Day 2 - Days of Thanks

Something I enjoy doing is searching Google Images for unique photos representing life in all its stages and expressions. I found this photo this morning and felt it speaking to me in many ways. As I stared at the photo, the word thankful kept ringing in my head and it gave life to this image. Today, I'm thankful for prayer. I'm thankful for the little hands that so sweetly and innocently pray to this great, big God with such promise and hope and certainty. I'm thankful for the youthful hands that pray to God for understanding, value, acceptance - all in a time of such growth and awkwardness. I'm thankful for the praying hands of college students, newly weds, new parents, singles, the lost and lonely, the abandoned, the divorced, the beaten and weary, the oppressed, the hungry, the sick, the joyful, the churched and the unchurched. I'm thankful for the praying hands that have prayed for me, for my family, for peace, for our soldiers, our doctors, our politicians, our teachers, our firefighters, paramedics and police officers. I'm thankful for the praying hands of our clergy, our friends, our children, our parents, our siblings and our spouses. I'm thankful for the praying hands of our grandparents, the shut-ins, the neglected, the elderly. I'm thankful for the praying hands of the Alzheimer's unit to which I minister. I'm thankful for the praying hands of our Savior who prayed for us, for our souls, for our salvation, for our children, for our lives, for our forgiveness. I'm thankful for those same praying hands that spread open wide on a cross and embraced us all, loved us all, forgave us all, accepted us all, interceded for us all. I'm thankful that when I know not what else to do, I can always turn to our God, El Shaddai, and know that God will hold my praying hands. I'm thankful for praying hands.

Day 3 - Days of Thanks

Today I am thankful for tears. I'm thankful for refreshing tears that flow when your heart needs the release the most. I'm thankful for the soft loving hands in my life that are there to warmly wipe away my tears. I'm thankful for tears of joy when your heart feels as if it might leap from your chest. I'm thankful for tears of laughter that flow so effortlessly as your side begins to ache and your breath escapes you...those tears of laughter that come when you least expect it, most need it and thoroughly appreciate it. I'm thankful for tears of sorrow that walk you through your moments of pain. These are the warm tears that stream down your cheeks as you remember someone you have lost and your heart breaks with the emptiness. I'm thankful for the tears.

Day 4 - Days of Thanks

Today I'm thankful for the food on my table. I'm thankful for the meal I cooked that I didn't ruin. I'm thankful that I have food in my belly and in that thanks I pray for those who will fall asleep hungry tonight. Let's all do our part to help end poverty.

Day 5 - Days of Thanks

Today I'm thankful for freedom of religion. Today I worshiped the God I love in the church I chose and I am not persecuted for it. There are so many in our world whose lives are at risk just for praying to their God. I pray that some day we can all enjoy freedom to love and worship God.

Day 6 - Days of Thanks

Today I'm thankful for Date Nights. Marriage is hard, but if you believe in happily ever after than you must know that it doesn't come without a lot of hard work. Date Night is an easy way to help make happily ever after a possibility. Keep falling in love...day after day after day.

Day 7 - Days of Thanks

Today I'm thankful for great movies that sweep you away to another world and tickle your imagination. Enjoyed a fabulous movie with the girl's today.

Day 10 - Days of Thanks

Today I'm thankful for the education I've been so fortunate to have had available to me. So many haven't been given the opportunity to learn to do one of my favorite things, read. I so often forget how much of a luxury reading really is. Illiteracy is still prevalent in our world. I pray for education to be available for all and I pray that with every word I read I may remember how fortunate an upbringing I've had.

Day 11 - Days of Thanks

Today I'm thankful for warm, clean water. So many people don't have the luxury of taking a shower or bath every day, let alone a warm one with clean water. As I enjoy this luxury that I am blessed to have, I pray for those without and ask God to make warm and clean water available to everyone.

Day 12 - Days of Thanks

My thanks for yesterday is that God safely brought me home. I was so tired and plagued by an awful sinus infection and wasn't sure how I was going to make it home safely when driving from the Dallas airport (home of the most canceled flights of my life) to OKC. I am so thankful that I made it home in one piece, car in one piece, mind in one piece and without causing harm to anyone else. God gave me the alertness needed to accomplish the task. So very thankful.

