A Month of Thanks: Day 8

Psalm 30:12 "That my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever!"

After church, there are always so many things to say that I am thankful for...but I will stick to my two for the day.

1. My Parents: I am so thankful for the family that God placed me in as a child. I was blessed to have two amazing people as my parents. The radiated the love of Jesus to me as a young child. My parents weren't just "Christians", they were lovers of Jesus. They displayed this love in so many different ways. There are certain memories as a child that stick out in my head. Memories include my mom teaching ladies English at church, helping out people whenever they could (blind ladies, homeless, etc), and ultimately, opening their home to children in foster care. The last one probably had the biggest impact on me. Although there were some difficult days including catching lice a few times and adjusting to having strangers in the house who were taking my mom's attention away from me, it also taught me that I had so much to be thankful for in life. I was blessed beyond my understanding. I didn't have to worry about not having family, or having family that abused me. Some of the cases we saw broke my heart. Who would hurt a baby and break their bones? My parents showed not only strangers the love of Jesus, but it displayed it in real ways to us. Because of the impact their actions had on me, I am attempting to teach my kids some of these same life lessons. I want them to experience some of these same things so that they can see just how much they are blessed. We have studied about orphans, the homeless, children of prisoners, and others that may not have everything that we have. We not only study about them, but I want them to get out there and experience it first hand (see a homeless person digging in a dumpster, seeing pictures of orphans in Sudan who have been through hell and yet have a deep joy, dropping gifts off at someone's house who doesn't have a gift under the tree until we bring them gifts-when we have too many under the tree). It is my prayer that my children develop a deep sense of thanks for all the God does for us and how He has blessed us. It is also my prayer that as a family, we continue to share the blessings God has given us with others.

I'm also thankful that my parents exhibited what a Biblical, strong marriage looked like to me. My parents taught us the importance of marrying the right person and praying for that person. I wanted to emulate my parent's marriage because they faithfully displayed a godly marriage. Thank you for being such a godly example to me in so many ways!! And thank you for the godly advice before I got married (like not talking about serious things late at night, not going to bed angry, and most importantly, not having the word divorce in our vocabulary). Thank you for exhibiting a deep love of Jesus to me!!

2. In-Laws: Many people when they say the word in-law, there is a lot of negative stories, hostility, and resentment. I am thankful for two wonderful in-laws. Wayne's parents are very special to me. I'm thankful for the man that they raised in Wayne. I'm most thankful that they faithfully took him to Sunday School where Wayne eventually met Jesus, who truly transformed Wayne into the man he is today. Thank you for loving me and welcoming me into your family. You are two very special people in my life and I'm glad that my children have two sets of wonderful grandparents!! 

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Wayne has his MRI Tuesday morning at 8:30. Please be praying for us...for the results and for peace. We know that God is in control, but we still appreciate extra prayers!