Sacrifice-Love With Clothes On (145)

Last night I was listening to a sermon and the preacher had the best definition I think I had ever heard for sacrifice. “ Sacrifice is love with clothes on.” I don’t think I had ever really understood the word sacrifice until it was put like that. Love and sacrifice go together! When you love someone, you sacrifice for them. When you love someone you put their needs, their desires, and their best interest before your own.

I have seen this kind of love demonstrated by my parents countless times! Instead of having a bigger house, nicer cars, or a new wardrobe, my parents sent me to a Christian school where I could have a good education based on a Biblical worldview.

Another person that showed sacrificial love was Rich. He went through multiple meetings with my dad to try and gain permission to begin a relationship with me. It’s not like he couldn’t have almost any girl he wanted, but he was chose to do the hard things because he loved me.

While both Rich and my parents have shown sacrificial love there is one person that has gone above and beyond when it comes to sacrificial love! My God!

“No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends.” John 15:13

God gave up His Son! That could sort of make since if we were good people, but that’s not the case. We are dirty rotten sinners who deserve death and punishment for all eternity.

“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.” Romans 5:7

But because God loves us so much, He made the ultimate sacrifice.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

What should our response be to this kind of sacrificial love? Well, when my parents or Rich showed through sacrifice that they loved me, I wanted nothing more than to love them back! I respect and love them more because of the steps they took to sacrifice and show me love.

“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 1:9

Because of the great indescribable love that God showed I want to show Him love. The only way that I can truly give back to my Jesus is by offering Him my life – opening my hand and willingly giving Him my future, my plans, and my everything.

Sacrifice is love with clothes on. Sacrifice is the physical expression of love!

Today’s Blessings:

1. The people that have shown me sacrificial love.
2. Spring is finally here!! (even if it doesn’t really feel like it yet.)

-Christy

This Is What God Sees. (133)

I’ve been coming to a realization recently. I’m so unworthy of the gift of Jesus. I mess up A LOT!! I don’t deserve His love, or His saving grace, or even His forgiveness. I deserve death. THE END. As a matter of fact, death is a pretty lenient punishment. I deserve much worse than death. The scary part is that much of the time, I don’t want to change. I don’t want to make the right choices. I don’t want to do right. It is only because of the Lord’s grace that I come anywhere close to making a difference for the Kingdom. They say that the more you get to know Christ the more you begin to really see yourself as He sees you. When Isaiah saw God in Isaiah 6 this was his response,

“Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone and ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Recently the Lord has been giving me a glimpse of who I really am in comparison to Him. And let me tell you, there has never been a time in my life that I just wanted to look away and disappear more than I have recently. It’s like when you first wake up in the morning. Your hair is a mess, you have last nights makeup smeared across your face, lets just add in there that you’ve been crying too, so your eyes are swollen, your nose is crusted with snot…not a pretty picture is it? That’s the picture of me that God’s been shoving in my face. I don’t like it, it’s ugly! I want to fix it, but im afraid of all the work that it’s going to take to do so.

That leaves me with a couple of options. First, I could just be content to let the day old mascara, crusted snot, and tangled hair remain and do absolutely nothing about it. I could go through my life letting people think that im next to perfect and doing just enough to live the average American Christian life.

Or, I could do something about the junk. I could take drastic actions to fix the grime and make the image that Christ sees a little bit more pleasing to Him. I can never make it perfectly clean, afterall, that’s what Christ did on the cross. But because of the sacrifice that He made for me I want to do right and express my love for Him.

I would hope that it would be obvious as to which would be the right choice. The scary part is that my flesh makes the choice a lot harder.

My flesh says that the sin is okay. My Jesus says that the sin cause Him pain on the cross.

My flesh says that my sin doesn’t hurt anyone. My Jesus says that my sin brings death.

My flesh says follow my heart. My Jesus says that the heart is desperately wicked.

The battle against sin is a real one. It’s one that penetrates our thoughts every moment. We would like to think that it’s just something they talk about in Bible stories but it’s something that affects every part of us. Who do you are you letting win the battle? Who is getting control of your heart? It matters! A lot!

I would like to conclude today’s post with an announcement. Today will be my last post here on Blessings in Waiting for a while. I might return in a week, or a month, or 6 months, but I’m going to take a break. This doesn’t mean that the waiting is over and everything in life is just peachy. Each and every day I still wait and look forward to the day when Christ returns to earth. Even though I wont be posting I will still be keeping track of each day’s blessings and continuing to pray for my readers. I am humbled by the kind words and responses I have gotten from this blog and hope that each of you will continue to walk in perfect alignment with the Savior as He forms you to be more like Himself.

