Thankful Thursday #14

Welcome to Thankful Thursday! If you'd like to participate, just copy the T.T. button on my sidebar and paste it into your post. Next write down five things you are thankful for this week. Finally, come back here and link up with Mr. Linky. It's that easy!

My list for this week:

1) I am thankful for my husband's job. We keep hearing of more and more people we know who are losing their jobs, but myhusband is secure in his (he owns the company). That's something I don't take for granted.

2) If you read yesterday's post, then you know that I'm thankful for my oldest daughter, Brittany, and her desire for a clean and organized home!

3) I'm thankful that when you meet up with old friends, even after many years have passed, you can instantly re-connect.

4) I'm thankful for the sunset I saw last night after leaving church. It was amazing!

5) I am thankful that we live in this country. Land of the free, home of the brave.

Inspire by Example

In an effort to eliminate the winter doldrums that often settle in around my house in February, I made a mental decision to begin systematically de-clutter my house.

I decided to tackle the worst area first, and then go from there. I declared to my husband that I was going to clean out my linen closets (I have 2). He was excited because they had gotten pretty bad! Unfortunately, life got busy and I never got to my project.

I was feeling a bit discouraged when my oldest daughter, Brittany, came to announce that she had decided to clean out the downstairs linen closet because she just couldn't take it anymore! WOW! I was so excited that I hugged her, jumped for joy, and then re-committed to cleaning out the upstairs linen closet!

Here are the pictures of the closet before and both closets after being cleaned out. I even took 2 bags filled with linens that we didn't need to good will! Let's all lead by example - my daughter's example inspired me to complete the task at hand.

How's your linen closet looking???

A Birthday Celebration, and a Winner

I want to thank you all for leaving comments and linking to my 100th post on Thursday! I sure felt the love. And with no further ado I will announce the winner of the book giveaway, Colleen over at Thoughts on Grace! Please stop by to congratulate her. As soon as she contacts me I will send her, "For the Write Reason."

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday! I think that once you're over 35 birthday's don't seem to have the same excitement as they used to. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful to be alive and one year older. I'm 42 and proud of my age. It's just that I don't like some of the new health issues I've had to face since moving into the 40 somethings. Nothing serious, just a few more aches and pains (and pounds!) than I'm used to. If you are also over 40 you will probably be able to sympathize.

Instead of focusing on the negative, I decided to consider God's role in my life. Here's a snipit of what He's done for me:

First, He allowed me to be born into a faith filled home. When I was a young girl (2 or 3) I was diagnosed with Celiac disease. My mom was a new believer and read that if you lay hands on the sick and pray with faith, they will recover. So she did, and God healed me!

Second, Even though I stepped away from my faith as a college student - God gave me a second chance at a happy marriage with my loving Christian husband, Tim!

Third, After the birth of my first daughter, I became deathly ill. After a grim diagnosis, God healed me, once again!

Fourth, God blessed me with SIX healthy children. Five daughters and one son. Children are a gift from God.

Fifth, After experiencing a family tragedy a few years back, God didn't leave me in my wilderness and confusion. No, He came and rescued me and put me back on the right path.

Sixth, God has sustained my marriage. While we've experienced good times, and bad. Sickness, and health. Richer and poorer - God has not forsaken us - our love is strong.

I am so grateful for my God! Here is the realization that I came to yesterday:

When God chose to breathe life into my being, 42 years ago, He already knew all of the mistakes I would make! He already knew all the sins I would commit! Even so, HE CHOSE ME!!!!!!! This is amazing love. Can I get a witness?

Thankful Thursday #13

Welcome to Thankful Thursday, and my 100th Post GIVEAWAY! If you'd like to participate, just copy the T.T. button on my sidebar and paste it into your post. Next write down five things you are thankful for this week. Finally, come back here and link up with Mr. Linky. It's that easy!

This is my list for 2/19/09:

1) That my husband and I are in a partnership. We are concerned with what's going on in each other's lives and that is so valuable. When one of us is hurting, we run to the other and then we go to the Lord together in prayer.

2) I am thankful for my children. They bring such joy into my heart. On Sunday night we all tried to figure out how to use my new video camera (the one that's on my laptop) and ended up making such a hilarious video that we laughed for 30 minutes or so! I tried to upload it for a Monday post but, that's something I clearly can't figure out yet, or my Internet card is too slow.

3) I am thankful for good sales. We went to Radio shack to buy a new cable for my scanner, only to find out that for a mere $10 more I could buy a brand new Lexmark Printer/Scanner/Copier! Wow that was fun! (Yes, I bought it!)

4) I am thankful that I'm making new friends through my local Christian Writer's group. That's been a real blessing.

5) Today is my 100th post on Truth 4 the Journey!! And to celebrate, I am having a giveaway. I will give one person a copy of, For the Write Reason, Edited by Marybeth Whalen. This is a compilation book with 31 devotions written by agents, editors, and writers. Most of them are sharing how they got into writing and what part God played in their lives. Quite inspirational! So, for everyone who leaves me a comment, your name will go into a hat, and I'll let my husband pick the winning name! I will close the drawing on Sunday Feb. 22 (incidentally, my birthday!). Good Luck!

