Just 10 Things…Out of Hundreds November 24, 2009

A friend and I were recently talking about Thanksgiving and about the many ways that God has blessed us this year.

This month I turned twenty years old. And in those twenty years, God has so blessed me! Too many times to even count! And one point my friend and I had been discussing was just how dissatisfied and unthankful we can become, when we don’t get what we want, or things don’t turn out the way we had planned. So I came up with the idea for this post to find JUST ten out of the hundreds of things that God has blessed me for this year. And some of those ten things are to be things that I didn’t necessarily count as blessings  at first…often, God will bless us with something and we don’t view it as a blessing. Instead we sigh or groan over it, until later we finally see that it really was all for our best interest and that it was a blessing, not a curse! My reminder to you all, in this time of Thanksgiving, is that God’s plans for you are blessings! He never does anything that is not in your best interest! He’s a caring and a loving God who just LOVES to fill our lives with blessings! Don’t you think it would be nice to actually recognize all those blessings?? To thank Him for them? Even if they don’t seem like the “normal” kind of blessing, or even if they seem like a tiny thing…thank Him for it! God loves to hear your thanks and appreciation…He loves and welcomes your love!

 

10 of the Blessings I’ve Receieved or Am MOST grateful for This Year…

1. My family. It’s true that soo many people say “my family” around Thanksgiving. But how many people say it with all their heart and truly mean it? My family isn’t perfect…they all annoy me to no end! BUT. I am not even close to being perfect, myself! And my family has to put up with ME as well! They see my “bad side” every day. They have to put up with my odd quirks, my hyperness, my talkative nature, my enthusiasm for my likes and dislikes, my crabbiness, my early-morning complaints…believe me, the list keeps on going. :/ Now, I’m not saying I should take all that for granted nor that they should HAVE to put up with all that. BUT. I am so thankful that my family loves me enough to DO that. Thankful that my family loves and cares enough to actually LISTEN to me, to HEAR me, to support me in my pursuits, to encourage me in my walk with God…I take my family and their love for granted.God has bless me by putting me in a large, Christian family. A family who WANTS to pursue Him, and a family that forgives…That is a great, great blessing from God!

 

2. Music. I love music. Period. lol. GOd certainly blessed the world when He created music! Beautiful sounds to please us! There’s not a SINGLE day that goes by

where I don’t listen to SOME music! Music is a daily part of my life! But it is NOT something I should take for granted! God has blessed me with the ability to hear and appreciate all those beautiful sounds! He has blessed so many people with great talents so that they can share them with the world. He has blessed so many Christian artists and the message they proclaim, and I’m especially thankful for that! There have many NUMEROUS songs that I have learned something from! And although I never had a genius talent for playing music, God allowed me to take…oh, what was it? 12 years? of piano lessons. Twelve long years. I took those lessons for granted so many years, and found the practicing difficult and boring. But now I see them for what they truly were: BLESSINGS. Even the practicing…it was all a blessing! And so, I thank God for the blessing of music!

 

3. Photography. The ability to capture a beautiful moment, a beautiful smile, a happy memory…God certainly blessed us the day that He gave the wisdom to the inventor of the camera! I am passionate about photography, and many of you know how I want to pursue photography. And here’s one thing I take for granted…my passions! God has blessed me with the ability to feel passionate about things! He has given me the ability to pursue my interests! And so far, He has blessed me in my pursuit of photography! I wanted to take a class at a local college this fall, but I wasn’t able to, due to my schedule. Instead. God brought along an opportunity in the shape of a 4 week, FREE class at the library. It wasn’t the most detailed class ever, but it was basic, easy to understand, and fun altogether! I learned so much and God opened the door and blessed me with being able to attend the class! I thank God for the blessing photography is.

 

4. Prayer. I’m the sort of gal, who when has a problem, likes to rant about it. Either to my family, or a friend, in my journal, etc. But, I’ve learned what a blessing prayer is. I can go to God 24/7 (not even the bestest friend is THAT available!!) with any, single thing I have on my mind. And not only that, but I can tell Him ANYTHING. There some things that I can’t confide even in my closest friend, but I CAN tell God. And it doesn’t even matter that He knows all already! He is never too busy, never too tired to listen! He is always there! And He is there to hear and reply. To listen and sympathize. To help me grow and learn! Prayer is another daily blessing that I take for granted much too often!

 

5. Freedom. Yes, yes, I know how our country has changed (and not for the better) so much over the years, but there’s one thing I can still be thankful for. Today I am still free to read His Word, to study it as much as I want, and to grow in Him. And that is one thing I certainly take for granted! I don’t read or study in His word, nor follow Him as diligently as I should. What happens if I lose that freedom someday? There are so many countries out there, where the people do NOT have freedom to follow God! This is a blessing I need to take and USE! Not just take and HAVE.

