Posted in Faith, Family on 02/09/2012 10:02 pm by CC
I spend a lot of time in my van, and I pass much of it by listening to my favorite Christian music artists. K-Love radio and Sirius XM’s “The Message” are the only stations that I tune into on the radio.
When I’m in the mood to control the songs that I hear and create my own playlist, the 30GB hard drive integrated into the van’s entertainment system gives me the ability to listen to music for days without ever repeating a song. I belt out the words to song after song never tiring of what I’m hearing. I sing my heart out; don’t want to hold out on songs of praise and worship, you know?
When the kids are riding around town with me, they don’t hold back on their self-imposed Idol judge roles. Shouts of, “Mom, you’re off key!’ and grumbles of “Oh, there she goes again!” are common. I just laugh and keep singing!
Despite the constant mid-row heckling that I get from two of my very opinionated offspring, I sing out loud as often as the Spirit moves me to do so. I cannot be shamed into silence. Now, I could choose to heckle the kids in return as they are singing, but I’ll just let them be and join in on the moment!
Today, I am thankful for being who God made me. While He’s still encouraging me, shaping me, teaching me, emptying me of myself, and filling me with more of Him, some aspects of who I am are exactly as He wants, and I do believe that He wants me to sing as if no one were listening.
Father,
I praise You for making me comfortable enough to sing out loud songs of praise even when the kids are listening. Especially, when the kids are listening. I pray that the time that I spend with the kids is full of moments like the ones that we laugh about now. I pray that these experiences will become etched in their memories forever. I ask these things in Jesus’ name, Amen!
I don’t have the patience to mix up a batch of homemade cookies, so I’m a huge fan of ready-to-bake cookie dough. During the holidays, I baked the usual variety for the kids to decorate: gingerbread and sugar cookies. Being in the midst of the magical season and wanting to do something different, I tried a new flavor: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut. They…were…heavenly! Just the right amount of white chocolate chips (I’m not a big fan of any kind of chocolate chips, so this was a bonus) and enough macadamia nuts to taste in every bite.
So, as I was speeding through the grocery store a few days ago and picked up a package of dough, it didn’t occur to me to check out the brand label. Big mistake! I learned the hard way that not all refrigerated cookie dough is made of the same caliber.
What I ended up with was a batch of cookies that, according to my personal preferences, had way too many white chocolate chips and did not have enough nuts. They were a huge disappointment. The package should have been labeled “White Chocolate Chip Cookies” and in that case, I would have moved on…
The moral of the story is that, sometimes, brands do matter. In this case, Pillsbury is the clear winner. Sorry, Nestle!
Do brands usually matter to you? What are some exceptions to your personal rule?
Like many teens, I had life all figured out and had a plan for every step of the way. I knew what undergraduate and graduate schools I would attend. I knew that I wanted to work with others to “get experience” before opening my own office. I knew what kind of early-career and late-career vehicles I wanted. I knew that I wanted children. I knew where I wanted to live. Summarily, I knew it all and my plan was the best laid. Nothing would derail even the smallest portion of my track. This life-planning thing was a piece of cake!
I thought I was the author of my life. I thought I could do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted with no help at all. I thought that my plans were so great, that there would never be room for improvement.
Speed bump. Hurdle! Screeching halt! What happened? My plan was the best ever conceived. Surely, my goals were worthy of being reached and in the way that I planned to reach them. Right?
Not exactly.
My plan was way off course and I knew that it wouldn’t be easy to steer it back into the direction in which I wanted to go. Confident that I could move mountains, I buckled down and brought new energy into my life’s plan. Life was all about what I wanted for myself and my family and I was going to make make it just the way that I wanted.
Nowhere in my road map was there a place for God. In other words, God had no role in forging plans for my life.
But, scripture reminds me that God knew who I was before I existed, and that He had plans for my future.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knewyou, before you were born I set you apart.” Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
Through the many storms when I called out to God, He answered. I wasn’t always able to see or hear His responses, so I often thought that my cries for help went unheard or unanswered. But I now recognize that He always hears and He always answers. Nonbelievers believe in gut feelings, instinct, and intuition. I believe in discernment – the ability to clearly understand what God is telling me. I believe His promises. I believe that He is faithful. I believe that He pursues us. I believe in God’s plan for me.
Heavenly Father,
I am thankful that You relentlessly pursued me even as I called out to You for help, but didn’t fully believe that You would hear me or provide answers. Despite having leaned only on my own understanding and making plans that did not include You, You were always with me. I am thankful that You helped me to understand that You are my life’s Author and that Your plans are perfect. As each layer of Your plan for my life is revealed, I am in awe at how You have moved me from where I was to where I am now. My hindsight is Your foresight. Please help me to lean less on myself and more on You.
In Jesus’ name, Amen!
