Counting Blessings

God wants a grateful people. After all...He rescued me from sin and self, from eternity in hell, from days without purpose... He gave me Himself. He gave me His presence.

So...I have a little "praise book." I'm not all that faithful about writing in it--so this year, I set aside a calendar and every day I write one thing down. Even if I have to think really, really hard. Because after all, I don't deserve anything good...but God still gives it.

Yes, that's a Cow Calendar.
I love coffee, donuts, and Chick-fil-a... :)

Here's a peek into my June and what I'm grateful for...

1. Fun jaunt for free donuts :) (Yes, that really was my grateful moment for the day ;)
2. Joy in Christ
3. Fellowship in Christ
4. God's faithfulness
5. Encouraging friend at work (I work with a ton a people from church...and several close friends!)
6. Rest in Jesus
7. Moments of enlightenment :) (This is regarding school...)
8. Hope of Heaven
9. Grace for assignments (Again, for school. Saturdays often are crunch time.)
10. God love has no favorites
11. Bible on audio! (I had a lot of Bible reading to finish by the end of the week, and a lot else to do as well, and downloading a couple books onto my ipod was such a blessing! I was able to weed our neglected garden, do a few chores around the house, and listen in the car. I discovered listening (as opposed to reading) was a nice change-up...something I might be doing here and there!)
12. Grace for inconveniences
13. Grace to keep on loving
14. Knowledge that God is over the big and little things
15. Joy and lack of anxiety
16. Fun moments ... and yet still got everything done! (I don't have many Saturdays off but since I did have this one off, Rachel and I planned some fun. I didn't back out on my plans even though it turned out that I had a lot of homework left.)
17. Sweet babies (I work in the church nursery once a month. What can I say? :)
18. The joy of puting Jesus first
19. Peace about school (last week did not go well, but amazing things happen when you quit focusing on circumstances, and stressing about them, and just trust God that He knows what He's doing :)

Stay tuned--June's not over yet...

Thirty-One

Thirty-one days. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve actually posted—I just know that I didn’t post the entire month of May. That’s a lot of days, a lot of happenings, a lot of God-moments. This Spring in general I’ve fought to retain joy and hope…May was a hard month. My circumstances have not changed, and so I know the battle continues, but my spirit is renewed. God is working—so there is hope. The grass is never greener on the other side—so I can find joy in the now stuff, even as I pray for change in several areas. May, as the 6-month anniversary of Thanksgiving Month, was supposed to be the theme of gratefulness again. I guess God knew I needed to really struggle through that before blasting it on the web world. :) I have several half-started posts that lie scribbled here and there but  now I sit with a completed post. So here goes:

God-moments and Happenings

1. God leads the way—I can trust His guidance.

      2. A brother graduates.

No, this wasn't for my brother. :)
It was a big graduation year!


3. God gives such undeserved blessings.

      4. An 1800-mile round trip is completed within 70 hours (graduations and work schedules are hard to correlate :).

5. God shows Himself in many small ways that in the grand scheme of things are relatively unimportant yet matter to me.

      6. A garden is planted!


7. God is still God of the impossible!

      8. A hair-cut is received

  

before...

after!

9. God gently replies “press on and rest in Me” to cries of “How long?”

     10. A school session ends by seeing God’s grace.

11. God brings hope and joy—we have the responsibility to press on regardless of feelings, but in the end it is always God who gives peace.

     12. A paper is researched. In the car. With flashlight when needed. And it’s written the day after aforementioned trip is completed.

13. God works in hearts, healing and restoring.

     14. A holiday happens: Monday-Monday without any school or work.

15. God waits for “the fullness of time,” and for “such a time as this” in my life, too. I can look with hope to the future and rejoice in the now!

     16. A camping trip is enjoyed (my young adult group at church)—beautiful weather, a great sleeping spot (last year’s was a tad…bumpy…so I rejoice in God’s blessing of good sleep. :)

17. God refreshes the soul…and sometimes uses a staycation and a camping retreat to do it. :)

     18. A summer school session is started…and the first week logged in nearly 400 pages of reading and 5 hours of lectures among other things (wanna trade places?).

19. God is full of steadfast love and faithfulness!

     20. A walk to the park with a couple of Littles is enjoyed…it was a lovely morning with a 4- and 2-year old. :)

21. God gives great blessings of family and friends.

     22. A new phone is bought…and I’ve found out touchscreen isn’t so bad as long as one gets rid of the fingerprints every few seconds ;)

23. God is at work, sanctifying me for His glory!

     24. A joyride is performed…perhaps in connection with Free, er National Donut Day. “Free” and “donuts” and I’m there, even though the offerings were a few neighborhoods away. :)

25. God gives grace for the journey. 

     26. An era was closed—I began helping out with Truth Trackers at church a few years ago, and we’ve had relatively few kids move up. This year is quite the opposite as the majority of our kids will be promoted tomorrow. Sadness.

27. God speaks through His Word—I love the encouragement and rebuke of Psalms! And I need to get back into the habit of memorizing…

     28. A new resolve for exercise has begun…the busy days of school have tended to override that priority, but little by little I’m working to incorporate it back in. So far, so good. :)

29. God gives beauty—in creation, in the little things, in the joy of a relationship with Him!

     30. A summer (post-Memorial Day) has begun. Mostly school, a little bit of work (well, probably a lot of work), and some fun to look forward to at the end!
31. God is the same “yesterday, today, and forever” ~ I can marvel at His works of the past, submit with joy to the works of the present, and look forward to the works of the future!

That, in a not-so-small nutshell, was May. And now June has arrived, and I will rejoice in great things He has done!

I will give thanks to You,

O LORD, among the peoples;

I will sing praises to You

among the nations.
For Your steadfast love is great

above the heavens;

Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Be exalted, O God,

above the heavens!

Let Your glory be over all the earth!

{Psalm 108:3-5}