Today’s Blessings:

1. The forgiveness Christ offers when we mess up.
2. The wonderful experience this blogging adventure has been.
3. Each of my readers who have encouraged me to keep going.
4. My loving Heavenly Daddy who graciously loves me and wants me be more like Him.

-Christy

Secrets (131)

It isn’t hard to do right when people are watching you. It’s not often that you hear things like, “I have a horrible time resisting pornography when I’m surfing the internet with my family.” Or, “Whenever my boss is around I can’t help but add a few minutes to the time-clock.”  As I’ve said, I went to Christian school. If there is a place where outside doesn’t always match inside, it’s Christian school. Most of the students know how to act when the teachers are watching, but it’s when the teacher leaves the room, or when they think that no one is listening in the locker room, is when you really will be able to tell who is just faking it. The question is, does it really matter what you are like when no one is watching? Say you’re addicted to porn. Is it really hurting anyone is no one knows about it? What about the way you talk when you’re at work? Does it matter if you can join in with the foul language as long as your pastor doesn’t hear you? I mean really- is it a big deal if no one finds out or gets hurt?

I would like to suggest that it is a very big deal. First of all, lets look at it away from the light of God’s Word from just a practical standpoint. You say it doesn’t matter if no one finds out. Let’s pretend that someone does find out? What if your wife or girlfriend comes in and sees what you’re looking at on the computer screen. What if your boss sees that you cheat the time-clock or your pastor hears your language at work? In that moment your secret is out! Doesn’t that make for an awfully uncomfortable situation? You risk losing your marriage or relationship. You risk losing your job or the respect of your pastor. Lets look at what you might gain from secret sins. With porn you gain a temporary high, a satisfaction, a ‘relationship’ without commitment. When you cheat the clock, you might gain a couple extra bucks and when you cuss with your coworkers you gain a laugh or two. Are those things worth the loss of a relationship with a woman who really loved you? Is it really worth being unemployed? Is a laugh worth the respect of your pastor? I would say it isn’t!

What God says about secret sins is pretty important too. Psalm 90:8 says that God sees the secret sins anyway.

“Our iniquities, our secret heart and its sins [which we would so like to conceal even from ourselves], You have set in the [revealing] light of Your countenance.”

Why would we want to go through the trouble of hiding them if God already knows? It’s silly! God sees everything we do, both evil and good.

“The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch upon the evil and the good.” Proverbs 15:24

So before you think this thought, “No one will find out!”. Stop and think, would it matter is someone did find out? What may seem like a small insignificant choice could turn into an addiction or a habit that could take you down a path that you don’t want to go down. Every choice matters.

Today’s Blessings:

1. 1 more day of work this week!
2. The wonderful grace that the Lord gives when you do mess up.

Trusting…(120)

This past week has been quite the whirl wind. The good, the bad, and the ugly have all occurred multiple times in multiple ways this week. Today alone has felt like 3 days rolled into one. I don’t think that the chaos is over quite yet either, but God requires that we trust Him when we can’t track Him so, that’s kinda where I’m at. Actually that’s not really anything new. I’ve been thrown into multiple situations recently that require me to trust Him. As a matter of fact, the more I get into this whole adult hood thing, the more I realize that I don’t think that having to trust Him is ever going to stop. If anything I think the amount that I have to trust Him increases. I believe I have mentioned this here before, but I remember back in junior high when my school administrator asked me if God had taken care of me in the past. “Yes”, I responded. “Well then,” he said, “That gives you no reason to doubt that He is going to take care of you now.” It’s such a simple truth, but so very practical and easy to apply in our daily lives.

When God acts it is so easy to pretend that you didn’t really hear what He had to say. After all, if you ‘didn’t hear’ Him, then you don’t have to obey Him, right? That is definitely the down side to praying specifically- when He answers, you have no choice but to obey what He has declared. God is not mean, He’s not out to get you, nor is He interested in seeing you miserable. He knows what is best, and what is for your ultimate good. The thing is, that sometimes we don’t see what He sees.

A radio show I was listening to one time explained it like this. When someone is working on a sewing project the underside of the project usually looks like a big mess of string that doesn’t make any kind of practical sense. The topside of the project looks like a beautiful masterpiece that is sometimes even framed. That’s how it is with our lives. We only see the bottom side of God masterpiece, while God sees the beautiful finished product.

