So much to be thankful for...

Since Thanksgiving is only days away, I have been pondering how much I have to be thankful for.

I am so thankful for my family! They are always here for me. They love me, support me, encourage me. We always have so much fun together...we love to laugh, play games, and enjoy being with each other!

Another thing I am thankful for is my roomie, Diane! We enjoy being around each other...I treasure our conversations and our friendship. Most of all I love our Roomie Mondays!

I am also thankful for my job...I work with an amazing staff of friends, the families are great and the children I teach bring me great joy.

I am thankful for all of my friends...those that live close and those that live farther away but will always be close in my heart.

I am thankful for my home and all the comforts that come with it.

Most of all I am thankful for my relationship with Jesus. His unending love, grace, and mercy amaze me. I am overwhelmed and filled with gratitude at all He has done for me! Jesus, thank you for loving me so much that you died on the cross for me...thank you for forgiving my sin and for changing me into the godly woman you have created me to be.

Joy!

I love how God speaks to me! Worship was over and I was sitting, anticipating what the sermon would be. We have been going through the book of 2 Corinthians and each week's message is good. The message today was from 2 Corinthians 4:7-16. Pastor Joe began by reviewing his previous message :The Example of Paul. In all that he faced, Paul did not loose heart, his faith remained strong, and his inner man was being renewed. Then Pastor Joe talked about joy. I so need more joy in my life. He mentioned how God gives us His presence and joy and is glorified in our suffering.

2 Corinthians 6:10 "as sorrowful yet always rejoicing..."
2 Corinthians 7:4 "Great is my confidence in you; great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction."
2 Corinthians 8:2 "that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality."

God reminded me that in the midst of suffering that I can have joy. Also, when I am in the midst of suffering, God is using it to bring me closer to Him and to bring greater glory to Himself. I want to view each and every situation and trial with this in mind. I want God to be glorified and to bring me greater joy and more of Himself! I pray that God will bring this continually to my mind when I am facing trials and when life is good!

God's glory

Spreading a passion for the glory of God from our homes to all peoples of the earth...That is the mission statement of my church. We focus a lot on God's glory and what it looks like. Whenever our pastor asks us to close our eyes and imagine His glory, this precious boy comes to my mind. His name is Vitya. I went to Ukraine in 1999 and 2000. We lived in an orphanage for a month each time. Each child is so precious and full of love. I met Vitya in 2000 and instantly fell in love! His smile brought me such joy and I enjoyed spending time with him. He had written me a letter thanking him for taking care of him like he was my own son...how I wish I could have adopted him. This reminds me of God's lavish love for us...He chose us and adopted us into His family. He will never leave us! I pray that Vitya knows just how much God loves him and is a part of His family. He was 12 or 13 when I met him and is now in his early 20s. Lord thank you so much for loving each one of us! Thank you for giving me a glimpse of your glory when I imagine Vitya's joy-filled face!

On my heart

God has had me in a season of being challenged and stretched. I was quite resistant to this...I asked Him to take away the things that have left me feeling overwhelmed and stretched thin. As I prayed, He reminded me that He will not give me more than I can handle or bear. I have been clinging to this promise a lot! When I have started to feel overwhelmed and that I can't do it, I tell myself that God has not given me more than I can handle and He reminds me that He is right here with me in each and every situation that challenges me. I am still in the middle of this season and I am certain that He has a plan and a purpose for it. I know He is molding me and making me more like Him. This season is just that, a season. I know the current challenges will not last. I may feel stressed and want to pull my hair out at times, but God is with me. He is helping me to realize more of my need and dependency upon Him. He is using the trials to draw me to Him alone. I cannot rely on my own strength or solutions to the situations.

I want to glean all I can from this season. I want to grow and be changed. I do not want to merely survive, but I want to be different and more like Him. Do I want the situations to change and improve, you bet, but in the mean time I need to lean and depend on Him to get me through each day.

Thank you God that you are with me. Thank you for sustaining me and helping me through each day. Thank you for the promise that you will never leave me nor will you give me more than I can handle. Please remind me to lean and depend on you each and every moment of each and every day...in the good times as well as the hard times. Pleas make me more and more like you. Your love and care for me amazes me!

My first blog

I have been wanting to start a blog for a long time now and I saw a friend's blog yesterday that truly inspired me...it inspired me in my walk and relationship with God and it inspired me to finally start a blog of my very own! I am not sure how often I will post on here or what each post will be about, but I am looking forward to using this to share my thoughts, what God is teaching me, or whatever else moves me to write!

I pray for those reading this that you will experience more of Him and that you will be encouraged...

Shay