Count Your Blessings

     It's that time of year already!  I love when Halloween is over and we get to the part of the year when we focus on being thankful and celebrate what Christ has done for us.  Many of my friends on facebook are posting what they are thankful for each day of November, and as much as I would love to that, it's too long a commitment for me.  HA!  So I'm just going to write one blog post and try to sum it all up here.

     I first of all need to say that I am so thankful God brought me out of my self absorption or whatever I was suffering from during my last post.  All of those thoughts were real and very heart felt, but now I feel so spoiled for even mourning over that situation.  I think the main thing was I had a lot of good memories in our old house and I felt like moving meant those things were done.  But if you have been a blog follower of mine you'll understand when I say, it was just a season.  When one season ends a new one begins.  We are in our new home with almost all the boxes put away.  We are loving the yard and our new neighborhood and looking forward to life in our new place.

     I was thinking last week about how my life has been so covered by the protection of God.  It brought me to tears thinking of how much I don't deserve to be where God has me.  I know I have loved God and wanted my life to please Him since I was a young child, but He has been so graciously good to me that all I can do is stop and give Him all the glory for being continually faithful to me and my family.  From the worlds standards my life seems so ordinary and nothing special, but I am overwhelmed by God's goodness and how living life they way he asks us to live really does allow us the opportunity to experience life this side of heaven to its fullest.  He wants us to have an abundant life, and that is exactly what I have because of Christ.

     I am thankful for my family, the one I grew up with and the one in which I'm the "mom".  In Deuteronomy 6 it talks about how God says to teach your children to follow the Lord so that you, your children, and their children after them may fear the Lord and receive the promises of God.  I am so blessed to be part of family that has lived this out.  I will forever be blessed by the faithfulness of my grandparents and parents because they sought the Lord and the guidance and wisdom they share is based on lasting truth.  Ephesians says the Lord is able to do more than we ask or imagine.  That is exactly what happened when God gave me Jay.  Jay, in my opinion, is the best man on the planet, and I feel so privileged to be his partner in life.  Our girls have taught me so much about life, love, and the Lord.  Thank you God for a family, while not perfect, that shows greater love, grace, forgiveness, and mercy because they have first experienced those things from you.

     A few other random things that cause me to give thanks to God who is the giver of all good gifts (James 1:17) are as follows (in no particular order): the best part-time job on the planet, cameras that capture special memories and give a forever glimpse of important happenings in life, my church that truly "gets" that we are meant to be the hands and feet of Christ as we are living this life, my friends (old and new) that make life fun and help me through the hard stuff, Dr. Pepper, sunsets, a good nights rest, a hot shower, living in America (Texas, specifically) AH HA:), music that helps me communicate with God and experience his truth.  I could go on, but I'll stop there so I don't go overboard.  Thank you God for this life!

2 of my blessings taken with my new phone (another blessing)