Thankful Thursday

Thankful List, for this Thursday...

I just want to mention again that... every attempt at making this list is just another addendum to the ongoing list,.  I know I will never be able to put into words all that I have been blessed with and all that I have become aware of being thankful for...

My God chose to send His Son into the world that He has made, to save us... to redeem us from all of the unrighteousness we represent, and to cover us with the righteousness of His Son, that we might have a real relationship with Him, through Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross.  Today, I am so thankful for the Bible, for it's timelessness and for the way God has protected it over the years in such a way that now any of us (yes even I) may have a copy of my own to hold in my hands, and to read with my own eyes the marvelous works of our Creator and of our Redeemer. 

"I rejoice at your word

like one who finds great spoil."

Psalm 119:162   ESV

Stomach virus hits our house...

The stomach bug hit our house this weekend - with great force. Some of us are just making it today, and others are doing better already, although in small measure. Being sick while caring for a special needs family member is a special kind of challenge. And I know I'm blessed to have a hubby who can and will fill in when I need him to.

In the worst of my illness, I was reminded that God cares for me and what I'm going through, even down to when I'm ill and what sort of illness I have, and the challenges my special child brings into this situation. I'm so thankful for having memorized scripture that God brings to my memory at just the right moment, as he did for me on Monday...



"But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."
(Luke 12:7)

The WORD for Wednesday

We're having some of life's ups and downs at our house this week... but no matter what comes, no matter what goes... my heart is fixed on God.

"My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed:
I will sing and give praise."

~Psalm 57:7

The WORD for Wednesday

"The LORD is my strength and my shield;

My heart trusts in him and I am helped.

My heart leaps for joy

and I will give thanks to him in song."

Psalm 28:7 NIV

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Thankful Thursday

Thankfulness starts with the fact that there is a God... and therefore it never ends.

Today I'm continuing my thankful list. Some of these are new discoveries this week... others are being rediscovered in a way that demands I list them.

I'm discovering thankfulness for:

• the peace of God that passes all understanding...
• cheerful beautiful blue skies through the bare branches of winter...
• prayer partners who face life's ups and downs alongside me, without judgment
• opportunities to know and to help those who have less in life than I do
• humility in knowing those who are miles ahead of me in this race for eternity
• precious faces of my grandchildren who recognize me - even via technology
• my own copy of God's Word, and the privilege of reading it and studying it
• my husband who provides for me, entertains me, and loves me
• my three sons - they are all so very special to me

The WORD for Wednesday

"They that sow in tears
shall reap in joy."

Psalm 126:5 KJV

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The WORD for Wednesday

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"And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations,
knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
and perseverance, proven character;
and proven character, hope;
and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out
within our hearts through the Holy Spirit
who was given to us."

Romans 5:3-5 NASB

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Sunday... Resting and Reading...

Sundays at our house are for resting. We pare down our schedules, and cut out the work load and to-do lists. Not even our son with special needs requires a reminder. It's just what we do.

Attending church, napping, reading and quiet times together... these make up our Sundays.

Even in a restful day it is important to focus on one thing at a time. And today's one important thing is God's word to us, the Bible.

"Your word is a lamp that gives light wherever I walk. "

Psalm 119:105 (CEV)

Tuesday's To Do List...

Today is a day in which I need to get lots of things done. That sometimes seems true for everyday at our house, but for some reason especially today. I'm tempted to just write about those things which could be identified as tasks related to the special needs in the family, but the truth is - I have those tasks plus all the regular or normal or "typical" things to get done as well.

Admitting that my "to do" list is considerably shorter than those parents who are also working in "paying jobs", here it is:

• assist young adult son in getting ready for and physically getting to his day program at UCP LINCPoint - he cannot do either without me
• order refills for the prescription drugs that give my son (and myself) a better life
• call the case worker assigned to my adult son's services through the state's Department of Health, and Department of MHMR which assists those with developmental challenges like my son's - we need her help to resolve a problem we have encountered in "the system"
• call and make a payment on special pharmaceutical drugs that are delivered to our home monthly
• call a friend of mine whom I've been neglecting to call, being sidetracked with life's challenges
• spend time cleaning at least one room of this house
• finish folding the laundry that came out of the dryer yesterday
• call a repairman for the electrical problem that we are having
• call a repairman for the appliance problem that we are having
• plot the appointment dates onto the family calendar - includes MY appointments as well as our son's appointments. I want to see where we can fit in our next trip to see our grandchildren in TX!
• call to cancel the appointment made "automatically" by the medical center's clinic, and reiterate, once again, that we cannot attend appointments on Wednesdays
• pick up the refills of prescription drugs and sort them into several containers that are dated and divided by time of day - so that in our haste we do not forget a dose of one of my son's required medications
• call a brother who is having disturbing vision problems
• pick up my young adult son and come home, an adventure of about an hour and a half
• work a few minutes on the project of getting the filed papers in our home organized - steadily making progress!
• do afternoon skin care routine for our young adult son, and other such required things
• okay, and brush my teeth, take MY vitamins, EAT something, 30-walk on treadmill, and 15 minutes outside for "fresh" air
• oh! THINK OF SOMETHING FOR SUPPER, and go ASAP to purchase the ingredients that I can't find in the pantry

That's quite a list, and it's not everything - since I won't be writing here about a lot of what we do for our son .

