Being Thankful 2014

I have to admit, this year I have had a hard time finding my groove in being thankful.  Most of that is my own selfishness.  I know I have more than I could ever count to be thankful for...but this has been a hard year.  I have lost a great deal...my life as I knew it, my children's lives as they knew it and love I thought was for a life time. I have had to come to terms with the ugly realities of betrayals and the shock of realizing you don't always know the people you are most vulnerable with.  I have had to begin wrapping my mind around a reality that the last 30 years of my life were not what they seemed and only a mirage.  So, I find myself stunned often by those realities and they make me overlook what I should be thankful for.

Each year on the blog I try to post about what I am thankful for, and this year it is taking more thought, more consideration than usual.  I haven't spent the month of November documenting the special blessings in my life as in the past; but there have been blessings.  I have 3 jobs (yes, 3 part time jobs!) that I like which have come just when they needed to, I have a warm, safe house, a car that is reliable and most importantly I have 3 amazing children to share my journey with.  I know if it had not been for their presence in my life I would not still be standing.  They each have unique strengths and talents and bring different joys into my life.  I am waiting expectantly to see just what God does in their lives in the coming seasons, because I know in my heart He has big plans for them.  He would not take them through what they have faced if He didn't have BIG plans for them.  I can't wait to stand on the side lines and cheer them through their lives.

I also have many dear, special friends to be thankful for, some old and some new.  I wish I could tell you what each one has brought into my world this year but it would take days to write each blessing down.  I am just thankful for their love, support and help.

I am also thankful for my parents and their support this year.  It was a painful year of loss for them as well but they did all they could to help me and the children.  I am blessed.

It is a different year...this 2014.  Holidays won't be the same and our family is learning to be a family...just a smaller one...but we are blessed.  Thank you, Lord.

Memorial Day 2014

Early this morning, before I went to work, I went to our city's Veterans Park.  It seemed fitting.  I was actually the only one there and it was beautiful, quiet and peaceful. I said a prayer for the families of those who gave their lives for our great nation, a prayer of thanks for all those who have served and also those still in harm's way....just so we can have  this amazing thing called freedom.

I am so thankful for the brave men and women who have uttered and upheld this oath: "I, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

Another Year Dawning...

As we are once again, in a new location (albeit one much closer to family & friends and somewhere we have lived before), we have been visiting churches and looking for a church home.  The Sunday after Christmas we visited a church we were members of 20 years ago.  I am not sure that will end up being our church home again but the sermon resonated with me as the New Year dawned.  The Pastor spoke about how sometimes things have to be shaken up and how sometimes we need a new perspective…a God view. That really caught my attention because I know that sometimes I get so locked into my perspective I can’t even imagine there is another…much less a God one.  The last few months my perspective has been shaken up and for a time I was so blinded by my pain and MY perspective I couldn’t even begin to see God…but then one day I felt a faint sense of peace.  You know the kind, a “…peace of God, which surpasses all understanding…"(Philippians 4:7)  It was the gentle hand of a loving God awakening my hearts cry for Him.  It was the comforting arm of a God that will be there to love me through the pain.  It was the awakening of a hunger that only He can satisfy. 

Another Year Dawning

Another Year is dawning, dear Father, let it be

In working or in waiting, another year with Thee.

Another year of progress, another year of praise,

Another year of proving Your presence all the days.

Another year of mercies, of faithfulness and grace,

Another year of gladness in the shining of Your face;

Another year of leaning upon Your faithfulness;

Another year of trusting, of quiet, happy rest.

Another year of service, of witness for Thy love,

Another year of training for holier work above.

Another year is dawning, dear Father, let it be

On earth, or else in Heaven, another  year for Thee.

~Francis Havergal