So when God makes His decree in your life, instead of pretending that you didn’t hear it, obey. He sees the topside.

Today’s Blessings:

1. Being able to trust Him completely, knowing that He sees the finished product of your life.
2. My Gramma turning 92 years old.

Listening…Pt1 (115)

Well hello there! So glad you found your way over to “Blessings in Waiting” today.

Remember several weeks ago when I posted about self control and I had this rash that was teaching me self control. Well the rash hasn’t gone away and in fact it has spread up my face. It is currently hanging out around my eye which makes seeing and focusing on things rather difficult. Basically my eye is swollen and I look like I might have been in a fight. (You should of seen the other guy, black and blue and bloody…just kidding) So todays post wont be lengthy. Lets get to it!

I really like this quote. I cant wait to marry a man that has God as his single focus. I cant wait for him to have a relationship with God so strong that it’s like God is sitting in the other room. But I also like to think of the female’s side of this quote. What would be the equivalent? What would be going on between the girl and God?

That, my friends, is where I am going to leave you today. (Told you I’d be brief) I will pick back up with this thought tomorrow.

In the meantime, today’s blessings:

1. At least my eye isn’t swollen shut.
2. A God that desires an intimate relationship with us.

God is Love….? (88)

How often do we hear God is love? It’s no wonder that the world doesn’t understand when bad things happen. If you ask people who are against “religion” why they hate God, one of the first things they are going to say to you is:

“If God really loves me then why isn’t my life perfect? If God is love then why do bad things happen?”

I actually have a couple of unsaved facebook friends that will blatantly post things about how they hate God and love evil and demons and such. Whenever those things pop up on my newsfeed my heart breaks for these people. The Bible says that men love darkness because their deeds are evil. (John 3:19) So the loving of evil things makes sense. For a long time I couldn’t understand why they expected God to just be like a genie in a bottle though, but I think it’s all finally starting to come together. The blame is to be laid at the feet of Christians.

If a person has never been to church or had any exposure to “Christian culture” the only things they know about Christianity is what the media has told them and what they have gathered from kids they went to school with or people they work with. The cliché saying “You may be the only Bible that someone ever reads” is actually surprisingly true.

Why is it then that people who haven’t been exposed to Christianity think that God should be like the genie who only causes good things to happen to them? Who is the God that we present to our classmates and coworkers? Are we so afraid of people rejecting our God that we just go around writing “Jesus loves you” and “Smile, God loves you” on any paper work that is going to be associated with us? We so flippantly say God loves you so everything is going to be okay that all they see is a world in chaos and a bunch of so-called Christians living in some fantasy world where they go around moping about the sorrow in the world but in the same breath say “whatever is going on your life is going to be okay cause God is in control.” It’s sad to say, but sometimes I don’t blame people for thinking that God is a liar because that’s the God that we show people. We tell them that God is love. However we tend to leave about the part that God is also just. We forget to tell them that God doesn’t tolerate sin. “But…but…if we tell them that God punishes sin, then they won’t want to accept Him.” But that’s not entirely true. You have to have the justice and love together to paint an accurate picture of Christ. If you just tell about the love God seems to be a liar. If you just tell about the justice He requires then God seems like a meany! But if you tell about God’s love as it intertwines with the justice He requires it makes since.

God does love us, but because He is a perfect, just God, He cant overlook our sin. The story doesn’t end there either. Because God loves us He wants to make a way for us to be perfected again. That’s why He sent Jesus to take our sins. It’s the perfect combination of love and justice that makes God so amazing. You cant separate the love and you cant separate the justice. You cant pick and choose what pieces you want. It’s the whole story or nothing.

I challenge you to be careful of the Jesus you present to your coworkers and classmates. Don’t try and separate the essential parts of Jesus’ message because you’re afraid of scaring them away from Christianity. Also be careful of going the extreme the other direction only speaking of God’s wrath and just punishment of sin. Let the two intertwine to tell the beautiful story of redemption. Im also curious as to what youre thoughts are on this topic? Why do you think that people think that God should just give them everything they want? What are your experiences in sharing your faith with those around you?

Today’s Blessings:

The wonderful way in which God’s plan of redeeming His people is the perfect mix of love and justice!

-Christy

A Tear Transformation! (82)

My posts seem to be coming to you out of order and for that I apologize. I guess it’s just because my brain is running non-stop. Anyway, a couple days ago I mentioned how we tried a new church. Much of my post on this subject was “making fun” of the church visitor system. But really, that was one of the better times I have visited a church. The sermon was just what I needed to hear!

