What I'm Thankful For: The Thankfulness Series Pt.5

 

Tonight in the lady's Bible study we read 2 Samuel 22 which is David's psalm of praise to God. We are following the life of David, so it was just God's perfect timing that we studied this chapter the week of Thanksgiving. I love David's psalms and this one is no exception, and I hope you go and read it for yourself!

The thing I am most thankful for is my Savior and my God. Following a psalm-like format, I've tried writing my own psalm of praise and thanksgiving to God. As our pastor's wife pointed out tonight, God is such a personal God, and He certainly is to me. This is why I'm so thankful for Him:

God is my Salvation, the One in whom I've put my trust
He is my provider, when I need Him, or even when I think I don't,
He is my rock of stability when the world seems to spin out of control

God is my great redeemer, the One who gave his son for me
He carries me when I am weak, helps me to my feet
And allows me to continue the race

God is my comforter, the One who sees me always
He gives me joy and peace in the hard times
And guides me when I go astray

How I love you Lord!
I pray your praise will continually be on my lips
I am nothing without you, and when you are with me I can do anything
I am so thankful for who you are

What I'm Thankful For: The Thankfulness Series Pt. 4

After a weekend long mini conference, today I am thankful for the everyone in our youth group. They are definitely like a second family, and even though I may get frustrated with a few of them at times, you better not hurt any of them (don't even try, because I can hit the unfriend button so fast you won't even know what hit you)!

I get so thankful for the ones who are getting involved in other areas of the church besides youth group. I see them making such good decisions and they have such passion for wanting to follow Christ!  I love getting to disciple them and getting to see them grow in Christ. Keep up the good work!

I still love the ones that can't seem to keep themselves awake during Sunday School, or just flat out are making wrong decisions in their lives. My husband and I try our hardest to help them make right decisions, but we only get them for a few hours each week. By the way, if you are a mom or dad of a teenager, never say that it's the youth pastor's fault, or that it's our turn to raise your kids!! We can only do so much, whereas you have so many opportunities to make decisions, and to raise them so that they will follow Christ(Proverbs 22:6).

Basically, I love my youth group, and am so thankful that God gave me the kids that are there. I know I only get them for a few years, but I pray that through God's help my husband and I can make a difference in their lives, and that they see good examples in our lives as well. I pray that we continue to live for Christ, so that they will want to follow in our footsteps. 

What I'm Thankful For: The Thankfulness Series Pt. 3

God has blessed me with the greatest family in the world. When I was a kid (and even to this day) my Pawpaw (that's Texan for Grandpa) would tell me how blessed I was to be brought up in my family, and how there was no other family as great. Granted, to say he was being a little prideful of his family would be an understatement, and unfortunately that has made a few eyes roll and misunderstandings, but he is right about one thing, I am blessed to have been brought up in my family, and later a family I married in to (believe it or not, there are families who are just as great, if not greater!).

Sometimes we may look at our families and think, 'I have to be thankful for them?! I know way too much about them to actually like them. They get on my nerves!!'
Do you know (even if it's not always verbal) that they love you? Be thankful.
(If it's your parents) Did they provide for you as a kid, and now encourage you as an adult? Be thankful.
Does the person annoy you because they care? Be thankful.

If you don't have a family who loves or cares, there is a Heavenly Father who, if you have trusted in Him, has adopted you and calls you his own! He has given us an even bigger family, and they can be found in our local churches. Perhaps you do have a loving family. Do you see someone who doesn't have a loving home to go to for the holidays (and other days as well!)? Invite them over, and let them join in! 

We can be thankful for our families, whether they are the ones who are physically kin or spiritually kin. Sometimes family can be the hardest people to live with, and yet where would you be without them? Seriously, you wouldn't be here! So be thankful!

What I'm Thankful for: The Thankfulness Series Pt. 2

The person I would like to spotlight today...wait for it...is my hubby!! The greatest husband any wife could ask for! It's also his birthday this week, so I thought he would be a good person to start off the 'What I'm thankful for' posts. This smart, handsome, amazing guy is all mine (so back off ladies!)...actually he is all God's and knows that, which is why I love him so much.  In all seriousness though, he has often told me that 'I love you the most, after Jesus', and that marrying me was the greatest thing to happen to him, after salvation. This guy has got his priorities straight, and when looking for a future husband/wife those are things you should be looking for!

Not only am I thankful that his priorities are in the right place, but I am also thankful for his leadership in our home. He initiates the Bible reading we do in the evenings, and he leads us in prayer (I do it every once in a while). He makes financial decisions and pays the bills, and even though he makes the final decisions on things, he always wants my input, and listens to me...which brings me to the next thing...

He listens to me even though I talk his ears off!! I will say though, I warned him the first time we ever sent messages back and forth over Facebook (we had an interesting long distance courtship...if you would like to know the full story, just let me know!). Thankfully he hasn't seemed to get tired of me talking, which is good, because I have a hard time stopping!

There are so many more things I could talk about (like how fun it is to watch Doctor Who together and then use phrases from the show in front of people that have absolutely no idea what we are talking about!) but there are clothes to be washed, a kitchen to be cleaned, a floor to be vacuumed, etc., etc. so I will just end by saying that my husband is amazing, and I am so thankful God gave him to me!

Being Thankful

Halloween candy is now being sold for 50% off, and Christmas wreaths now don the shelves that once held costumes. I absolutely love this time of year, the music, the weather, getting to wear big bulky sweaters, you get the picture, however, even though I am just as bad as the rest when it comes skipping November and wanting to head right on over to Christmas, now is a good time to step back and take inventory of all the wonderful blessings God has given us.Of course, I believe that we should be thankful 365 days of the year(Ephesians 5:20), but if you haven't started being thankful, now is always a good time!

One of my piano students told me 'It's November, I love November, it's my favorite month! Do you know why?' I expected him to say it was because of his birthday, football weather, or something centered around him, but he answered 'I like it because it's a time that we all give thanks to God for the things he does for us!' Someone is raising him right! He really put me to shame, because I might have said the reason I love November is because Starbucks serves lattes in Christmas cups! The thing about being thankful, is that you realize how big and great God is, and how small we are. It isn't about us, it's about him, and for that reason:

It's not easy!

Psalm 116:17 says 'I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord.'  The Psalmist calls thanksgiving a sacrifice! Why? Because saying that it was because of God's grace you received something, and not something you independently did it is a hard thing to admit sometimes! When I play the piano, I love pats on the back, but it isn't me...it's God giving me the strength, the talent (although some may say that's debatable!), and the courage to get up and play before the church. I am just an instrument for God, and I need to be thankful that I am being used by him to minister to others. Another thing about thankfulness, is that:

It is something we should do all the time...and in all circumstances!

This is something that is also hard to do! You may say, you don't know what I am going through! I have lost someone, lost my job, my savings, etc., so how can I be thankful for that?! Since I feel like I've had a pretty easy life so far, I can't imagine what you might be going through, but there was a man in the Bible who lost everything. He lost his job, his friends, and almost his life on several occasions! He was beaten, thrown in prison, shipwrecked, and stoned until people thought he was dead. His name was Paul, and he wrote these words to a church (while he was most likely in prison):
'Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ' (Ephesians 5:20, also similar words in I Thessalonians 5:18). How could he say this? Because no matter what you are going through, if you are a child of God, then you can be thankful for his salvation, and perhaps you can use what you are going through to help someone else in the future. I know that it is tough, and it's hard to even think about, but it's true.

From now until the end of the month I will try my best to post once or twice weekly about things I am thankful for. Feel free to comment about things that you would like to thank God for as well!