Thankful Thursday ~ The ABC's of Thanksgiving 2012

"Praise the LORD.

Praise, O servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD.
Let the name of the LORD be praised,
both now and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the LORD is to be praised."
Psalm 113: 1-3

Last night when I went to bed I had big plans for this morning. I was going to sleep in, stay snuggled under my cover, and not get out of bed until mid-morning. I'm tired from several nights of not sleeping well and wanted to make up for that lack of sleep today.

But God! ... had different plans!

He woke me in the cool, dark early hours of the morning. I felt Him tugging on my heart to spend some quiet time with Him before little feet started shuffling around and hungry tummies started looking for something to eat. 

So I quietly obeyed, making a warm mug of coffee, lighting a candle and turning on lights just enough for me to see my bible & notebook. As I sat, listening to the silence I began thanking God for the many wonderful things He has done for me this year.

Its been a year of stretching, molding, trusting, excitement, grace, new experiences, laughter, and watching His Glory unfold.

I have learned to praise God "from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets", in the good & bad & everywhere in between. 

As we celebrate this day of Thanksgiving what are you thankful for? Are you praising Him "from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets"?

Continuing the Joy Dare #951-#976:

• A - warm Apple cider on cold nights
• B - Bumper car races with daddy & the kids
• C - Caroline - my daughter, who is loving, passionate, loves dancing & her daddy
• D - Digging into God's Word & watching His Truth leap from the pages
• E - Early morning rainbows
• F - Friends who support & encourage me in whatever God calls me to do
• G - Garrett, my son, who is smart, source of many different facts & loves playing outside
• H - Holding onto God in the hard days
• I - Ice cream on the beach
• J - Jeff, love of my life, strong, faithful, a man after God's own heart
• K - Kids running & jumping in puddles in their PJ's
• L - Listening to the birds as they sing their morning song
• M - Mentors - Godly women who speak words of Truth, encouragement & correction when needed
• N - long Nights of difficult talks with Jeff that bring us closer together
• O - Open windows that bring cool breezes
• P - Power of Prayer
• Q - Quiet mornings when God wakes me to spend time with Him
• R - Remembering I am serving an Audience of One
• S - Sleepy Sunday afternoons to rest for the coming week
• T - Trusting God to make a way when there seems to be no way
• U - Unglued moments giving way to grace & peace
• V - Vacations - time away with family to decompress, rest & reconnect with each other
• W - Watching as God reveals His Glory through Just Give Me Jesus after following Him for 2 years
• X - excitement after sharing homemade chocolate chip cookies
• Y - Years of trusting God & following obediently
• Z - kids Zipping around on their scooters

Taking the Joy Dare of counting 1000 gifts with Ann at A Holy Experience 

 In His Calm,

Mary

Thankful Thursday ~

It's Thursday, the middle of November, just a week before Thanksgiving & I haven't posted a Thankful Thursday yet this month. It's not that I haven't been thanking God for all He has done for me, it's just that we have been doing so much I haven't been on the computer much.

My "One Word" for this year is Intentional. And that is just what I have been doing.

I have been intentional with time spent with my family on a wonderful, much needed trip away. 

I have been intentional with my Bible Study and God has proved Himself faithful in speaking to my heart through His Word.

I have been intentional with spending time here at home trying to set the calm, loving atmosphere I so want for my family. 

I still have a long way to go but progress is being made. Thanks to Courtney at Women Living Well I have been reminded what lighting a candle each morning and playing soft music will do to set a stage of calm and relaxation in the house.  


Each morning before I get out of bed I ask God to help me have a calm, loving heart that extends grace to my family.

In this world of constant commotion & chaos I want my home to be a place where my family feels protected, loved & peaceful. 

That feeling of protection, love and peace starts with me.  

My prayer over the last couple of weeks has been that of Psalm 19:14.

"May the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be pleasing in your sight,

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14

When I find myself getting frustrated, anxious and in a hurry I asked God to help my words be loving & kind and my thoughts be pure and holy in His sight. That prayer helps bring a peace over my heart and my house.