Starting two Sunday’s before I left Arkansas everytime I participated in corporate worship I would breakdown in tears. EVERY SINGLE TIME!!! It got to a point where I didn’t even bother putting on makeup because I knew that before the end of the service that the makeup would be smeared all over my face and I’d look like something out of a 60s horror film. For the first month or so I would just stand there and let the tears fall. They were tears of pain, and sadness, and heartbreak. However, on Sunday they changed completely!!

As we sang of how great our God is and of the victory we can have in Jesus the tears began to flow has they had the months previously. As the first tear ran down my cheek and off my nose I started thinking…. “Why am I sad? Why am I crying?” Then the light bulb came on. I wasn’t crying because I was sad. I’m not sad anymore. My God has healed my heart. I was now crying because of how small I felt in the presence of my Healer. How unworthy I am to even be looked at by my Savior, let alone healed by Him. I felt like the adulterous woman in John 8. I felt hopeless, helpless so very unworthy. But as I was standing there in the filth of my sin, Christ tilts my chin toward Him. As I look to Him, He asks where my accusers are. As I look around, I see my sin and heartache all washed away by Christ’s work on the cross. I see nothing but His grace and my heart is overwhelmed. No longer is it an overwhelming sense of sin and pain and sadness, but an overwhelming sense of HIS LOVE. He replaced my sin with JOY. The sadness, sorrow, sin and inadequacies were all taken by Jesus when He bled on the cross. I don’t know about you, but I say that’s an incredible deal for you and me! No longer are we stained with our sins! We are free to live with joy, because of the grace He gives!

Wow! Isn’t God good!! I think this is going to be another two parter, because I have yet to tell you all about the sermon and the way God continued to use that to speak to my heart.

But for now…

Today’s Blessings:

1.The grace of God!

2.The joy that comes from that grace!

-Christy

Blessings in Waiting for Finances! (47)

Good evening to you! Hope you have had a marvelous day.

The next post in our series is going to be about blessings in waiting for finances.

Something I’ve learned throughout my life is that nothing in life comes without cost. Money doesn’t grow on trees. Even government handouts don’t come without cost to someone. The older I get the more I realize how much it takes to be able to eat, and have clothes, and a place to live. I am very blessed to have a father that works very hard to provide what we need and even what we want. While we have never been a wealthy family, we have never gone hungry or had to sleep out on the streets. My parents even sacrificed to put me in Christian education, which isn’t cheap.

I have always had a dream to graduate from college. Since my dad lost his job and we had to relocate my college dream has been put on hold. It would be impossible to afford such an expensive endeavor without tremendous student loans. This is another area that God is asking me to wait and trust Him. Since the waiting is inevitable, let’s see what blessings we can find while we wait.

First and most obvious to me, is that in waiting for Him to provide my education I have to learn to trust Him more. I cant make the finances appear by worry about it, so I might as well rest on and trust Him that He will provide for me just like He’s always done. That right there is the second blessing that comes from waiting for finances. I get the chance to see Him provide! I’ve seen my God provide my dad a new job after he lost one. I’ve seen Him provide odd jobs for us while we were waiting on the real job. I’ve seen God provide a job for me in Arkansas as well as one after we relocated. I’ve seen God provide always enough for what we need in the day to day! That’s just a few of the ways that God has provided for my family in the last few months. When I see those blessings, it makes it a lot hard to doubt that he is going to provide a house for us and a college education for me.

Third, in waiting for finances we get the chance to look forward to the ways that God is going to provide! I get excited just thinking about how awesome it will be when God provides a way for me to go to college. There are lots of different ways that God could make it happen! Rich always said to find something to look forward to, and that is definitely something exciting to look forward to! Finally the last blessing we are going to mention is the opportunities God gives us to give back to Him and to give to others even when we aren’t extremely wealthy ourselves. It’s one thing to give when you have more money than you know what to do with, but it’s an entirely different thing to give when you don’t have a lot to give. It’s like the widow in Luke 21:1-4

“As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

There they were all giving their offerings. The rich dumping in their money and there is the widow. She gave all that she had. Her little offering meant more because she was giving everything. When we give our ten percent even though we could use that money for other things, the Lord blesses us. Obedience always brings a blessing. There is a special joy that comes from giving of what the Lord has given you. Seeing the light of people’s faces when you give them a little extra tip, or when you help someone that has been struggling financially is an incredible blessing.

