What are your thoughts on cultivating a heart of thankfulness?

Relief for the moment!

Ok, so I started the day out horribly overcome with bitterness and anger. No joke. If you think this a little dramatic, my husband will plead with you otherwise. With my burst of anger David gently said to me this morning, "Babe, will you go get into the word."

I must say at this point, my heart was actually desiring some time with God, in hope that some relief be in sight. As I read Ps 42, I felt understood. David, or the Psalmist was crying out to God about his circumstances. His soul was heavy.

"Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God."

It is pure hope knowing that my circumstances are not forever. This is only temporary, and God has a plan for my life. He is using this time to root out sin, grow my faith, teach, discipline and also using this time for his plan! My new favorite saying is, "Anxiousness is rooted in unbelief, and unbelief in the ignorance of who God is!"

Now, I say all that to say, today has been fairly relieving for me. My husband and I have spent the day together. I have received two packages of mail from my mom, and one from my best friend, Megan! Do you know how glorious this is?! David and I are also going to some friends' house tonight for dessert. This makes me excited! I know I must not find joy in these things, my joy is found in Christ alone, but to know that people love me, and that God is using these people in my life to help relieve me in my time of need overwhelms me! In this season of my life, I am grateful for the little moments.

How to organize meals for a family in need

Ok so for real I just found the best thing ever!!! If you are trying to organize meals a family, this is the best website ever!!!! I know some of you peps will be needing this soon!!! Here is a website that was sent to me for our care group leader who is about to have a baby. This is just an example of how awesome this is!!! Love you wonderful planners!!! Let me know what you think!

Organize friends or family meals: here

A Snow Prayer by David

"Lord, you left a little frozen dust this morning,

for some reason that's above me.

Some of it got on the driveway and the roads,

so it's a bit more difficult to whoa and go.

I don't really mind, though, knowing how much planning this took-

It's beautiful, white, and pure, like a metaphor.

And if we sit at home for a little bit,

you would show us how you're so magnificent."

Confession is good for the Soul!!!!

So, many of you (the three of you who actually read my blog) know that I have been doing a study on Psalms. This morning I was reading 38. The words, "I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin." This morning, I spent time meditating on confession. I see my sin in abundance, but lacking ever more is my confession! I must have believed confession does nothing, for to see my lack of it, reveals the reality of my belief, that it is not important. But, I must say, God's grace revealed otherwise this morning.

Charles Spurgeon says it like this: "... the accusations of his conscience he admits. Open confession is good for the soul. When sorrow leads to hearty and penitent acknowledgment of sin it is blessed sorrow, a thing to thank God for most devoutly. My confession shall be salted with briny tears. It is well not so much to bewail our sorrows as to denounce the sins which lie at the root of them. To be sorry for sin is no atonement for it, but it is the'right spirit in which to repair to Jesus, who is the reconciliation and the Saviour. A man is near to the end of his trouble when he comes to an end with his sins."

"It is well not so much to bewail our sorrows as to denounce the sins which lie at the root of them." Wow!!! This is a revolutionary statement for me! I don't need to mourn over the fact that I have spent this whole week complaining. That my sin is too great, and just wallow in it. No, he has called me to search out the depths of my heart to find the root of the sin, confess it, and proclaim God's salvation through Christ!!! God has rescued me from my sin! He has overcome through the blood of Jesus!

He says in I John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness. "

I think that by getting the root, confessing, and claiming Christ, God uses that to make me more like him! "Confession is not atonement", as Spurgeon puts it, but is sanctification, and is "good for the soul."

So, in this season of my life, though the sorrow is many, and sin abounds, I shall call this season blessed, because it brings me ever to my Saviour! Praise Him!!!

Questions to ask for 2010

(These questions helped me figure out some of my goals for this year!)

1. What's one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

2. What's the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

3. What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?

5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

8. What's the most important way you will, by God's grace, try to make this year different from last year?

9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?

10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

My Precious!!!!

I love her so much!! There is a special place in my heart for this little one!!! ~LYRIC~ The second love of my life!