As we enter the week leading up to Thanksgiving I want my heart and my lips to praise God for the Amazing God that He is! My prayer is that my kids will see a Mom who loves God and praises Him and that they will in turn, speak more words of love and encouragement to each other and praise God for all that He is to them.

Continuing the Joy Dare #925- #950:

• listening to my daughter sing as she colors
• kids running around trick or treating with friends
• having the faith of a mustard seed that God will move a mountain
• impromptu visit to see WWII airplanes
• thankful that there are men & women who will risk their lives to fight for our freedom
• relaxing family trip to reconnect & decompress
• bright orange leaves
• laughter & dinner with special friends
• safe travel
• loving welcome
• kids learning through fun without realizing it
• reading of the Declaration of Independence at the Capital of Colonial Williamsburg on our Nations election day
• God's perspective in the world today
• the gift of wisdom, prayer warriors & friendship from a Godly group of Women
• the gift of down time for my husband to completely heal
• pampering time just for me
• lightly scented candles
• open windows
• soft music filling the home
• God reminding me I have a family & a home to minister to
• lunch with a mentor
• waking up after sleeping through an alarm
• thunder in the night
• rain to refresh the earth
• bare trees
• cold, crisp wind

Taking the Joy Dare of counting 1000 gifts with Ann at A Holy Experience 

In His Calm,

Mary

God's Grace when I come Unlgued with Him

This week we finished Lysa Terkuerst's Unglued Online Bible Study with Melissa Taylor. As I read the Chapter where Lysa discussed how coming Unglued wasn't necessarily all bad my heart breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Relief because there are times when I come Unglued with God. And when I say I come unglued with God I mean full blown sobbing, fist pounding, voice raising unglued moments. Its not pretty and definitely a time when its just me and God because if there were any witnesses I'd have some explaining to do.

I don't come unglued with God often. There have only been a few times in my life but one thing I have learned from those moments is they are filled with God's Loving Grace.

One such Grace-moment happened about 6 years ago.

It was a quiet night... nearly midnight as I sat in the middle of my bed...alone. I was 26 weeks pregnant with my daughter, my 18 month old son slept soundly in his bed and my husband sat at the bedside of his Mom, in another city, as she fought for her life while his father fought for his life in a hospital in another city.

Life had absolutely blown apart in the matter of a week.

We went from celebrating our anniversary with a weekend alone & my in-laws watching our son to my father-in-law, who had dementia, having a massive heart attack and the night before his open heart surgery my mother-in-law having a massive brain aneurysm rupture. To say our world had been turned upside down was an understatement.

We didn't know from one day to the next if one or both of them would live or die. The stress of traveling between 3 different cities throughout the state, trying to make some since of their household affairs, and taking care of our kids and home was exhausting. I was in the deepest despair I had ever experienced. 

In the dark, quiet, lonely hours of the night I came unglued with God. I sobbed. I questioned. I banged my fists. I begged God to take this pain and stress from us. 

And God, in His Infinite Grace let me come unglued with Him. He let me release my pain, sorrow, fear & doubt to Him.

As I was gut wrenchingly honest with Him He slowly calmed me down. While I lay on the bed in the dark of the night with only the sound of the fan whirring above me I felt His Calming Peace wash over me like the peace of a river. I felt His arms wrap around me holding me close to Him. And I felt Him whisper to my soul "Be Still & Know I AM God".

Oh how grateful I am for that unglued moment! For in that Grace-filled moment I found a calming peace with God I had never felt before. 

When we allow ourselves to breakdown and become totally, gut wrenchingly honest with God we allow Him to take our pain, our sorrow, our fear & our doubts and turn them into a beautiful tapestry of life.

Thank you Lysa and thank you Melissa & your team for leading us through Unglued. It has been a journey of Imperfect Progress and it has been good!

I'm linking today with Melissa Taylor's Online Bible Study of Unglued by Lysa TerKuerst. 
 

In His Calm,

Mary