Finding reasons to be thankful

I have found that intentionally looking for reasons to be thankful really changes how you see things... This might just become more than a month of thankful posts.

Friday November 8: I am thankful to have a place to sleep tonight and that my family and friends are all safe. My heart breaks for all of those who do not have either tonight. Whether it be from such tragedies as the super typhoon that hit the Philippines today or an accident that may have changed a families life forever. Thank you Lord.

Saturday November 9: Today I'm thankful for soccer. Devin has been playing soccer for 10 years now and he just loves it. Soccer is a way for him to stay active, meet new people, be a leader, gain confidence and simply have fun. While it can be time consuming, he truly loves it and I honestly believes it has helped shape him into the person he is today. I pray he continues to seek out things he loves to do in life and find ways to use those to glorify God. Thank you Lord.

  

Sunday November 10: Thankful for prayer. Pastor Tony's sermon's on prayer these past two weeks have been so timely. Teaching us about how to pray and what to pray, reminding us of the importance of prayer as well as why we pray. I think I'm often too quick to offer up prayer when I'm in need and not to offer Thanksgiving or just to let Him know I know He's awesome. Pastor Tony reminded us that prayer is not for us, but for God. God knows what we need, He needs to know we understand that we need Him to give us what we need. That He is our Savior. So as I attempt to navigate days or hours on my own sometimes because I think things are going smoothly, I need to remember to make time to speak to God. To pursue God's will, not my own, to accept that He will provide us with everything we need, if I only ask.  I need to ask for forgiveness as well as forgive others whom I think have wronged me. And ALWAYS let God reign. Thank you Lord.

P.S. I'm also thankful that a 7:30 bedtime is ok once in awhile :)

Monday November 11: Today I am especially thankful for friends who are not only willing to give up a couple of nights a month to hang out with me but to also study God's word with me. I look forward to every opportunity I get to spend time with these women. I am thankful that we have the freedom to gather any day we choose and discuss whatever book of the Bible we have decided to study over the past week or two. I am thankful that I have the freedom to own a Bible and pray I never lose the desire to get to know God through it. (Titus and Philemon this week) Thank you Lord.

Tuesday November 12: Today I'm thankful for basketball, for coach Mike, Danny, and Roger. Basketball is so much more than a sport to pass the time and have fun. I'm thankful that these men are willing to give up so much of their time for our children. Devin loves basketball and would play it year round if he could. It is a great motivator to him to stay in shape and to get better grades. Basketball helps teach him respect, teamwork, payoff that comes from hard work and so much more. It gives him an opportunity to be really good at something when he struggles in other areas. Thank you Lord.

Wednesday November 13: Our very patient, kind, generous, always smiling secretary at work. I really do love all the ladies I work with but today I am especially thankful for Vanessa. The poor copy machine at work is on it's very last leg. Yesterday as I made copies it began to misfeed paper, as it does quite often, Vanessa gets up and helps me find where it is jammed and starts using all the secrets she knows to get it working again, as she always does. (This has been an ongoing issue for quite some time, I always feel bad when I have to make copies). This morning I realized I would need to make copies again, I tried to get in there early to get them done before she got there. The machine turned on with an error. I fixed it and started my copies. Shortly after Vanessa arrived and the machine was jamming after every other copy came out. I only needed a few but it wasn't working out. Vanessa put her things away and immediately came to my aid. I felt horrible starting her day that way, but she didn't seem to mind one bit.
Fyi: I ended up in a different office finishing my copies :) Thank you Lord for Vanessa.

Thursday November 14: My new tennis shoes! Ok so this may not be exactly what I should put here, but really I am so thankful to have found them. I have some serious foot problems, as well as sciatic trouble. I have really high arches, and a ganglion cyst that causes a lot of pain when wearing tennis shoes. Then add to my other foot that still hasn't healed from falling back in August and shoe shopping is just no fun, at least not for tennis shoes. I try them on in the store and they feel fine. Take them out to actually walk or exercise and I find myself in excruciating  pain the first time. Then it happened, I randomly commented on liking someone's shoes last week and she began to tell me how great they were. I thought they sounded perfect for me as well and might just be the shoe that would work for me. I set out to find them later that week. I found them, tried them on and hated them. But it lead me to try some other shoes very similar and they worked great! I have been wearing them often for over a week now and no pain at all, at least not caused from the shoes. I've worn them to soccer games where I stood through 5 games last weekend and worked in the concession stand twice this week and they helped sooooo much! Good shoes are so important, I only wish I could make them cute enough to wear to work ;) Thank you Lord!