Thankful Thursday

Because it's November, because it's been a rough year, because we can always find something to be thankful for, because it's the month of Thanksgiving and because all of these things and gratitude go hand in hand, I thought I'd start a new weekly series. I used to keep a gratitude journal in this month, then when I started the Scripture writing plan, that kind of took its place. Like we all do, when I need an attitude adjustment, I do a couple of things: I pray and I praise God and I look for things to be thankful for.

The prayer and praise to the Lord takes my mind off of MYSELF and focuses on God. And being thankful has proven time and again to accomplish the same thing. Do you want to join me? This idea is something I saw on another blog, but you can do this same thing in a journal. Here are a few things from my week that I am so thankful for:

The Lord is faithful. He is trustworthy. He is sovereign. I am reminded of this every single day of my life and I am so thankful that I have Him to depend upon. I shared this picture on Instagram on Tuesday with this caption underneath:

Jesus is the only One I have put my hope in and He is King of kings and Lord of lords. No matter who wins whatever election now or in the future, He is good and Worthy of praise! Our problems in this world aren't because of any one man in office or any pandemic- our problem in the world and in our nation is a SIN problem. Sin is what separates us from the love of God, but once you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, He bridges that gap between God and us and according to Romans 8:38-39, nothing will be able to separate us from Him ever again. Do you know Him? Don't wait; we are not promised tomorrow. No matter who wins the election, even if it turns out differently than I'm hoping, God is still good! His goodness isn't based on any circumstance, He is God and He is good all the time and all the time, He is good. I am so thankful for the fact that He is my Savior and that He abides within me everyday of my life. I could never walk through life without Him.

I am thankful for opportunities the Lord gives to me. I had dinner with a couple young ladies last night and it was so good to see them both. We had Mexican food and caught up from the months we missed seeing each other and hopefully I shared a little bit of wisdom with them—one of them is getting married in a few months. I always ask the Lord to use me any way He sees fit and He is always so sweet to give me moments like Tuesday night. Hopefully we'll do this a little more often, at least that was what I told them.

I was also thankful for the distraction that dinner out with them gave to me! It looks like I need a distraction every night for the unforseeable future, though.

I am so thankful for my husband. It's no secret that I love being alone, but when I have too much of that, I miss him. He makes me laugh like nobody else can and I enjoy how we sometimes just sit in silence together. I love telling him about things that excite me and when I am anxious about something, he's the only person who can calm me down. The older we get, the more things change with our relationship and in a great way.

I am thankful for these grown up years we have with our sons. We've always said that we do love them, of course, but we also genuinely like them and enjoy being around them. I love the relationship they each have with my husband—I feel like that is such a rare thing.

I am so thankful we have dogs! They bring us immense joy and it's like they're our babies now that all the boys have grown up. Just the other night I fell asleep with Chip in my bed and he was like a little heater beside me! I'm pretty sure I fell asleep with my arm around him and with him right up beside me.

I am so thankful for great books like the one I finished yesterday. In this time of needing distraction from the chaos and ugliness around me, it's nice to have a way of escape. (Karen Kingsbury's Truly, Madly, Deeply is a book you need to check out for yourself!)

I am thankful for godly friends and the gift of fellowship. My friends Missy and Teresa and I went to Lenny's last night after church to catch up, because it's been a few weeks. We ate and laughed and shared things we can each be praying for our families.

Well, I'll wrap it up with this for now, because I need amy second cup of coffee...but I'll be back here next Thursday for the same. Thanks for reading! Love to all.