CC
Lyrics
From where I’m standing
Lord it’s so hard for me to see
Where this is going
And where You’re leading me
I wish I knew how
All my fears and all my questions
Are gonna play out
In a world I can’t control
Oh, oh
When I’m lost in the mystery
To You my future is a memory
Cause You’re already there
You’re already there
Standing at the end of my life
Waiting on the other side
And You’re already there
You’re already there
Oh, oh, oh, oh
From where You’re standing
Lord, You see a grand design
That You imagined
When You breathed me into life
And all the chaos
Comes together in Your hands
Like a masterpiece
Of Your picture perfect plan
When I’m lost in the mystery
To You my future is a memory
Cause You’re already there
You’re already there
Standing at the end of my life
Waiting on the other side
And You’re already there
You’re already there
One day I’ll stand before You
And look back on the life I’ve lived
I can’t wait to enjoy the view
And see how all the pieces fit [x2]
One day I’ll stand before You
And look back on the life I’ve lived
Cause You’re already there
You’re already there
When I’m lost in the mystery
To You my future is a memory
Cause You’re already there
You’re already there
Standing at the end of my life
Waiting on the other side
And You’re already there
You’re already there
After a day like today, I am reminded of how blessed I am to have health insurance. It’s easy for me to forget how many uninsured and underinsured people live on the edge in fear of an event that could literally bankrupt them. As I write each copay, it usually doesn’t occur to me that the rest of my bill is paid by my insurance company, because my employer and I pay premiums.
Flu symptoms don’t send me into a panic. Muscle spasms aren’t as worrisome as they could be. Prescription drugs and quality healthcare are within reach. Generally, I have no daily worries about access to healthcare, and for that, I feel blessed beyond what I deserve.
Father,
I feel truly blessed to be able to obtain adequate medical care for myself and family. I praise You for reminding me just how blessed my family is. I pray that I am never so content with my own situation that I forget about the plights of others both near and far.
Also, I lift up the family of a good friend as they anxiously await tomorrow’s surgery to repair blocked arteries of their young daughter and sister. I pray that You will guide the doctors’ minds and hands as they work to reverse the heart disease from which she suffers. I don’t know her healthcare coverage situation, but I pray that she recovers without the worry of major medical bills that typically follow lifesaving surgeries such as what she will receive tomorrow. I ask that You comfort her family and provide for them in a way that only You can. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
If you’re a fan of Dave Ramsey, or have taken his Financial Peace course, you may be familiar with what he describes at the “four walls”: food, utilities, shelter, and transportation.
Having plenty of food, working utilities, a roof over my head, and a vehicle for getting out and about are today’s reasons for thankfulness. To use the cliché, “in this tough economy”, I feel blessed to have all of these things. I am grateful that my family doesn’t know what true hunger is, does not have to live by candlelight (unless there is a weather-related power outage), have a safe place to sleep at night, and are able to go places whenever we have schedules to keep or just want to travel.
It pains me to drive by the handful of empty homes within one block of my home. Places that provided shelter to friends and classmates of my children. Homes where owners tended to landscaping and waved as I drove by them. Buildings that now sit dark and empty. I can’t help but to wonder about the families and what their lives are like now.
Father,
Thank you for allowing me to be in this place that I comfortably call home. My heart is heavy for neighbors who are no longer nearby. I pray for their safety and that they are able to build up their four walls with You as their foundation and shelter. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!
It’s been a super day. It began with a moving and emotional pastoral message, followed by an enriching Sunday school class during which my husband volunteered us to perform a skit unbeknownst to me. The class verdict on our performances is that they were Oscar-worthy. Who knew we were closet Thespians? After services, we collected one of our teens who’d returned to church from a weekend retreat, gathered the rest of the crew, including my youngest daughter’s BFF, and went on a family outing to a local skating rink. What a fun time and sweat-inducing workout! Hopefully, I burned off enough calories from lunch to feel less guilty about taking the easy way out – pizza for the third time this week!
Today is day five of a month of publicly expressing thankfulness for random things. Today’s random gift for which I am thankful? My love for football. As I sit here now watching Superbowl XLVI, I can’t help but recall memories of countless Sundays in the living room surrounded by the sound of whistles, play-calling, celebrations of victory, and sneers of defeat accompanied a larger than life figure who filled a room with his mere presence – my dad.
My mom is a football fan, but there is just something about watching the game with Dad that brings forth fond memories. Perhaps it was the range of emotions that he showed. Or maybe it was the couch coaching for which he was famously heckled by us kids. Maybe it was the fact that he knew exactly what was going on in a game; I couldn’t have named a play if it hit me in the head. I don’t quite know the exact moment or reason that I became a fan of football. All that I remember is that football reminds me of my dad and I am a huge fan of his. I can’t speak of the sport without thinking of him. I can’t think of John Madden without picturing my dad yelling at the television as superfluous X’s and O’s covered the screen.
Dad has been in Heaven for nearly twenty years, but as I sit here watching the Superbowl, I can vividly imagine him sitting next to me coaching from his heavenly seat. Today, I am thankful for my love of football, because it means so much more to me than a game.
Father,
Thank you for blessing me with a dad whose love for You was great, whose unconditional love for me still warms my heart, and whose love for football is the reason I enjoy the game so much. I know that Dad is in Heaven looking down on me and smiling as I recall fond memories of him. Football brings me as close to Dad as any other memory from my childhood. I pray that something I do with my children will bring about the same kinds of fond memories when they think of me. Please keep the players in today’s game physically safe and mentally alert. I pray these things in Jesus’ name, Amen!
