Linking up with Rebecca Jo @ Knit By God's Hand for our weekly dose of public thanksgiving, otherwise known as Thankful Thursday!
This week I am thankful for so many things...
** Tim got the first dose of Moderna and seems to be doing okay except for his shoulder being sore at the injection site.
** Oh yes, always for another day. Tomorrow is never guaranteed, so every new chance to enjoy this life and get it right is a blessing.
** For the feel of the small, warm body of a grandchild snuggled into my side, perfectly content and trusting that all is right in their world because Nanny's got them.
** Knowing that God is always one step (or several) ahead of me and He already has blessings in the works that I haven't even thought to ask for yet.
** Mom is doing really great with her rehab. She's walking around more and getting out to go places other than just rehab.
** Walgreen's had extra doses of the vaccine last Thursday and called Mom to see if she wanted to come get one. She very much did because of my stepdad's health and age. It was timed perfectly that she was cleared to go out for short periods that same morning.
** Isn't that the truth? So many people who are miserable and hurting and taking it out on those around them. So lost and without hope. Without God and so sure they have all the answers. Or thinking because they know God they have all the answers.
** It really is a great day to be alive!
** Mom and John finally took their dog home! She's a sweet pup, but one who never stops barking. Seriously. All. Day. Long. I've a new appreciation for the idea that silence is golden.
** I know that while I am not rich or even well-to-do by American standards, I have so much more than the vast majority of people in the world.
** I am thankful for each moment I am given, each little thing that comes my way, each person...because I know that in the very next breath life could change. I've seen too many examples of that in the last year.
** The more I get to know my biological father, the more I am thankful that things worked out the way they did. I still consider getting to know him now a true gift and blessing that I never thought I'd have, but I am glad he didn't have a hand in raising me. His view of the world and his beliefs would probably have greatly shaped me. Meeting him now, as a more matured Christian, I am able to stand against his influence. I believe God protected me from that.
As an aside, please pray for my father. Pray that the Holy Spirit would go to him and prepare his mind and heart to be receptive. I am mailing a letter to him today and sending two books along. One is just for enjoyment. The other is Lee Strobel's "The Case for a Creator." My father has a deep love and affinity for nature and trusts and believes in science. I am hoping he will read the book and that the science will reach him.
** My Bible study teacher and her husband have allergies, not Covid.
** Even though our weather has gone back to "normal"...with gray skies, rain, and cooler temperatures in the 50s (only in the 40s today and tomorrow!)...that week of sunny, 70+ days has everything growing, sprouting, and blooming. I wake up every morning to the birds singing their greeting to the day.
** This is my goal. To be able to give thanks to the Lord in every situation. To be able to find the blessing in the heartache. I'm not perfect at it, but I am way better at it than I used to be. And let me tell you, what a difference it makes!
** And last, but certainly not least...
Love your post Stacy! It's so uplifting. It's so important for us to deliberately be thankful and to look for the reasons to be thankful each day. They are all around us, but so many times I only see the bad. I'm better at it than I used to be too and hope as the years continue, I'll get even better at it. Take care my friend and I'll say a prayer for your father that God will open the eyes of his heart.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cathy, for your prayers and it does take practice. After going through a very bad time many years ago I got in a rut of looking at everything negatively. I had to put serious effort into training myself to look for the positive. The more you do it the easier it becomes. There is science behind it, too. I learned that your brain actually gets trained to think in patterns. So if you think negatively a lot then the more you do it, the more it becomes your brain's go-to reaction. Think positively and your brain can learn to do that, too.
DeleteWhat a wonderful thankful post. I love all the little memes interspersed within...all such good thoughts. I will definitely pray for your father to find Jesus! I am sure God has brought you into his life at this time for just that reason...so continue to be your own sweet and true self, and he will see Christ living in you and want to know more. The books sound like good ideas. I do understand your thought and feelings about this. Since I discovered who my grandmother's birth parents were, I don't know where they stood spiritually. I am hoping to meet them in heaven someday, but if they didn't know Jesus it is too late now. So I am hoping and praying that somewhere along their life's line they heard the gospel and accepted Jesus into their hearts. And I am sure my grandmother was better off being raised by her adoptive parents as they definitely took her to church and she was brought up in a loving Christian home, and that carried over to her own family and my father, and on to me, etc. Thank you for this post. It gave me some things to think about and be thankful for as well.
ReplyDeleteThank you for understanding. I mean there is a bit of regret I didn't know him or my siblings growing up but I look at the mindsets they have and the poor family relationships between all of them and think God knew what he was doing. I know my father was brought up in a Christian home, but after his father was killed he felt it was on him as the oldest to take care of the family. To keep food on the table he skipped school a lot to go hunting and fishing. He worked a lot of odd jobs, too. He seems to have gotten angry and turned away from God when his mother gave all credit for seeing the family through to God and none to him. I can understand her thinking, but also why that would have been hard for a 16 year old boy to hear. His siblings still attend church and "preach at" him so I've been treading carefully. I don't hide who I am, but I haven't done any preaching at him. I'm really praying the scientific evidence will get through to him since he loves nature and science so much.
DeleteWonderful things to be thankful for. Well said. I'm also thankful we have Jesus. My, goodness, how do people get through a day or life without Him!? He definitely holds me together when things look darkest.
ReplyDeleteBlessings. xx
I sure don't know. Sometimes the days are tough even when we have him so I can't imagine going through these times on my own.
DeleteSo many blessings! Between your posts and Ann Voskamp's eucharisteo (I'm reading 1,000 Gifts now), my senses are becoming keener to all the gifts surrounding me.
ReplyDeleteAnn is the one who taught me to count my blessings! That first year I tried to count to 1000 was so HARD! Now it comes easily. The more you do it the easier and more naturally it comes.
DeleteSo glad your momma is doing well... & your hubby is doing OK with the Moderna! That sore arm is a booger though.
ReplyDeleteAMEN to tomorrow never being promised - I feel that more & more each day.
Ozzie WANTS to be a barker - we have to correct him ALL THE TIME. He's very DEMANDING - will bark to tell you something - like PLAY WITH ME NOW - LOL
Tonight the hubby isn't feeling too good. He really doesn't ever feel "good" but this is more so than usual so probably the vaccine. Lots of achiness.
DeleteMom and John probably could have trained their pooch, but I just think she's been more than they are really up to handling and they aren't about to admit it.
The one-two combo of my own aging and the realities of life in these times definitely slams home that "tomorrow isn't guaranteed" mentality.
I love your post today, Stacy! And that last... ** This is my goal. To be able to give thanks to the Lord in every situation. To be able to find the blessing in the heartache. I'm not perfect at it, but I am way better at it than I used to be. And let me tell you, what a difference it makes! Amen. I am finding blessings in my heartache and it does make a difference. My heart still aches and always will, for Joe, but I trust my God and know He is in control. I am so blessed and comforted by my faith in Jesus Christ. It does make a difference. xo
ReplyDeleteAw, thank you, Terri, for such kind words. You my friend, are the very picture of grace under fire. I can't imagine anyone handling all that you have had to deal with any better than you have. You are an inspiration and a walking testimony to the peace of the Lord. Your peace blesses the rest of us.
DeleteI am thankful for my family and for so many things, too numerous to name. Life hasn't always been so fair to me in the past - I am thankful for living a simpler more peaceful life which is very much suited to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder to pause, and be thankful.
You are welcome and thank you for the kind words and for stopping by to visit my blog!
DeleteI am so thankful for you, Stacy and the many smiles you bring to my very dull life, LOL. Have a beautiful weekend my friend.
ReplyDelete