About three years I started keeping a “thankful” journal in which I record a sentence or two each morning. Brief, but so good for me, for I can be negative. Yesterday was such a sweet day and I have so much to be thankful for — three daughters and husbands at the lake. This is my eldest daughter Sally sailing with her husband Phil. I wrote: “So thankful for peaceful relationships, Your beautiful creation, and family. Watching the kids sail, I kept thinking of how You said to Nicodemus: “The wind blows where it will — so are they who are born of the Spirit.” So thankful Your breeze captured us.
For what are you thankful in the last few days?
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I am thankful for having had a husband who loved me to the end, one that helped my in my walk with God and prayed for me daily. I am thankful for a daughter and grandkids that love me and walk with the Lord. I am thankful for good health, enough money to live on, and a house to live in. Most of all, I am thankful for a Lord that I can talk to, Who loves me unconditionally, Who walks with me all the time and strengthens me and listens to me, and Who will one day welcome me home. God is good.
Yes, Melva — all good things. Thanks for sharing.
Here is a great 2.5 minute video about being grateful that is very touching – http://www.danceintherainmovie.com/. I am currently thankful for God’s provision as I near the end of my graduate studies. He is showing me how I can be totally dependent on Him for all my needs – finances, schedules, coursework, housing, etc.
I watched the video Carol recommended and liked it. Good thoughts and with pictures that speak beautifully.
I am thankful for seeing my 3yr old son play outside in the winter sunshine. He pretended to cook over a BBQ shared some sausages (sticks& bricks) steak & sausages with me. Then he decided to make a computer up out of an old box for the screen & old keyboard. He actually was reflecting his Dad & the things he likes to do.
I’m thankful the simplicity of such things as a child playing & reflecting his Father who he adores & letting me be apart of it.
Yes — simple things. Writing my thanks each morning has helped increase my awareness of those simple things. Thanks for these pictures from your life, Elizabeth.
I’m thankful for family and friends and a God who loves me, who has promised to be with me until the end. I am thankful for good health. I am thankful for a God who gives to me, that I in turn may have something to give to others. I am thankful for the gift of sight, of sound, of taste and of touch. I am thankful to be born in this country, I am thankful to be an American. I am thankful to have traveled to different parts of the world, to have met people from other countries and cultures. I am thankful for the greatness and goodness of God. I am grateful for kind people, for godly people. I am thankful for all the people who have reached out to me and made a difference in my life! I am thankful for little babies for their innocence and beauty, for the joy they bring to your heart. Mostly, I am thankful for the Creator, who would allow me to enjoy all these things!
I am thankful that I grew up in a poor rural farming town in west-central Wisconsin (never thought I’d say that, growing up) because now I am able to appreciate when I have it good. I have running water (and yes, there are still people where I come from who do not), my sewer works (no raw sewage backing up into the bathtub),and the Lord has provided for me every single day in the last 6 years–he has provided for me always of course, but I say this in amazement over the last 6 years when I, much like Job, lost my home & earthly possesions to a fire, survived the person who was hired to rebuild our home running off with the $40,000 insurance money I paid him to rebuild (and the grace to eventually forgive and move on), survived persecution by the county for zoning violations due to not having a house rebuilt and no money to do so and had to sell the land for a loss, survived the shame and loss of income when my husband was taken to prison for the last 5 years and placed out east so I have been unable to see him. Yes, God is good and has provided me the means to support myself with income enough to meet our needs plus some to spare so I wouldn’t totally lose heart. God has placed godly people in my life at strategic times these last six years when I would have otherwise given into despair. In an age when it is easy to take things for granted and not find much that truly can amaze us, I am amazed at what a wonderful, loving God we have, at His tenderness and care, at His attention to all of the details of my life.
Wow, Deb. Thanks so much for sharing this — such a good model of trust and thankfulness in the midst of real adversity.
You mentioned keeping a prayer journal. I also have kept a prayer journal for years which has really been of great value to me. Each week is divided into 4 sections, one section to record a few sentences daily, usually to record highlights of the day or what is on my mind; a second section is for prayer requests, a third section to record answered prayer, and a fourth to record “God’s Touch.” I am amazed at the times when I was feeling quite low, when I was certain things couldn’t get any worse but indeed they did, beginning to feel sorry for myself until I would look back at prayers that had been answered, rejoiced in the simple yet powerful ways God had touched my life when I needed it most, and these prayer journals have made me feel a little more sane, bringing renewed comfort and encouragement.
I like your God’s touch. We used to do the God Hunt with our kids at supper — similar: Ways they spied God in answered prayer, unusual circumstances, help to do His work, or unexpected grace.
God is so good, and I am thankful. Deb’s comment sort of puts things in perspective.
Deb’s comment’s have stayed with me also, I shared them with my husband. Thank You Deb.
How vast is good hand of our Father.When no one else knows or sees He does.
I am thankful for the miracle of the internet that allows us to have these conversations. When I think about how I type these words and then simply hit “send” and they fly all over the world to each of these women who are willing to share their sorrows and their joys with each other, I am reminded of the great Present but Invisible spiritual world that surrounds us and moves among us. God is just so big and so powerful and so almighty, yet so personal and so intimate. Thank you, Creator God, for bringing us together through Dee and the internet.
I absolutely love this analogy, Janet. I so appreciate getting to know you!