Four days into a month of thankfulness and the list of things from which to choose is still quite lengthy. My fourth reason for thankfulness is as much a blessing as the others, which means it’s quite a big deal to me.
As a parent of four children, it took quite a few years to get to the point where my husband and I could go out on dates for a couple of hours without the need for a sitter, but we have now arrived at that point! We can’t do overnights yet, but we’ll take whatever we can get. We are by no means a wild and crazy couple, so you’ll never find us painting the town red in a club or bar. You’ll rarely even spot us in a movie theater for a matinee, let alone an evening showing.
Instead, you’ll find us dining at a local restaurant in the early morning hours each Saturday. It’s not about the food as much as it is about spending quality time with one another, in a relaxing setting with no interruptions, well, except the server, but that’s to be expected when you’re dining outside of home.
I am thankful for the opportunity to spend every Saturday morning out on a date with my husband. I am grateful that our children can take care of themselves for an hour or two before calling one of us about some kind of non-crisis that they’re having. As each successful date goes by, the length of time that we will spend away from home will expand. One of these years, we just might be able to go out at night and paint the town until the roosters crow. 😉 Until then, Saturday morning is “date night”.
Father,
Thank you for allowing me to have Saturday morning dates with my husband. I am thankful for the quiet time that we have during which we are able to pray together for our family and friends. I feel blessed for being able to shut out the busyness of our schedules and just focus on one another in a way that’s difficult to do at home. I pray that you will continue to bless our family and the friends for whom we pray and help us to sense your presence wherever we spend our Saturday mornings. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
There’s no big buildup to today’s message of thankfulness. I’ll get right to the point. I am thankful for the amazing man whom I call best friend, confidant, and husband.
He understands me. He works hard to maintain a wonderful marriage and to be a great dad. He works hard to provide for our family. He is caring. He is funny. He is kind. He is loving. He is patient. He is my hero!
I love that he frequently shares the Gospel with his clients, plays Christian music in his stores, and invites customers, family, and friends to attend our church. He takes seriously the command to make disciples of others. The Great Commission isn’t just a string of words for him; it’s his mission.
Father,
Thank you for blessing me with an amazing husband, best friend, and father to our children. I pray that you will keep him safe as he travels each day for work and as he spreads Your Gospel.
I love weekends. Especially long, holiday weekends. One of my favorite times of the week is sometime around 5 PM on Friday, because I have the whole weekend ahead of me to do as I please. Some weekends consist of spending quality time as a family. Some are full of running errands. When the mood strikes, some weekends are overtaken by home improvement projects. Let us not forget about the weekends that are filled (mostly) with me sitting on the sofa being the biggest bum that I can be. As a former Type A personality, this is an art that I’ve learned to perfect in recent years and I must admit, it feels great to relax a little. Live a little!
While I love a long weekend or vacation, today, I am ever so grateful to be employed. In recent years, I’ve fallen out of love with my career, but now have a renewed sense of pleasure in it. I made it through January without any serious gripes. That’s major!
Maybe it’s the economy that makes me more grateful than ever. Or perhaps the broken ties to a negative associate have given me new energy. Maybe it’s a little of both. However, I like to think that the biggest reason for the change in my attitude is Him. He has been
working on making me more content with where I am and what I have. He’s also been telling me to do everything that I do to His glory.
Today, I am grateful to be employed for a company that allows me to be creative and provides the flexibility that working moms desire.
Heavenly Father,
Thank you SO MUCH for providing a job that I wasn’t even seeking fifteen years ago. It has been an honor and pleasure to share with others the story of my life of which You have authored so amazingly. Only You knew that the door, which was opened door so many years ago would lead me to where I am today. I praise You for infusing me with a renewed spirit to do everything that I do in such a way that it brings glory to You. While I often stumble, I am always thankful for and overwhelmed by Your presence in my life. I pray for continued refilling. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
The month of November is the time of year when many of us remember to be thankful. We try harder to truly focus on the things for which we should be grateful. Some of us even post daily messages on our favorite social networking sites, so that others can see how appreciative we are. I’ve never had the urge to publicly share daily messages of gratefulness…until now.
I’m always grateful – even during the times when I grumble about one silly circumstance or another. But something washed over me this morning. Literally! So, here I am, sharing a message about something for which I am more grateful than words can describe. It may seem silly to some, but it is a genuine gratefulness for being able to do something that most people on the planet, and to a smaller extent (but no less important), people in this country, can’t do…
…wash their faces in warm water that comes from a faucet with a seemingly endless supply.
Washing my face in warm water is a privilege that I don’t think about often enough. Stopping to remember that the world is filled with people who desperately need clean water for drinking and for hygienic purposes makes me recognize how truly blessed I am.
So each day this month, I’ll share a prayer of thanksgiving, much like the one that I said to God as I cleaned my face this morning.
Dear Father,
Thank you for supplying the warm water that I had access to this morning. I understand that something as basic as this is not within easy reach of others, so I do not take it for granted. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Follow the links below to see just how blessed you are if you have full-time access to running water.