I cannot face days like these or any day, alone. I must go now and prepare myself for the day, by reading passages in the Bible and by talking personally with the Lord in prayer. It would be foolish to start any other way!

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed,
do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Colossians 3:17 NIV

Thankful Thursday

I'm continuing to enumerate the things for which I've learned to be thankful. Not necessarily tangible things. Some of these things are things for which I have only recently realized my thankfulness. And others are things for which I am only just beginning to understand the magnitude of my thankfulness.


This past week, I've been so thankful for...

1) the impact of rest on a weary, aging body
2) the joy of relationships with warm and encouraging friends
3) the friendship and loyalty of a brother who chooses to continue to be helpful - cheerfully
4) my husband's growing love for me, and for each additional day we have together
5) the beauty of the ocean's tides and that visual definition of "unending" - reminding me of God's unending love forever washing over me
6) the opportunity to share a smile with someone else
7) the very LIFE found in the words of the Bible, and for my freedom to own my very own copy

"Keep deception and lies far from me,
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with the food that is my portion,"
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Proverbs 30:8

Sabbath Rest...

Jesus loves me, this I know...

... for the Bible tells me so!

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Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful every day of my life. I can't claim that I have ALWAYS been. But what I can say is that NOW, and for the past few years(possibly up to ten or so), that I AM thankful. A hard-to-learn lesson, but one worth considering, is that thankful people are those aware of what has been given to them. None of us "deserve" anything - but the Lord God has blessed all of us in some ways. I want to be responsible - reminding myself each week that I AM thankful, and for which things I am newly (or supremely) thankful.


So THIS WEEK, I am especially thankful for...

1) my Lord's love and care for me
2) an awareness of my surroundings, made possible by my Lord
3) an awareness of the depth of my inabilities
4) an awareness that there are depths of his unfathomable greatness that I shall NEVER know this side of heaven
5) the rain and the sunshine, alternately blessing
6) my copy of God's Word, the Bible
7) friendships that He has granted along the journey of life, blessing me as flowers do (Some are daylilies and last for a short season - boosting an otherwise gloomy "day". And some are glorious perennials who are with me year after year - growing, blooming and mingling their scents with mine)
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and, for two tiny, precious treasures named Austin and Megan!

The WORD for Wednesday...

"Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting;

To Him who made the heavens with skill,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting;"

Psalm 136:3-5
(New American Standard Bible)

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The WORD for Wednesday

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"I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them."

Psalm 139:14-16 (New King James Version)

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Sunday - Rest for Your Souls

There’ve been lots of times in my life when I have been overly tired. When it happens to me, there never seems to be any one thing that led up to the exhaustion and weakness. It just seems that a number of things have happened, or have piled up (things needing to happen!) and suddenly I feel overwhelmed because of “spinning my wheels” for days, achieving nothing.

Some people experience this exhaustion from their physical labor, some from jobs in which they labor with their minds. Others experience a similar exhaustion from dealing with difficult people, and still others from dealing with difficult circumstances. Some families have difficult dynamics, some careers offer unbearably demanding schedules, and some individuals have extreme challenges. No one is immune... we’ve all experienced exhaustion. And probably each of us has thought (at least once) that there was nothing we ­did to bring on the levels of exhaustion we've experienced.

The truth, however, is that there probably is something we did not do which perpetuated the tiredness that led to exhaustion. Did we rest? Did we take time off regularly from the” loads” we carry in life? Did we look for solutions, observing how others have dealt with the same things? Have we asked others questions about how they find restfulness during their rapid-fire stress-filled days? Have we sought the Lord’s way in all of this?

The tiredness we experience physically (as mentioned above) typically pales in comparison to the soul-weariness that is faced by those who haven’t learned to go to the Lord and His Word with all of their plans and their needs. Believers and unbelievers alike can face this soul-weariness. It’s a bottom-of-the-pit experience, where you can feel bound both physically and spiritually… thinking that God is so far from you, thinking that you can’t stop anything you are doing because it is “needed”, thinking that no one knows how to help you or cares to walk alongside you, thinking that you are “in it alone”, and that there is no end to the weariness - no way out.

God’s Word tells us differently. God gives us direction for our lives. And it’s there for us… if we’ll only read and contemplate His Word. Will we follow?

"This is what the LORD says:
"Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls."

Jeremiah 6:16

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