Thankful

I have really enjoyed reading about all of things people are thankful for over the past month.  I think it's really cool how we can challenge each other to post about things that are positive.  I wish I could say I am as thankful all year long as I am during the month of November, but, as much as I wish it were true, it simply isn't.
Correction- I wish I was aware of how thankful I should be all year long.
I wish I could be thankful this much when I am sad, mad, or tired.  I wish I could be thankful this much when life is hard and I feel like God is a million miles away (even though I know he's not).  I wish I told all the people I love how much they mean to me all year long.
I am always, always, always thankful.  I know the source of my thankfulness comes from Jesus and that all I have is from Him.  However, me being me-I forget January through October to be truly grateful.
SO, I am challenging myself to be grateful-this grateful-all the time.

Thanksgiving this year was just wonderful.  I don't know if it was because it was our first Thanksgiving in our house or what-but I felt like a real adult for the first time ever. Last week was a short work week and we only had school Monday and Tuesday (Score!).  Tuesday night we had our church dinner and it was nothing short of a huge huge blessing.  I am so thankful for our church family.  There are times when I imagine living somewhere else, but I always come back to our church family-we could never live without them.  They are home to me and the first/only church family I've ever known.  I was able to sit and talk with a woman from our church that I have never had the joy of really talking to.  It was so wonderful to learn from her and hear her heart.

A few weeks ago in Sunday school, we were reading from 1 Thessalonians 5 (which we studied in college but surprise, surprise, I forgot it all):
¹⁶ Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  Do not quench the Spirit.

Okay, I get the first sentence-I may be really bad at it, but I get it.  "Quench the spirit"?  What does that even mean?? After learning what it meant, it realized, WELP, I do that a lot.  The spirit leads me to do things and I flat out refuse to do them.  Horrible.

So anyway, as I was talking to this woman, I had this strong urge to pray for her...  right there at the table.  I had had the urge before, but I never did anything about it.  This verse came to mind (thank you Jesus for your Word!) and I started almost chanting in my head Don't quench!  Don't quench!  We got up to leave and, in the midst of my quenching (more like dousing), I asked this woman if I could pray over her.

Um, are these words coming out of my mouth?  I see people do this all the time.  Praying is not hard.  Why do I fear it?

Whatever,  Get over yourself and pray for this woman! is what I heard in my head.  I think my heart was about to burst from my chest!  We prayed and it was awesome.   I will remember it for the rest of my life.  Do you ever get that feeling?  That feeling of knowing you are doing exactly what God wants you to do at that moment- ahh,  There is no single greater joy than that.  I hardly ever experience it (I'm working on that part!), but when I do, it's huge.

I don't mean to share that to make you think I am holy-bah, far from it-just to testify to the work God promises to do in us.  He is working hard!

Wednesday Daniel got off work early and we were able to spend the afternoon out together.  I love that man.  We also went with our church fam to see fireworks at the lake to Christmas music.  We looked like homeless people eating chili, hotdogs and smores, warming up over grills in the dark.  So fun.

Thursday we spent allllll day with Daniel's family, which I always adore.  I am so thankful the Lord prepared me for and for me a family that I feel I've always been a part of, even before we met.  Sounds weird, but I promise it's true.

I did not go Black Friday shopping, but organized my craft/gift closet instead:

From...

 You'd think we were expecting with all of that baby crap.  Boppy "models", clearance clothes, fabric everywhere!!

 I am a total bag lady- bags and bags and bags of fabric and notions.

To...

Ahh, so much better.  Those drawers were full of sewing scraps and junk that I had neglected for two years.  They were filthy from 2 rounds of moving, so I decided to finally put them to use.  Still full of baby clothes, but that will change in January!

Saturday Daniel and I were total fatties and barely left the house (Daniel didn't.  I took a few boxes to Goodwill and got groceries).  We watched 2 entire seasons of Big Bang Theory and scarfed half a batch of no bake cookies.  Pathetic.  =)

Today church was great, as usual.  I learned that 1.  I love hearing bible stories being told like a children's book, as opposed to being read (both have their strengths!) and 2.  I need to read more.  My Father in law was paraphrasing Job and he moved on-I leaned over and said to Daniel, "Sooo, how does it end!?!?".  I felt stupid not knowing (and he looked at me like I was crazy), but thankful I have a husband who teaches me continually.

We went out to lunch with some good friends and will have our 6th and final Thanksgiving with my brother and his wife tonight.  Thankful to soon eat something besides turkey and mashed potatoes, but looking forward to the last 3 weeks of the semester and more family over Christmas.

I am so thankful.  Really, full.  Almost to the point where I am waiting for something bad to happen because life really can't be this good, can it?
I will trust that no matter what lies ahead for us, good, bad, blessing, or struggle, our God loves us enough to bring us through it, teaching us along the way.