1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Give thanks in ALL circumstances. I needed to hear this verse tonight. The past few days have been challenging. Our circumstances are not always what we want them to be, and that can be difficult. God is using experiences around me to further refine me and mold me. In the past week I have learned about a friend entering hospice and another friend's daughter finding out that her cancer is back. I feel like cancer surrounds me and the darkness of it has filled my mind too much the past few days. As I sit here reflecting on things to be thankful for, I can't help but be thankful for all of the things that God has been teaching me on this journey. He continues to teach me more every day! As I said months ago in another post, I have to keep my eyes fixed on God. If I pay too much attention to everything around me (all the negative cancer stories, all the worries of life, etc), I start to drown. I have to keep my eyes on God as Peter did when he first stepped out of that boat. Full trust and surrender, with my eyes fixed on Him!!
Okay so here are the things that I am thankful for the past few days:
1. I'm thankful for a washer and dryer that allow my family to wear clean clothes. When I see how other people around the world have to wash their clothes, it makes me thankful for the few buttons I have to push! This leads me to #2.
2. I'm thankful for all the clothes that we have. We could probably go at least a week or two without doing laundry and have plenty of clothes left to wear. God has abundantly blessed us.
3. I'm thankful for the homeschool music class that my kids attend. I love their teacher Mrs. Vroom! She teaches them about composers, how to read music, how to play chimes, and my favorite part is that they learn to appreciate and love traditional hymns. I love hearing my kids walk around the house and sing songs like "Holy, Holy, Holy" and "Rock of Ages". I also love how once a year they go sing to the elderly at Autumn Leaves.
4. I'm thankful for children's imaginations. One of the many things I love about teaching my kids is seeing them have freedom to learn in different ways. This year we have been using skits/plays as part of our history/Bible time. Here is a skit the girls "performed" for me tonight. Grace is not in this one even though she wrote the skit because she had a meltdown while they were practicing it. Abigail stepped in as the narrator. (Update: I can't get the video to load, so a picture will have to do). If you want to watch it, you can come over. The skit ends rather funny because Naomi accidentally breaks her "staff", which is really my webster for cleaning up spider webs. The look on her face is hilarious when she realizes what she did.
Creative outfits from their clothes. Naomi figured out her outfit by looking on google. She was looking at a picture from "The Ten Commandments".
5. I'm thankful for books and board games that other people have recommended to us. I love to read to the girls, but sometimes finding the right book that all of us will enjoy is difficult. We are currently reading the Wingfeather Saga book #1 "On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness". The girls love this book and want me to keep reading when I reach the end of a chapter. I just bought book #2 on cd so that we can listen to it on our next road trip. We have all really enjoyed this book, including me. (Don't tell the kids, but the suspense was driving me crazy, so I read the book all the way to the end). Another thing we recently added to our collection is a game called Labyrinth. We just played it for the first time tonight and it was a big hit.
6. I'm thankful for the telephone. I love that I can pick up the phone and call my mom, call a friend, call Wayne, or call my sisters. I love that the girls can pick up the phone and call their grandparents, cousins, friends, etc. Although I still love getting snail mail, I'm glad we don't have to wait for the mail to hear how others are doing.
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Wayne is doing well. He is getting stronger every day. We are looking forward to a low-key Thanksgiving just as a family. Some good food, board games, and making memories as a family!!
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