffered terribly after the death of their beloved savior. But miracle of miracles—he appeared to them—alive! All the disciples saw him. Except for Thomas, that is. Thomas had wandered away and missed the first showing when Jesus appeared to the others. I could imagine how his face fell as the disciples excitedly told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

Sullen and discouraged, Thomas vowed, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were…I will not believe.” Still, Thomas continued to hang around the others, hoping Jesus had not forgotten him. I felt for Thomas. For I, too, sometimes struggled with doubt.

Jesus appeared again eight days later. This time, he singled Thomas out. But instead of scolding him, Jesus spoke to Thomas’s deepest longing for proof that he was really alive. “Put your finger here,” he told Thomas. “See my hands,” he said. “Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas gasped and cried out, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:27-28 NIV).

Something about those verses got me thinking. Could it be that God cares enough to encourage sincere doubters like Thomas, or even like me? If so, maybe all those pennies I’d been finding were truly God’s way of speaking to me.

Lord, I prayed silently, I do believe you’re sending those pennies to strengthen my faith. But I need more. Then, as an afterthought, I added, Lord, you showed your nail-scarred hands to Thomas. I want to see your nail marks, too! I never told anyone about my prayer to see a nail mark. How could God answer such an impossible request? A few days later, I received a card in the mail from Kenna.

“Dear Marilynn,” she wrote, “I found this penny in my dryer and I thought of you. Perhaps the Lord sent this penny as an encouragement to us both.” 

I caught my breath. Taped to her card was an ordinary penny. But as I looked closer, I saw something that stunned me. Right through the center of the penny was a nail hole! I sat transfixed. And suddenly I knew. God had sent me my own nail mark, just as I’d prayed. For a moment, as I touched that penny, I felt like Thomas touching the nail hole in Jesus’s hand. What could I say but “My Lord and My God!” Suddenly, it all became clear. My God is awesome and powerful enough to rule the universe. But he’s also personal and tender enough to send a nail-pierced penny to another “Doubting Thomas” like me, in need of encouragement.

I want to close this week with five reasons why I believe that giving thanks matters:

1. Giving thanks to God is a good way to counter-attack discontent. It’s easier to replace grumbling or complaining with thanksgiving than to simply try to “not gripe.”

2. Gratitude feeds my faith. I discovered that thanksgiving can stand up under a fiery trial.

3. Giving thanks also seemed to use less energy than praying for a specific end—a good thing when you’re in a hard place. Giving thanks is an effective way to roll my burdens into God’s hands, which, in turn, calms my anxious heart.

4. Having a thankful heart makes me more aware of my surroundings and more in tune with God’s blessings. So I find myself more expectant—watching for him to show up.

5. For some reason, giving thanks makes me more sensitive to the needs of others—opening the door to holy conversations—a blessing in themselves.
   

I don’t have to understand all the reasons why giving thanks is a good thing in order to experience its benefits. Forming a habit of giving thanks changes my attitude and my actions. I discovered that giving thanks is a form of worship. It connects me to the Lord and places my focus on him. And when I focus on Jesus, it changes everything.

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Secrets to a Thankful Heart: Pennies from Heaven (Part 1)

by Marilynn Chadwick

I wanted to find a practical way to remember the amazing things God has done in my life. So I began to save my spiritual souvenirs, my “Ebenezers'' in a special box I call my “Ebenezer Box.” Not much bigger than a shoebox, it looks like one of my grandmother’s old hat boxes.

What about you—have you ever seen a sign or wonder? If you start paying attention, you might be surprised like I was when I started to find all those pennies! My granddaughter Anna Grace was intrigued by the stories in my box. I gave her one of her own so she can collect her Ebenezers. Why not start your own Ebenezer Box?

My Ebenezer Box holds treasured reminders that God is still in the miracle business. Some of my spiritual victories have been dramatic, such as the medically validated miracle that allowed us to have our three children. Those moments were like a roar. God was using his outside voice! Miracles like that get our attention.

But I’ve learned that God’s wonders are often much quieter—more like a whisper—especially when he’s working in the everyday details of my daily life. And if I’m not watching, I just might miss him! A penny taped to a greeting card in my Ebenezer Box reminds me of one of those times. After all, what could be more ordinary than a penny? Who would think that a penny might be a whisper from God?

A little penny may seem commonplace. But it tells of the time God answered my prayer in a way that was unmistakably him—and left me speechless with awe.

I don’t remember the first penny that caught my eye. For months I had been noticing pennies in the strangest places. Sometimes I would discover one at my feet—just as I was praying about something. Funny, I thought. It’s almost as though God wants to let me know that he hears my prayers.

I sure hoped so. I was going through a spiritually dry season in my life. I can’t remember all the details. What I do remember is that I desperately wanted to believe God was still at work and that he cared about me.

I was a young mom with two small children. David and I had worked hard together for over ten years of ministry building our church. Sometimes, the sheer load of caring about so many people became exhausting.

Could these pennies really be little messages of encouragement from God? I wondered. Perhaps it was wishful thinking. After all, the world groans with the weight of earthquakes, injustice, and war. God has better things to do than send me pennies.

Still, I hoped. And there it was. Another penny. This one in the heel of my shoe, just as I was preparing to put it on! The last penny had been under a glass on the kitchen shelf. The one before that, right in the middle of my bed!

(To be continued tomorrow...)

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Secrets to a Thankful Heart: Visible Reminders

by Marilynn Chadwick

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12 NIV). 

The Bible tells how the Children of Israel came back to God after many years of wandering. They began to copy the evil behavior of the pagan people around them and even started to worship the demon gods of their enemies—sometimes sacrificing their own babies! 

Finally, they’d had enough. They were sick and tired of the consequences of their rebellion. Sick and tired of fear and failure. Sick and tired of feeling like they were under a curse.

They had forgotten how to pray so they asked their leader Samuel to pray for them. Samuel called them together to confess their sins. Then, he challenged them to commit to following God with their whole heart. Above all, he warned, they must stop their wicked worship of pagan idols. 

While Samuel was still praying, their mortal enemy, the Philistines, launched a surprise attack. But instead of fighting back, the people pleaded with Samuel to keep praying. I can imagine how they all began to cry out with the prayer that gets God’s attention. “Help!”

The Lord rushed to their rescue and brought fierce thunder and lightning from heaven that day. The entire Philistine army was terrified and thrown into such confusion that the Israelites defeated them and won a thrilling victory. 

Samuel took a large stone and placed it as a monument in their town. He named it Ebenezer (which means “the stone of help”). “This marks the place where the Lord has helped us!” He wanted them to always remember how God gave them victory and to never drift from Him again (1 Samuel 7:12, MSG). 

The word Ebenezer comes from two Hebrew words. Eben, which means “stone or rock” and ezer, which means “help or support.” That’s why an Ebenezer is a “stone of help.” Even to this day, people sometimes use the word Ebenezer to commemorate an important victory. 

I don’t know about you, but my faith grows when I hear stories of God’s power. And when I personally experience a miracle, my faith seems to soar! Over the years, I’ve collected spiritual mementos of my own victories—my Ebenezer Stones. 

Photos, small artifacts, scraps of paper, pages of my journal, little bits of “this and that” point me back to times when God showed himself strong or interrupted the ordinary flow of daily life with a miracle. When that happened, it seemed important to pause and thank God. Then, to preserve the evidence. 

These little reminders help me hold onto my faith when answers to my prayers are slow in coming or when life gets really messy. My “Ebenezer Stones” remind me that nothing is impossible with God. You see, it’s not enough to simply witness God’s miracles. We also have to remember them. No wonder the word remember occurs about 400 times in the Bible!

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