Being Thankful On Purpose

There are times in everyone's lives when you just plain have a bad day.  Even if things are going well, and you're feeling good... sometimes you still have a crappy attitude. (And when I say "you" I mean "me" too!)  So I'm challenging myself, and you, to be thankful on purpose. I have SO much to be thankful for, that sometimes I need to remind myself. 

1. I am thankful that God's mercies are new every morning. NO matter how badly I screw up, He will forgive, truly forget, and start every new day with a clean slate. That needs to be number one on EVERYONE'S thankful list.

2. I am thankful that we have a wood burner, and don't have to pay almost $4.00 a gallon for fuel oil to heat our house. I'm thankful we have woods all around us and don't have to pay for wood. I am thankful that Doug is able to get all the wood we need for winter without paying someone else to get it. Praise God!

3. I am thankful that my husband is a Christian man, has a good job, is hard working, faithful, trustworthy, loving, a wonderful provider and a great dad. (He's awfully cute too!)

4. I am thankful I have a beautiful, healthy, smart, loving, busy, crazy, amazing, gregarious, precocious, full-of-life son, when I thought I never could. Miracles happen, folks.  I'm living proof.

5. I am thankful for the friends that I have that I know I can count on for WHATever, WHENever. Thank you for letting me know that I can depend on you, call you in the middle of the night (only for an emergency, I promise!)…I love you and appreciate you more than you can know.

6. I am thankful I have a computer, and internet, because it allows me to keep in touch with everyone I love.

7. I am thankful for music. It moves me like nothing else can.

8. I am thankful that although I have health issues, I can see and hear. I can walk, and talk, maybe not perfectly, but I can.  I'm so, so, so thankful for the IonCleanse.  It has given me my life back.  Thank you, Lord!!

9. I am thankful that this life is not all we have. That when the time comes, I will be in the presence of God Almighty, and I long to hear "Well done, good and faithful servant." I will be whole again. There will be no more night. No more pain. No more tears. Hallelujah! I will be reunited with those gone before, and meet fellow Christian friends I have not had the privilege to meet in this lifetime.

10. I am thankful for YOU, yes you!  The one who is taking the time to read my words.  I am thankful you read this, and I want you to know you are loved.

May we all find something we are thankful for today. I'd love to hear what YOU'RE thankful for...leave a comment!

¹ Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
² Let us come before him with thanksgiving
    and extol him with music and song.

³ For the Lord is the great God,
    the great King above all gods.

Psalm 95:1-3

Mixed Blessings

I am a Jesus-follower, and believe He is the only way to heaven.  You can agree or disagree, but I'm pretty upfront about it and not shy to talk about my beliefs.

I started my post this way because the song "Blessings" by Laura Story has been going through my head over and over.  It makes me cry every time.  I have experienced that song.  "What if blessings come through raindrops?  What if healing comes through tears?"

You know, so many people are struggling. 
 

Think about it:  if it never rained, we'd have no flowers.  And if you get something in your eyes, the best thing to wash them out with is your own tears.

But my heart it so burdened by loved ones who are hurting.  Some are fighting physical illness, some struggle with mental illness (which is so invisible that some people don't even believe it exists!); people struggling with inner demons that just overwhelm them.  And it makes my heart break.

I have always been an empathetic person.

Empathize. Understand.  Identify With.  Put oneself in another person’s place.

I remember one time when I was little, I was at my cousin’s house, and he got into trouble for something.  He received discipline, but I was the one who cried! I’m still kind of the same now, but on a broader scale.  If I could take the burdens of others I would.  I have a few MG friends right now (several really,) that are going through SO much....And I wish with all my heart I could do something about it.

But it's not my place.  It's God's.  It's Jesus's.  HE is the only One who can take the burdens.  Before I had MG, I was not on a great path in life.  I was doing things I knew God didn’t want me to do.  But I was so insecure, and so self-absorbed I did them anyway.