Today’s Blessings:

1.Learning to Trust.

2.Seeing Him provide.

3.Opportunities to see Him work.

4.Opportunities to give when you don’t have much to give.

Joy, Kindergarten, and Grandmas! (39)

I promise tomorrow I WILL have this blog updated before 3 o’clock! My work schedule has not been very kind to my blogging schedule, but as much as I hate it, I guess it’s okay, since I actually get paid to work and I don’t get paid to sit here typing to you…

Today is one of those days that I have umpteen million thoughts floating around in my head. I’m going to do my best to get those thoughts down on paper the most organized way possible, but I’m not making any guarantees. If you have a hard time following this post, I apologize in advance.

First of all I want to share something that I had never thought about in this way before.

“Joy will happen when you make a decision to become openly and overly grateful.”

Joy and gratefulness go hand in hand.

Now think about it, have you ever met someone that was genuinely grateful but was also unhappy? I don’t think I have. Joy and ungratefulness can’t exist together. It just isn’t possible. This is going to sound really cheesy, but last night I turned on the TV to watch a show I like, but was quite disappointed when it was some money raising commercial program instead. But being the lazy person I am; I left it on that channel because I didn’t want to get up from my crocheting and get the remote across the room. I was only half listening, but it was something about raising money for starving and homeless children in foreign countries. You know, the kind of commercial that guilts you into calling the number and giving them money. Anyhow, I heard them say “These children don’t have a place to call their own…” I started thinking, I don’t either, but at least I have heat, and couches and mattresses, and a pretty nice place to stay until we can find a place of our own. How ridiculous of me to gripe about not having a house when in reality I have a very nice place to stay.

If I sit around thinking about and griping about how I don’t have a place to call my own, how I don’t have a significant other, how I don’t have a job that I love, then what else can I expect than to be unhappy. On the other hand, if I sit around and think about all that I do have: Parents that love me, some pretty amazing friends, an incredible God, a job, a warm place to stay at night, WiFi, etc…life is pretty great!! Joy comes naturally when you think of it that way.

Onto my next totally random topic….

Yesterday mom was going through some of our old books that we really need to get rid of because we hadn’t opened the boxes the whole time we were in Arkansas. She ran across a book that was given to me by my Kindergarten teacher when I left her class. It was a devotional book. She wrote a very encouraging note in the front cover that was a challenge to continue to follow Christ and to always seek Him in His Word. Isn’t it interesting that a note that was written to my little five year old self can still be seen as a challenge and encouragement. The Lord has most obviously been gracious to sustain me through lots of challenges that I didn’t know I was going to be called to face at five years old. The note was a reminder to keep on keeping on. Never stop getting in our loving God’s Word.

I got a hug from Arkansas in the mail today!! Let me explain. There is this incredibly awesome older lady that went to my church in Arkansas. After I graduated she kind of adopted me as her granddaughter. This meant that I got hugs and smiles from her every time I saw her. She was not only exceptionally sweet, but as Rich used to say “She is the most sassy old woman I know!!” And she is. Not much gets by her. Anyways, she had surgery on her leg to remove some bone spurs and some work done on her achillies tendon. Because of her surgery I never got to say goodbye to this sweet sassy adopted grandma. When I got sort of situated up here, I sent her a card in the mail. Today she sent me a card with some very encouraging words. The thing that hit me most was that she asked about my smile. If I had gotten my smile back. I guess I had lost sight of the fact that when I smile, I don’t just smile for myself. When I smile, I can encourage others. When I smile I am leaving an impression on those around me whether they are strangers or people I love. I don’t want to leave people with an image of me in tears. I want to leave people with an image of me rejoicing in the goodness of my God. Yeah, I kinda messed that up when I left Arkansas… For those of you reading this that are from there, know that I do smile. My smile is back and it outweighs the tears! But that’s because of anything I’ve done on my own. It’s because I serve a God that is good, a God that is gracious, and a God that is the healer of wounded hearts. My adopted grandma also sent me a her favorite verse:

“The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

The Lord rejoices over me with singing, He is mighty and He loves me!! What a great reminder.

Alrighty, I have one final thought before I conclude today’s post. I want some feedback from my readers. What would you think about doing a series? I’m thinking about going back to the title of my blog and doing a series of post focusing on the blessings found in specific areas of waiting on God’s timing. I was thinking possibly doing some on the following topics:

Waiting on God for Relationships
Waiting on God for Finances
Waiting on God for His Plan

Or any others you might like to hear about.

