Ezra 7: Overwhelmed by the Goodness of God

“Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart…”Ezra 7:27 NKJV

Today was about Ezra’s reaction for me. He wasn’t impressed with himself or all that just came his way. He certainly didn't back down from what was being asked of him, but he also didn't lose site of the real miracle here. God used a foreign king to restore the Israelites and Jerusalem. The same country that captured and enslaved Judah is now the same country releasing them and then setting them up for restoration.

I think I might have gotten caught up in all the favor of what was happening for sure and that's okay, but ultimately he was overwhelmed by the goodness of God and thats WHO I want to be!

I love how aware he was about how the Lord was moving. I wasn't even there and Im just in awe myself! To behold this must have been something. As we head into Thanksgiving, that’s the posture I want to carry. I’ve been doing a lot of ME work lately, preparing for the year ahead, a new coaching course, and one thing keeps coming up over and over: Whatever you focus on gets louder. Wherever you stare, you steer. The parts of the brain that make us think on things

more literally grows in the area we think of most. That can be a blessing or scary if we aren't careful. It gives renewing the mind a whole new meaning.

In my own live Im learning, if I’m not careful, the challenges, the long waits, and the stretched-thin days start to take center stage. It’s not that they aren’t real—they just shouldn’t get the spotlight only the Lord deserves.

Lets take some time to focus on where the Lord Is moving In our lives… the open doors, the protection we didn’t understand in the moment, the strength we only found because we needed it. Lets not rush past those things. We can get so busy handling fires, taking on more, stuck in the hard things of life we rught right past those things...

Remember that saying, "I wanna be like...(fill in the blank)". I want to be like Ezra! Attentive. Aware. Grateful. Moved by the goodness of God that’s already all around me.

1. Where have you seen God’s hand at work this week?

2. What blessings have you overlooked because you were focused on the hard parts?

3. What would change if gratitude got louder than your challenges?

4. How can you stay attentive to God’s goodness in the everyday moments?

If Ezra could recognize God moving through a foreign king, then I can recognize Him in the middle of my real life too. What a way to walk into Thanksgiving.