Thankful for...

Here we are, the last day of November. So much for my expectation of blogging everyday (or even close to every day) in the month of November.

Anyways, to wrap up the month of November, I decided to post a list of things I am thankful for. It's not my complete list (which I was able to keep up with throughout the month) but here are some things that I am thankful for and I know I wouldn't be the person I am without them.


1. My family. Not everyone understands my family but we understand each other and that's what matters. They always have my back and are willing to come jump start my car (over and over again) when I need it. As my family grows, it just gets better and better!

2. My salvation. My life has never been the same since the day I trusted Christ as my Savior. There are days when I struggle to even begin to comprehend His love for me.

3. Accountability. I appreciate the text messages I get when I miss a church service. I appreciate those texts because they remind me that, even when I don't think my life effects other people, it's a reminder that it does. So if you have ever been one of those who have sent me a message - thank you, I appreciate you keeping me accountable.

4. My church family. Every November we set aside a special time for giving thanks to God for what He has given us and someone this year summed it up best when she said she was thankful for her church family or as she put it, her "everyday family". I don't think I could have put it better myself. I am thankful for the opportunities we have to serve God together, and by doing so, we have the opportunity to grow closer together, to make memories with each other.

5. I'm thankful for my Pastor. He has such a heart and desire to sincerely serve God and do His will. It's encouraging to me. He preaches God's Word unashamedly and I know I am very blessed to have him for a pastor. The Bible says "where there is no vision, the people perish". I'm thankful for a pastor who has a vision (a Godly vision). I'm thankful for his family, too. They show that serving God can be done (even while your family is growing) and that it can be done with joy.

6. Hugs. I'm thankful for the hugs you get when you don't expect them but realize that you really needed them.

7. The Bible. I'm thankful for the little verses God has been showing me lately that completely know my socks off! I get something new each and every time I open that Book.

8. Bible Study. We started a Friday night Bible study a few years ago and I am very thankful that my brother takes the time to study each week and my sister in law takes the time to prepare their house and invite everyone over to open and study the Word of God.

9. I'm thankful for the opportunity to be a Sunday school teacher. It's not always easy, the kiddos don't always pay attention but I love them and I know it is a privilege to teach them about God.

10. You. I'm thankful for each and every person who reads my blog. It has been almost a year since I started this blog and I had no idea if any one would ever take time out of their day to read it but you have and for thank I am thankful!

I hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving but let's keep the spirit of thankfulness going even though our calendar is changing.

"O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." Psalm 34:3

Just when I need Him

I love God.

He amazes me.

Last week when I prayed to God about a need I had, He answered it...in ways I never expected and it took me awhile to understand.

I got to work last week and received a notification that my schedule was being switched. This didn't exactly make me happy. I mean, who really wants their Friday schedule moved from the early to the late shift?

So I was unhappy (to say the least) but when I went to work the next day and was notified of an opportunity for overtime, my attitude began to change. I thought, "Praise the Lord! This is the perfect time for some overtime. Thanks, Lord for answering my prayer!" and as I began to plan the week I realized that by my schedule being switched, it opened up 4 additional hours of overtime opportunity.

Crazy.

He knew all along that my schedule being switched would be a huge benefit to me and yet, in my short-sightedness, I just sat and mumbled about it.

He doesn't have to do things like that.

But He does them anyway.

I am thankful that His understanding far exceeds mine. I am thankful that He is always looking out for me not matter how big or small the situation.

I love Him.

He knows

I was reading my Bible a few days ago and came across a verse that I have read plenty of times before but this time it struck me in such a way that it was hard for me to get past the verse and continue reading. It was one of those verses where there is so much there and you recognize the depth of the verse but you know you will most likely never be able to fully comprehend it.

"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Hebrews 4:15

This verse has been swimming around my mind ever since. It has just amazed me how He experienced everything we experience. Every emotion, every disappointment, every triumph, every struggle, every victory, every sorrow.

I am so very thankful that God knows, really knows how I feel. There are times when I cannot find the right words to describe and yet, when I am talking to Him about it, I don't have to find the right words because...He knows.

Back up

Nobody likes to be someone's second choice, or to be their "back up" choice. Everyone likes the feeling that they were wanted. The feeling that they are someone's first choice.

It's a prime spot, being someone's first choice.

I was a back up choice a few weeks ago for someone. It just comes with a certain sense of disappointment right from the get go. Not the greatest feeling in the world but one I'm sure we've all experienced (I hope I'm not the only one) and one I am sure I will experience again.

But it got me thinking...

When I read through God's Word and sing the hymns of old and ponder all that He is...He never makes me feel like I'm a "back up" option. He always makes me feel like I am His first choice.

Verses like 1 John 4:19 "We love him, because he first loved us" is one of those phrases that leap off the page and nestle down in my heart and fit into the foundation He has given me in knowing that I am His child now. Verses like that give me confidence to know that at moments of weakness when I question if anyone cares, I know that He does. I know that He loves me and that He loved me first.

I never have to be His second choice.

And for that, I am thankful.

He listens

"I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live." Psalm 116:1-2

I work in customer service and have come to realize that most people, they just want to be heard. They want someone to listen to them. I listen to people and their problems all day. So when I come across verses in the Bible like the one above that reminds me that He is always there to listen to me, I'm thankful for those verses.

I don't always have someone to talk to about my day when I come home but I always have Him. He always listens. I love that about Him and I have come to appreciate that on new levels over the past year.

Today, I'm thankful for the gift of prayer and that God hears me.