Make your suggestions in the comment section or for those that have my contact information, message me. I would love to hear any suggestions of topics you would like me to explore.

Wrapping up Today’s Blessings:

1.All of the good things God gives me. I have so much to be grateful for and so much that I can pull my joy from. (including Christ, Himself)
2.The message from my Kindergarten teacher.
3.The special hug I received from my grandma in Arkansas
4.The reminder to keep smiling!!
5.Oh, and a visit to the chiropractor!

-Christy

Wow!! Look At All Those Blessings!! (33)

Since today is Thanksgiving, and this blog is all about thankfulness and blessings, I thought I would take today and do a quick recap on all of the blessings that I have found in the last month and beyond.

1.My God works all things for my good and His glory.

2.God honors obedience.

3.God is my refuge!!

4.I can rest fully in my heavenly Daddy’s arms, that even though I’m bound to try to walk on my own like Peter did, that He is gonna be there for me to recommit everything back to Him and begin to look at Him confidently once again.

5.My God answers prayer!

6.My God answers prayer

7.My new little friend Backie

8.Whenever I screw up, and try to run my own life. Christ is still there patiently waiting for me to come back to Him, and He always accepts me back.

9.My Daddy and our wonderful relationship that we have!

10.The fact that I can rest and wait patiently in the arms of my Savior. I don’t have to try and run my life. He has it under control.

11.God is good! He is still on the throne and still in control!

12.God is trustworthy!!

13.I don’t have to gather strength or might on my own. God will give me the strength I need.

14.The trials I am going through now will bring glory and honor to God.

15.God’s Word is alive and active!! It really works!!

16.Each and every member of the youth group at Village Bible Church!

17.The great help we had moving

18.The few extra feet God provided!

19.God is worthy of all of my trust, my praise, and my life!

20.My back is better!

21.I got to see my grandma!

22.God’s Way is Perfect!

23.I don’t have to be in control. I can relax and let my Savior lead my heart!

24.The beautiful drive home today. God’s creation is beautiful!

25.Good friends that are honest and make me aware of my shortcomings.

26.A God that can give me true unspeakable joy!

27.The wonderful people that God has given me in TWO places! I get the privilege of loving them, and being loved by them!

28.A God that loved me when I was unlovable!

29.The people that have showed me love!

30.A God that will help me practice 1 Corinthians 13 love!

31.My parents and the love that they have for each other!

32.Finding my chocolate stash.

33.The sweet cards people had sent me before I moved.

34.God’s Word that He used to show us more about Him.

35.The strength God gave me to make the right choice.

36.I started back to work today! Well, not really. I just came in for a couple of hours to meet people and get acquainted with my new surroundings.

37.I started trying to learn to crochet last night. All I have to say is that it’s going to be an adventure. (and my parents keep laughing at me for talking to myself and the videos on Youtube…)

38.There is a house coming available within the next couple weeks. We haven’t toured it or anything, but it could be promising!!

39.Last but certainly not least, today is a very important day! Today is the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look it up! It’s only the best show EVER!!!

40.The many promises of God!

41.My salvation at an early age.

42.The simplicity of what Jesus did, so even the little ones can come to Him.

43.Because I am Christ’s child, I can choose Joy, and I can have Hope!

44.My ring as its many reminders.

45.The forgiveness of my God and my Daddy.

46.The victory that Christ is going to give me when I choose to think right!

47.God has it all figured out! I just have to let go and trust Him!

48.The time spent reconnecting with my sweet friend.

49.My God can calm storms!

50.The grace He gives when He doesn’t calm them instantly.

51.God forgave me!! Since He sent His Son, He doesnt see my sin anymore!! Life itself is a gift because of the sacrifice of Christ!!

Wow!! That’s a lot of good things God has given me! That’s absolutely incredible!! SO many blessings, and that’s just a start! That’s not counting all of my family and material blessings. So as we go into this Thanksgiving day, we can remember all of the wonderful things that God has given us. Maybe the “great deals” that some will be fighting over wont matter so much. Maybe we can show a little bit of kindness to the people in line in front of us, and behind us. If we don’t get one of the four TV’s that a store is offering, maybe it’s not such a big deal. We already have so many things we don’t deserve. One less “good deal” isn’t really going to make that big of a difference.

As the family descends upon the yummy food and chaos follows, take a step back to remember everything that we have to be thankful for.

Today’s Blessing:

Everything I have to be thankful for!

-Christy