Day 13 - Days of Thanks

Today I'm thankful for 'puppy love'. I'm thankful for sweet little paws of love. I'm thankful for how BB makes Ham smile and for how much they love each other. I'm thankful we have more than just humans to interact with!!! ;-p

Day 14 - Days of Thanks

Today I'm thankful for new opportunities and experiences. I'm thankful that God sees my potential and challenges me to do new things that sometimes exist waaaay beyond my comfort level. I've been so blessed today by my trip to TX and my experiences so far at the convention. My inner introvert squirmed the whole time, but I grew from the experience and was so very blessed by it. I'm thankful God loves me enough to push me in new directions that help me mature in my spirituality. So, so very thankful. What a loving God I serve and obey.

Day 15 - Days of Thanks

Patience. One word with which I have a love/hate relationship.

I've always been a 90 to nothin' kinda gal. I typically have multiple coals in the fire and all of them burning at the same time. I try to do as much as I can, efficiently as I can. I keep my calendar full and my 'to do lists' handy. So one can only imagine the utter frustration I feel when something comes a long that I can't just accomplish. Cook dinner - check. Wash child - check. Get pregnant - um...nothing. You see, there are those things you can manage to accomplish, and then there are those things that you may want with all of your heart and try with every ounce of your being to accomplish, but still end up empty handed. There are days when the wave is there just in time for you to catch it and other days when nothing is breaking.

There was a moment in my life that I will never, ever forget. In fact, I remember it so well that I can tell you what the room smelled liked, what I was wearing, where I was, what it looked like outside...the day I prayed God would help me be patient. I know...I can hear your gasps already. Why would you ever ask God to teach you that? Yikes! Had I known then what I was really getting into by asking God that, I might have carefully re-worded my prayer request. You see, I remember that moment so well because from that moment almost 11 years ago, I have been being taught quite clearly what it means to have patience.

As frustrating as being patient is to me, I can see God's presence in my moments of waiting. For three years hubs and I tried to have a baby before we were finally blessed with our miracle baby. Though those were the most painful years I can remember, I can see now the things I learned in my waiting. Now that we are trying again and will have been trying for two years come January, I realize once again I'm needing to be patient.

Today, I want to lift up a thanks to my Lord for being so lovingly patient with me. I know how stubborn and fleshly I can be. I know how utterly frustrating I must be to God sometimes, and yet, God loves me more than anyone else and is patient with me. If God can be that patient with me, I suppose I can be patient with Him. And when I am thankful in my waiting on the Lord, the rewards are that much sweeter. I love my child so deeply and I've never taken him for granted, maybe due to the sacrifices and suffering I endured to get him here. Likewise, today I felt the presence of the Lord surround me with His love and confirm me. I've been walking through the ministry candidacy process for my church for two years now. I've been seeking to be certified. I've watched friends, classmates and colleagues all be confirmed and recommended as I sat back wondering why it wasn't happening for me. I questioned my call, wondered what I had done wrong. But God, God took that time to work in me and on me. I'm much stronger of a woman today than I have been; certainly much stronger in my relationship with Christ. Today, after meeting with the District Committee on Ministry, I was finally recommended and certified. I had to be very patient in this process, but today, it felt like it was all worth it.

This just goes to show how important the lesson of patience is. Patience with ourselves, those we love, with God...all vital to our spiritual health. Today I'm thankful for patience. I'm thankful that I can now, though not perfectly, stop and just allow things to happen as they are supposed to. I'm thankful for answered prayers, even when they don't get answered on my time table. I'm thankful in my waiting.

Day 16 - Days of Thanks

Today we celebrate our Veterans because the calendar has directed us to do so. But I believe we should celebrate our military, past and present, every day. I'm thankful for the freedom their bravery has afforded me. Like most, I can be found taking my freedom for granted, not really realizing how good I have it. Days like today are a reminder to all of us that things we have in our lives that are really worth something, of real value, carry a heavy price tag.

