Thanking God and Being Blessed

My earthly father comes to visit me almost every year in July to pick raspberries and black currants. We have a few hundred acres that the raspberries grow wild. There also is a five or so acre plot of black currants planted near here that we go and get black currants from. The first nation's band (politically correct way of saying Indians) had a government grant to plant them about six years ago. The money was wasted before they were picked, so no one has ever picked them or maintained them since they were planted. We went down one morning and started picking. My dad was complaining about how few berries there were, compared to last year. I had just read a really good book called Prison to Praise and was learning to thank God for all things good and bad. So I started praising God and thanking him for the berries and for the bugs that were living up to their name: bug.

Then God brought it to my mind that I was plundering the world system of my day to have these berries. I never planted or worked any for these berries; God had especially planted them for me. No one else goes there to pick them. I was awestruck. So I praised Him. It really reminded me of the Israelites going into the Promised Land -- it was all planted and ready for them. I could just rest; in the mean time, I had just stayed in one area and the more I thanked God for this blessing, the thicker the berries were. The other family members there picking were walking all over, not finding many berries, but the plants I was picking were just loaded. I don't think I went 20 feet and picked six pails of berries in a few hours. Every time I thanked Him for creating the mosquito biting me, there seemed to be less bothering me. It was an awesome experience for me.

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