God got my attention.  He loved me too much to leave me where I was.  And if it took MG to do it, so be it.  I have a better life now.  Do I wish I was healthy?  Cured? Absolutely.  Do I wish I could breathe every day really well and run and jump and roll around on the floor with my son?  Of course.

But would I trade all of the blessings that came with this insidious disease? Nope.

I guess in my rambling, round-about way I'm trying to tell you that there is HOPE.  God loves you.  He wants your heart.  He doesn't want some blindly following robot.  He wants to know you.  He already loves you.

When I became a mom, the sacrifice of God sending His only Son to earth to die a horrible death took on incredible new meaning to me.  I don't know if I could do it.  I love my child more than my own life.  To send him to a place where people would mock him and beat him and eventually kill him?  Even if it was to save others?  I don't know.  I could give up myself, but my son?

Just think about that today.  The God of Heaven wants YOU to be His child and ease your burdens. 

Life will NOT be all sunshine and roses. 

But it will be different.  Better.  More joyful.  It may not be easy, but it will be good.  It will be very good.

“Blessings” by Laura Story

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not our home

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise

Copycat Post

The featured blogger today on SITS said that someone encouraged her as a post to list 10 HONEST things about herself. I thought Hmmm....that would be interesting...so I decided to copy her! : ) So here we go:

1. I am a Christian who loves God and trusts Him with my life. I know that without him, I wouldn't even be here. I screw up all the time, and God loves me anyway, just the way I am.

2. I have been overweight all of my life, and have recently found the Holy Grail of MY weightloss...Symlin. This is a medication used to help control diabetes, and a "side effect" is weight loss. And it's working. Hallelujah for that.

3. Lack of communication drives me crazy. I would rather beat the dead horse until I KNOW that poor thing is never rearing its head again instead of ASSUME that someone knows what I mean. I have been on BOTH ends of miscommunication, and it's just ridiculous. Make sure people understand you, and that you understand them, BEFORE you end a conversation.

4. People who say things they don't mean make me angry. Very angry. People who say mean, horrible things, and then say, "OH, just kidding." They need a slap upside the head. It's this simple people: SAY WHAT YOU MEAN, AND MEAN WHAT YOU SAY. It's not rocket science. Words hurt way more than you know, and as Dr. Phil would say, "You can't un-ring a bell." Your words are powerful. They have meaning. And once they are out of your mouth, you can NOT take them back.

5. The things I hate most about being chronically ill are:
-feeling like I'm not a good enough mom and wife
-losing my independence almost completely
-having the trach and losing my ability to sing (I sang in a quartet in college, and at weddings
here and there)
-I can't have more children (well, I could TRY, but I don't think I'd live through that again!)

6. The things I am most grateful about being chronically ill are:
-I am much closer to God than I was before my I became ill
-I am more patient
-Little things just don't bother me anymore...takes too much energy
-I really appreciate life; and I try reeeallly hard not to take things for granted
-I am not afraid to speak my mind (even MORE so than before, for those who knew me
before!) good, bad, or ugly.
-I love more quickly, more fully, and more deeply
-I forgive more easily

7. Looking at 5 and 6, I guess I'm thankful I got this stupid illness. More pro's than con's. Important ones anyway.

8. I LOVE where I live, out in the country, but it's too far from my family.

9. My husband is my best friend. Every year he gets more handsome. He is brilliant. He has the ingenuity of McGuyver, Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett all rolled up into one. He is good at everything he tries. He has a steady job, which he works very hard at, and is good at it. I love him with all my heart, and pray we are together for many, many, many years.

10. My son is the light of my life. He is so smart, and precious and special. There aren't even words that can describe the feelings my heart holds...joy and sadness and expectation and love. Protection and recklessness. Amazement and awe. They just aren't strong enough. Often I look at him and get tears in my eyes. I think, "I can't believe I really get to keep you." I have never known such fierce love. I will fight for him to the death...especially if you're a ROOSTER!