"The best things in life are free" or so says the song. But I don't buy that. I think the best things in life are the those things which no amount of money can buy. They are the things that 'cost' us the most. Whether we're talking about our health, or raising a family, or living in a country where freedom exists, having the freedom to speak openly and follow the religion of your choosing...there is simply too much I could list here. Come to think of it, not even, and especially not even, our salvation came free.

We celebrate our freedoms and our blessings because we know the cost and when it comes to paying the price, few know it better than those who fight for it. Women and men choose to fight for freedom ... not because we deserve it, but out of love for neighbor. Those who have courageously faced things I will never fathom and did it for me among others, are hero's. They sacrificed and continue to sacrifice to this day so that we may know what freedom feels like. I'm grateful and so very thankful for these men and women.

I'm thankful for the ones who've made it home to their families and I'm thankful for the ones who made it home to the arms of their Savior in their heavenly resting place. I'm thankful for the families who sacrifice along side their loved one. I'm thankful for the husbands and wives who send their spouses to serve for my freedom. I'm thankful for the children who selflessly give for a greater cause. I'm thankful for those people in this country who appreciate the sacrifice these men, women and children are making and thank them for it. I'm thankful to be a part of something so willing to fight not just for our freedoms on this soil, but for the freedom of those who have no idea what freedom means.

Today and every day, I'm thankful to you...service men and women, to your families, your spouses, your children, your mothers and fathers, your boyfriends and girlfriends...I'm thankful FOR you.

God bless you this day and every day. For all you've done and will do, I thank you.

Day 17 - Days of Thanks

'I give thanks for the music of this life and for the ability to sing these songs to others. Lord open my heart and find the strings welcoming you to play them for the the glory of your Kingdom.'

• I'm thankful for seminary, my classmates and those instructors who have instilled in me a deeper faith and respect for the One I love the most.
• I'm thankful for the blessing of being able to dream of, reach for and attain an education.
• I'm thankful for my love of learning.
• I'm thankful for the presence of the Lord in every fiber of the fabric that is my life.
• I'm thankful to have been called to serve others and I'm thankful I finally stopped turning from that call.
• I'm thankful for the courage, the hope and the faith to persue what is not easy, but precisouly vital.
• I'm thankful for all that is to come ... even those moments that will challenge me to be a person better today than I was yesterday.
• I'm thankful for a church and a God who accepts me as woman, created by the hands of the Creator, and allows me a place to preach, a place to serve, a place to carry out the work of the Lord.
• I'm thankful for a family who has supported me beyond description in my pursuit of a career in ministry and I'm thankful for the churches who have embraced me.
• I'm thankful for the classmates and colleagues who build me up.
• I'm thankful!!!!
  

Day 18 - Day's of Thanks

Today I'm especially thankful for "the little things". These are the things that don't add up to much but are precious little pleasures. I'm thankful for:

• My new best friend, Millstone Seasonal Holiday Peppermint Coffee.
  
• Doggy smiles
• Clean sheets
• Funky socks
• Comfortable bras (yeah...I'm not afraid to admit it)
• Clean air (okay, that adds up to a lot)
• Scented candles
• Warm fresh laundry
• Cheating and listening to a little Christmas music before Thanksgiving
• My son's coloring pages
• The smell of my husband's cologne
• Blowing out my hair
• A fresh coat of toe nail polish
• Time to read a book (or at least be able to finish a page or two)
• Inside jokes that only I giggle to
• Reading other people's great blog posts - Thank you Internet Cafe for your delicious devotion today.
• And so, so, so, so, so, so much more!!!
  

Day 19 - Days of Thanks

Today I want to express my endless thanks to my Savior for his cleansing blood. I'm thankful that I know what it means to have received the saving grace and loving forgiveness of the cross. Thanks to Christ, I have received a gift I didn't deserve. I'm thankful for the sacrifice and I'm thankful for the call on my life.

Day 20 - Days of Thanks

Day 20 - I'm thankful for God's promises. I'm thankful that I'm aware the world is much bigger than me and the possibilities, which are God's, are endless. I'm thankful for the beauty that shines through the rain.

Day 21 - Days of Thanks

I'm thankful for the angels God has placed in my life and for the moments I will forever treasure. I'm thankful for the first kisses and the last. I'm thankful goodbye isn't forever. (Me and my grandma).