God's canvas

I love fall and thankfully, we have been able to enjoy a splendid fall here in North Dakota. One of the many things I love about fall is that the sun sets at a great time.

I had to run a few quick errands tonight after work and before I could head home, I was drawn to the horizon. The sunset was so breath-taking tonight, it's hard to describe. The colors were so rich, they seemed magical.

Every day we are blessed to surrounded by His creation. Psalm 19:1 is so true: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork."

He doesn't have to do that. He doesn't have to make the sunsets (and sunrises) so beautiful and vibrant with color. He doesn't have to give a bright, detailed double rainbow after a short little rain shower but He did last Saturday. He is the greatest artist I could ever imagine. No one can paint, like God can paint. I love and am thankful that he uses the sky as His canvas. I look forward to each morning, seeing what new hues He will use, what placement or type of clouds He might add to the mix.

Today, I am thankful for God's art.

Limitless comfort

November is here and off to a rollicking start! Christmas talk and plans are already being made. Stores are already decked with green and red and before long bells will be jingling, but here at Carpe Diem Domino, we are just getting started in the month-long celebration of Thanksgiving.

I've already got a jump start on some posts ideas for this month but tonight, I just wasn't sure which direction the Lord wanted me to go in with today's post. So I sat here at my desk for awhile and then decided to just open up the Bible and see what He would give me. I asked Him to guide and direct to something He could teach me and something I could walk away with.

He delivered. (just like He always does).

I took the right corner of my Bible, pulled it back and opened up to Isaiah 41. Okay, seems like just as good of a place to start as any so I allowed my eyes to wander around the page a little bit but quite quickly, one verse just popped right out at me,

"For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not: I will help thee." Isaiah 41:13

Today, I am thankful for God's Word.

It's as though the Bible is a layered like an onion. When I first got saved, I understood enough to get saved but as I have grown in Him and learned from Him and as the Holy Spirit teaches me through The Word, some verses seem to become "uncovered" as time passes. I learn to appreciate the words in that Book in different ways and different depths as I progress in my walk with Him. No other book can do that.

I know I have read Isaiah 41:13 before. A few times actually. But tonight, when I opened my Bible up and asked God to give me something and He makes that verse pop off the page to me, well, that verse just got another dimension for me tonight.

He gave me comfort tonight, knowing that He is my God and He'll hold my hand....that is comfort, limitless comfort.

Take time

It's finally here! The month I look forward to the most! The other months are good...but there's nothing like November. It's my favorite kind of weather...a crisp chill in the air, temps that are perfect for a sweatshirt and jeans and nothing fits a November Saturday better than fresh-baked, homemade cookies.

Those are all reason why I love November but the biggest reason of all is because of Thanksgiving. I don't think that one single day is really truly enough time set aside to be thankful for all the blessings we have. So as I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of November and this subject of thankfulness, I began to mentally start my annual "List of Thanks". A few years ago, I started a list on November 1st and each day I would add 1 thing I was thankful for to the list. By the end of the month, I could look at a sheet spilling over with things that I am blessed with.

This year I plan to do the same and I am sure I will be sharing most of that list here but as this month was getting closer and closer, God kept bringing a specific story from the Bible to my mind. It's the story of the 10 lepers.

"And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

And one of them,, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and with a loud voice glorified God. And fell down on his face at his feet giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger." Luke 17:14-18

10 percent. That's it. Only 10 percent of the men who were healed from the terminal and awful disease of leprosy turned back to thank and glorify God. 90 percent were unwilling to thank God for what He did for them.

That thought astonished me this week. But to be honest, since God showed me and taught me from that passage, I have seen how unthankful we can truly be. I can unfortunately believe that 90 percent of us are unthankful. We find ourselves living in a society with an "I deserve..." mentality. We believe we deserve health, wealth, family, honesty, respect and love. Oh how mistaken we are for "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father" according to James 1:17.

We ought to be thankful just for God's mercy on us and the simple fact that He doesn't give us what we truly deserve. I found this story to be shameful. These men were given life back. They were "afar off" because when someone contracted leprosy and it began to overpower a person, they would lose limbs and other parts of their body and people kicked them out of the city, to the outskirts. If lepers did come near others they had to yell "Unclean! Unclean" as a warning for those around them.

I have a feeling that each and every one of these men who were healed were exceptionally happy. Who wouldn't be? They could go back to their families, they could hug their kids again and no longer did they have to worry about being unclean. But I bet the man who came back to thank Jesus, well, I bet he had the most joy because in verse 19, Jesus tells him, "Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole."

That man walked away not only a healed man, but a faithful man and most importantly, he walked away a thankful man.

One other thing I noticed about this passage of scripture is that it will takes time to be thankful. The man who came back to thank Jesus started out with the rest of the group but he came back. Maybe once Jesus said arise and go thy way, maybe that man caught up with the other nine. Maybe they asked him what caused his delayed arrival. I'm not sure but I do know it will take a bit of time to be thankful.

I want to be like that one man who came back. He came back alone but he recognized the need for his thankfulness. I don't want to take things for granted, especially those things which the Lord has given me (which happens to be everything!) So although I may not absolutely love my job day in and day out, I'm off to work and thankful that God has provided me with one.

Which group will you be in? Are you part of the 90 or are you part of the 10? Will you be found walking away with the blessing or will your face be planted at His feel, overwhelmed with gratitude?

"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him and bless his name. For the Lord is good: his mercy is everlasting: and his truth endureth to all generations." Psalm 100:4-5