Great Quote

"...you cannot live by sight and by faith, neither can you live by fear and by faith. It either has to be by faith or by fear, by faith or by sight. Which way are you living? Faith takes out the anxiety It takes out the fear. Faith leans heavy on the Lord. It knows that the Bible is so and can be trusted and that we can live by it and all of our needs will be supplied." ~Lester Roloff

 

Practicing Thankfulness

And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Col. 3:14-16

Thankfulness has been on my heart a lot recently...

And, I'm becoming more and more certain that being thankful and grateful is a choice.

I have to remind myself sometimes (as I begin to see fault, or grumble) that I need to look for the

blessing in the situation.

In my previous post I mentioned that I keep a God's Grace Gifts journal.

This has been such an excellent tool for cultivating thankfulness!

I can look back through the pages of the last year and be reminded over and over

how many blessings God has graced me with.

I believe that in almost every one's life--that the blessings far outweigh the bad things.

However, the bad things seem to be what folks naturally dwell on,

and they often seem to plague us through the years.

They stay in the spotlight and absorb our thoughts.

I am trying to choose to focus on the blessings that I've been given in my life.

Purposefully choosing to remember the blessings that I've been given throughout my life

(that I do not even deserve!)

That's what grace is! NOT getting what we truly deserve!

(see Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:)

Some of my blessings are visible!

My family, my extended family, friends, notes of encouragement, flowers in bloom, a hug, a smile,  the Bible, the garden, the ocean, the dogs etc...

But some are not...like the feeling of God's presence, the answered prayers, words of love and encouragement, godly music, a gentle breeze on my face, the fragrance of lilacs, the laughter of a child, the voice of a dear friend on the phone...

So, I hope that you're looking for the blessings that are in your life today...and I hope

that you find as many as I am!

I am indeed blessed!

 

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my sweet Mother's birthday!

What a blessing she is to all of us in our family!

But I particularly appreciate her as she and I are so close!

I appreciate the many sacrifices she made for me - and still does!

She has been so caring during my illness--and every day!

She is also a wonderful "Mommom" too!

All of her grandchildren adore her, and have lots of fun with her. :)

I pray that this new year of her life will be a blessing to her!

We love you Mom! :)

Happy Birthday!

Her children arise up, and call her blessed..

Proberbs 31:28a

Longing...

photo credit

I just love this picture--wish I had a church like this right around the corner from home!

But, alas, we don't!

I miss church! I haven't been able to go to our church for many weeks...

Between car issues

 (at one point, we had 3 vehicles out there--and all of them had the check engine light on!)

also, tire issues etc...

And then of course, there is my unpredictable digestive issues that have

kept me home from church--and other things as well.

We did have the opportunity to visit our former church (which is closer) and fellowship with those sweet friends a few times - which I really enjoyed!

photo credit

But, my heart longs to live in an area that has a good, family-integrated,  Bible-believing and preaching, solid

church with like-minded believers. (That we don't have to drive almost an hour to!)

I really miss the fellowship. And, when you witness to people, it would be nice to be able to ask them

to church with you--not many will drive almost 2 hrs every week...

That is on my prayer request list, and has been for a while.

But, for now, God has us here, and we are driving when we can to our little church in a neighboring state.

One thing I'm really glad of, that God is with me, no matter where I am!

He will never leave me, and walks with me all the day long!

I can fellowship with him throughout the day, and night too!

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:38-39

Milestone

In March 2011 I was blessed to read the book

 One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

by Ann Voskamp

I don't know if you have heard of, or even read this sure-to-be classic book, but if you have, you know that it is not an easy read.

The author's life has not been an easy one, nor are the principles set forth in this book-about having gratitude and thankfulness no matter what your circumstances.

The author asks hard questions, and addresses the difficulties in life, while drawing us

to the conclusion that we are to imitate the life of Christ --and be full of gratitude in every thing.

This soul searching book which basis it's principles on scripture, shows us how we can

experience a life of JOY!

The book encourages us to start making a list of gratitude--actually 1,000 of them!

Today, I reached my 1,000th entry!

I chose God's Grace Gifts as the name of my list

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What I didn't know when I started this, was how much my life was going to change during this time.

I didn't know that some of the hardest days of my life were going to be faced as I was writing this list.

I didn't know that I would face cancer, financial struggles, & a potentially debilitating illness.

But, God did.

photo credit

What a perfect time to search my heart daily for gratitude.

For the blessings of that day.

Some days I just was happy to be drawing my next breath--so, I listed that.

This was such an excellent tool to train my heart to look constantly for things that bring joy.

(even on the days I was in pain, or afraid)

I learned to look more closely at the blessings that surround me constantly-that I might have otherwise overlooked!

A Butterfly

Tiny Violets

Motherhood

A smile from a stranger

An unexpected kindness

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God's thumbprint on all of His Creation cries out His glory!

This journal helps me to see it--and note it!

I intend to keep on adding to my journal, and hope that I will continue to

cultivate a spirit of thankfulness and gratitude to God.

photo credit

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him,

 and bless his name.Psalm 100:4

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The LORD bless thee, and keep thee

The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:

   The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

Just yesterday in my devotions I read that the priestly blessing given in Numbers 6 was commanded to be given to the people- by the Lord.

²²And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

 ²³Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel,

saying unto them...

It went on to say that they offered this prayer with trembling, because they
knew the power of it when God fulfills it.

What a thought! I have always loved that blessing, but even more so now!

May this blessing be yours today, and may you feel the power of it being
fulfilled in your life as you serve Him!

Have a blessed week!