 

6. His timing. Yes, His timing is a blessing! It has been one of the things I really learned this year: that HIS timing is best! Many of you heard how I got to meet one of my most dearest friends for the first time ever this year. My family and my friend HannahBeth cooked up the best birthday surprise ever. HannahBeth was able to drive up for my birthday party and surprise me. It was a shock, let me tell you! And it was one of the best presents I’ve ever received. HannahBeth and I have known each other for quite a few years now…and we had been DYING to meet! lol. Even though we had never met in person, I’ve considered her one of my best and closest friends almost instantly after we first started writing. And we nearly got to meet this past summer. We had a plan to meet, and we were beyond thrilled! I was counting down the days and thanking God for finally allowing us to meet! Then. Those plans changed. We wouldn’t get to meet, after all. That was HARD to accept cheerfully. I was disappointed more than anything! I wanted to complain to God, and I kinda did. Then. I began to  pray: “God, obviously, it wasn’t YOUR timing. I can’t undestand why You didn’t allow it to happen, but I know You have our best interest in mind. So God, let it be in YOUR timing, and not MINE that You allow HannahBeth and I to meet.” I had to realize that God’s timing is TRULY the best…and it was. Meeting HannahBeth the way I did, was better than I had ever thought it could be! I got to have her at my birthday party!! I got her as a birthday SURPRISE! What a blessing God’s timing TRULY is! And while it may seem like OUR timing is best, don’t be let down! God’s timing is REALLY best of all!

 

7. Friends. I canNOT write this post without mentioning how I have some of the BESTEST friends ever! God has brought so many SPECIAL and WONDERFUL people in my life! There was a time, where I felt like I didn’t have very many close friends…only a few good pen-pals. And only a few who I actually considered to be CLOSE to me. (Besides my family, that is. ) Then God slowly began to bring these wonderful, special people in my life. I’ve had my share of hard friendships…friendships that started out well and ended badly. Friendships that ruined through disagreements and debates. But God blessed me with friends who love, encourage, sympathize, and help me! I wish I could name them all here! Because they are so important to me, but I shall have to restrain myself and save it for another time! But you girls know who you are! I LOVE you, so very, very much! You mean so much to me. And I’m afraid I take you all too much for granted! I can never say how much I appreciate and love you all! <3

 

8. Rain. AHA! Here’s one of those things that I don’t always like to admit is a blessing! I’m not too fond of the rain. I’m a sunshine-and-puppies kind of gal! I LOVE warm sunshine and blue skies! I really don’t like the wetness, the gray skies…BUT. The rain IS a blessing. Imagine how boring life would be if EVERY day was sunshiney and warm? I wouldn’t appreciate sunny days as much as I do if it weren’t for the rainy ones. And the rain helps bring about the beauty I see outside…it waters the flowers, the green grass, green trees that I LOVE to see on those sunshiney days. And those sunshiney days would NOT be as beautiful and sunshiney if it weren’t for the rain! So yes, I thank God for the blessing of rain!

 

9. Chocolate! lol. Yes, my beloved chocolate! I often joke about how chocolate is a life-line, not a candy. God has blessed me with the ability to taste and savor this delicious candy! (Yes, yes, I said candy. ) He has blessed the world with different and DELICIOUS flavors! Imagine how life would be if everything tasted the same! Ugh! I canNOT imagine life if chocolate tasted the same as oatmeal! *shudders at the thought* So yes, I thank God for taste buds, for flavor, and for chocolate!

 

10. Love. More specifically, HIS love. Yes, I know this is probably another thing that is OFTEN said during Thanksgiving, but I can’t let this post go by without saying this. I take God’s love for granted every single day. Every single time I rebel against Him, every single time I do something wrong, say something horrible, do anything that goes against what He says, He forgives me fully and completely if I just say sorry and repent. Imagine life without God’s love…there’d be nothing to live for! Life is not worth it without God or His love! He does so much, HAS DONE so much for me! I take for granted everything He does for me and I just want to take this day to remind myself that God is WORTH my thanks. He is WORTH my love. He is WORTH my effort to follow Him. He is WORTH EVERYTHING and MORE.

 

Don’t take life for granted. Don’t take love for granted. Don’t take family for granted. Don’t take GOD for granted!

“Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.” I Chronicles 29:13

Let’s THANK God! Let us SHOUT out to the world that HE is WORTHY to be praised! Thank Him for everything He has DONE!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!