Thank You for...

**The following post written on Apr 7 2009 at 6:16PM**

Dear all,

The end of the semester is getting near, and many people--including me-- are feeling stressed out at variety of things (waiting for the news on summer camps, scholarships, and school acceptances + normal workload and extra workload). With all the craziness going around and the weather acting up (combinations of snow, rain, and sunshine), I had a chance to play and enjoy Beethoven's mass, Missa Solemnis, this past weekend with the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic and two concert choirs. It was such a magnificent piece of work that I haven't been able to stop thinking about!

I could feel myself tearing up when the first phrase was played. It was so beautiful, so glorious! Since not all of the performers were Christians, I started to wonder how amazing Heaven will be with all of us praising Him; if the mass has already touched my heart so deeply, I can't even imagine how joyous and content everyone will be when we're all finally free of sins and completely with HIM.

I took peeks at the translation of the text every so often. The text spoke of the excellent truth of God. One particular sentence stood out to me and has since changed the way I praise God. It said:

"We thank You for Your great glory"
Missa Solemnis

Wow, I've never thought of thanking God for His great glory, and this has truly triggered my sleeping soul! The more I thought about it, the more I'm impressed by the simple fact. Yes, there's nothing else in this universe that carries more glory than He does because He's created everything. I want to thank Him for being an all-powerful and glorious God. In Him, I've won all wars and with Him, I have everything I can possibly need, for He's the one and only true God.

Often times my prayers have been very self-centered-- "Oh God, please this, please that." I've even only praised Him about the things He's done in my life-- "Thank you for this, thank you for that." But in reality, there's more than enough for me to praise God for just by His existence alone! I want to make war against myself and have less of me and more of Him in my life because He's the only way and the only truth I'll ever know.

Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.
For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.
Psalms 117 (the shortest chapter in the Bible!)

I thank God for His great glory. Praise the Lord, always.

I hope all is well with everyone:)

Love,
Anna