Words from Jesus Calling: “it is impossible to spend too much time thanking and praising Me.”
My heart is feeling a bit overwhelmed…a bit sad…a bit out of sorts…(and I’m not altogether sure why)…but I just read “thanksgiving and praise put you in proper relationship with Me, opening the way for My riches to flow into you.” I need His riches to flow in me (in to me and out of me!)… therefore, my heart is going to focus on being thankful rather than overwhelmed…on being grateful rather than sad….on Him instead of on my out-of-sortness. Honestly, I’m having a hard time coming up with things to be thankful for….but I KNOW there’s so much…here’s an attempt at a thankful monday list, let's see where it goes:
- An exchange of meaningless ink cartridges for useful ink cartridges (and the likeness of that exchange to what God does for us…takes what is meaningless (us/our old life) and swaps it for something useful (him/new life) (it’s not that he makes the useless useful….it’s a total exchange!)
- For things that don’t hurt – ie, if my tooth was hurting right now I’d realize how grateful I am for all the days when my tooth doesn’t hurt (and how grateful I am for our awesome dentist, tyler myers!!!). so today, a day when nothing hurts – not a tooth or a stomache or a head – I am thankful.
- Children who are NOT coughing.
- Washing machines. So little input for such tremendous results.
- A sweet friend who cares enough to ask what the tears were for…and to bring me tangible reminders of her thoughts, prayers & care…(now if I can just keep the Christmas cactus alive….)
- Caroline was excited about Caitlin being here today! (emma wasn’t quite so excited…but she had fun, too).
- Walking with nick through fantasy in lights last night (yay for winning free tickets from The Truth!)
- God has us…and He’s not letting go of us. He’s got good plans for us…and He’s going to take care of our hearts – all of our hearts!
- Today is a day worth rejoicing over….even if it doesn’t “feel” like it (I’m thinking feelings are overrated)
- Caroline giving free makeovers with her new “set”…and the location of her makeover station? The cabinet in the hallway…she’s got it all set up and she’s in the cabinet, open for business…complete with instructional signs like “girls must do their hair in the morning…except girls with hair like boys like emma….” And “crew members only must enter by the arrow. We’ll make sure no one is excluded.” I love that girl’s creativity and thinking.
- Eli’s love for reading…and willingness to read…and desire to “do more history"
- That God celebrates us every day as much as everyone else does on our birthdays (x’s a bazillion). He has special thoughts and gifts and encouragement for each of us daily….not just on our birthday!
- That thankfulness really does help. The thankfulness tends to push the grumbling and complaining out of the way.
