Thankful...

Ever wake up and your heart is just so full of thankfulness that you feel that you might explode?  A morning when you can actually physically FEEL it boiling over and HEAR it spilling out of your mouth? 

I absolutely adore, love, live for these kinds of mornings.

They don't happen every day.  Sometimes they don't even happen every week.  When they do happen, I can't help but shout it from the roof tops.

I'm thankful for the little things...
~ sun (it's shining brightly and all the doors and windows are feeding me fresh air)
~ house (even tho it's dirty and cluttered from camping)
~ time (coffee time, Bible reading time, snuggle time)
~ fridge full of good (healthy) food
~ football pads (I do love watching my boys play AND they are currently injury free)
~ my Keurig (self-explanatory)
~ Green Mountain Coffee Company (maybe this should go under big things?)

And I'm thankful for the big things...
~ health
~ kids
~ my Bible
~ husband
~ family
~ mother
~ furloughs are over at the shipyard (for now)
~ prayers
~ God's provision, His mercy, forgiveness and presence
~ my patience with Josh's extreme stubbornness this morning

I woke with a grateful heart and began thanking Him for these things and more.  I made a mental list to draw from as the day moves forward.

All too often, when I get busy and stressed and annoyed and hear my name being called 31 million times (usually followed by the words "where is...."), I lose sight of all the blessings in my life.  Instead, I concentrate on the clutter in every corner, the mess on the dining room table, the empty checkbook or the tone with which someone spoke to me and probably didn't mean a thing by it but I spend and awful lot of time trying to figure out what I did wrong and correct it. 

In other words, I try too hard to be too much to too many people when I should be trusting God to be everybody's all.  He is capable.  I am not.

The Bible clearly states...

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.  Psalm 118:24

It DOESN'T say to rejoice IF we have a lot of money (or even enough to pay the bills) and nobody is sick... or IF the house is clean and the kids are well behaved... or IF the lawn is mowed and there's no chicken poop anywhere... or IF Josh decides to feed himself 7 meals in 3 hours... or IF (insert your own issue here because we all have a whole myriad of issues that steal our joy and our gratefulness... some bigger than others but none less important).

And wanna hear something even more overwhelming to think upon?  The verse just before that states...

This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.  Psalm 118:23

It completely overwhelms my heart to think that all those IF's that so quickly steal our joy have been ordered by the Lord for our well being.  I mean... how can not having enough money to pay the bills be for our well being?  How can being sick with something nobody can figure out be for our well being?  I sure don't have all the answers... but I rest in the fact that God says so.


Of course that doesn't mean I don't struggle.  I sure do struggle.  But today I'm not struggling (not yet anyway) and I'm thankful. 

What are YOU thankful for today?  Please share, I'd love to hear it.

I made every effort to find a photo to share with this post.

I don't love sharing photos of myself.

This is how my heart feels this morning.

I tried to make other photos fit.

They didn't.

I can't help it.

Love,

Susan