Have a blessed and joyful weekend.

Authors Note: You don't have to participate in the Thankful Thursday Meme today to enter the drawing. Simply leave a comment, it's that easy. Although, if you do participate, your name will go into the hat twice. (My blog, my rules!)

Thankful Thursday #12

Welcome to Thankful Thursday! If you'd like to participate, just copy the T.T. button on my sidebar and paste it into your post. Next write down five things you are thankful for this week. Finally, come back here and link up with Mr. Linky. It's that easy!

Here's my list:

1) I am thankful that my husband is the spiritual leader of our house and we have been taking communion each morning. There is power in the blood and I've seen amazing results in both of our lives and in our family!

2) I am thankful for my local church. We are fairly new here and already it feels like home! They are so in tune with meeting the congregations needs and that's a real blessing.

3) I am thankful for praise music. I've been immersing myself and my family in praise music all week, its a real mood lifter, attitude adjuster and just plain fun!

4) I am thankful for my friends. I've been working on taking breaks lately, and its been fun to just go and hang out with my friends. It's always encouraging and uplifting.

5) I am thankful for my local writer's group. It's called, Richmond Christian's Who Write and it has been so encouraging to me!!! The monthly speakers are uplifting spiritually and practically. Plus, the great tips they send out via email have been the reason I'm published! We need to have other's around us to support us and lift us up. God is good!

You are Beautiful!

What do you see when you look in the mirror each morning? Are you satisfied? I have never met anyone who has been totally satisfied with their outward appearance. I know that I have a quite extensive list of things that I would like to change about myself.

Think for a minute and tell me how God created the earth and all that is in it? He SPOKE it into being. Do you know how He made man? He formed him from dirt and then He blew into man's nostrils to breath life into him. For the woman, he took one of the man's ribs and formed us with His hands, WOW! God hand crafted each one of us, taking the time to meticulously form our bodies.

How then, can we complain or argue with the creator about our outward appearance? Instead we need to rejoice and be grateful that we are exactly the way He created us to be. We should also be in awe that He takes the time to hand craft each one of us. Just another sign of His great and unfathomable love for us!

Psalm 139:14-16 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;your works are wonderful,I know that full well.My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,your eyes saw my unformed body.All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Thankful Thursday #11

Welcome to Thankful Thursday! If you'd like to participate, just copy the T.T. button on my sidebar and paste it into your post. Next write down five things you are thankful for this week. Finally, come back here and link up with Mr. Linky. It's that easy!

Here's my list of things I'm thankful for this week:

1) That my husband loves me. I mean really loves me with a very deep and compassionate love. He loves me with a God-like love, it's amazing!

2) For the opportunity to have close friends. We can share with one another and encourage each other through prayers, scriptures and just the right words. I have been a guarded person for so much of my life, I'm glad God has set me free to have these close friendships now!

3) For Godly counsel. The Bible says that if you consult with a multitude of counselors you'll be successful. It's true! We were never meant to run this race alone.

4) For the faith of a child. A few nights ago my youngest daughter, Tiffany, wanted to pray and she said, "Dear God, please bless everyone and I'm afraid of the dark so please help me, Amen." Knowing that she is turning her cares over to God at age 3 is amazing to me! Glory to God!

5) I am so thankful for grace. In Lamentations it says that God's grace is new every morning and I need that fresh grace daily. We can only give from what we have, and since we have new grace daily we can certainly give that grace to those in our lives, too!

May you realize today that God loves you and His grace is sufficient for every circumstance and need you may have.

Run!

1Co 9:24 "You know that many runners enter a race, and only one of them wins the prize. So run to win! Athletes work hard to win a crown that cannot last, but we do it for a crown that will last forever."

Most of you have probably heard this scripture verse before. We know that we are running a race. Let's look at the last part, though. "we do it for a crown that will last forever." Our prize is everlasting life with God in heaven!

So, how long will we be running this race? Until we reach heaven! That's not a short race. No, that's a long sometimes exhausting sometimes exciting race.

Last week I went out of town for 3 days with my husband and when we returned home I had an all day homeschool co-op the very next day. This brought me to Friday. There was laundry piled so high I didn't think I could ever finish it, the house was messy and needed to be cleaned, and the kids had school work to complete! AAAHHH! It felt so overwhelming to me. Until I received this advice:

Make my goals progression goals, not perfection or even completion goals. For example, if I completed 6 loads of laundry on Friday be glad and rejoice, instead of being disappointed because I didn't actually finish all of the laundry. I am telling you that this advice made all of the difference in my day. I had a successful day even though everything on my list didn't get completed, but my eyes were focused on God and in a forward projection.

If you have mounds of work ahead of you this week, focus your eyes on God and keep moving in a forward projection toward them and then be content with whatever you can get accomplished in the day. This is a lifelong race, and we need to keep moving forward.