Thankful catchup

My poor sad neglected blog. There there (pat pat pat). I really had great intentions with this thankful project, however, it is flat impossible to get on the computer some days for longer than a hover facebook posting update. And by hover, I mean, hovering over the desk, without pulling out the chair, or sometimes typing one handed because my small child doesn't want to be put down but I just.have.to.update.facebook! I don't have a fancy internet phone so I can't just update facebook where ever I am. I can only do this task from the desk computer-- isn't it so funny how we've turned into this updating status society?

Anyhow, I'd like to post a big update. I sort of feel I owe it to myself and to the blog and the blog world. I mean I said I'd post daily and say what I'm thankful for each day. But in truth, I find myself having to really think hard about "what else" I'm thankful for ... the big ones, the ones I'm most thankful for, I am thankful for those things every single minute of every single day...

My God.
My Jesus
My Family
My Parents
My Husband
My Children
My Sister
My Husband
My Jesus
My Best Friend
My Mentor
My Church
My God
My Savoir
My Maker
My Father
My Boys.....

Catch a theme here?

So it's funny to sit and think "what else am I thankful for?"

There just is so much.
-I'm thankful for my house.
-I am thankful that my husband doesn't really mind with whatever I want to do to the house.
-I'm thankful for my husband working from our home.
-I'm thankful for the new office he has.
-I'm thankful for his job.
-I'm thankful for his parents being close by and desiring to be part of our lives.
-I'm thankful for my Thursday morning Bible Study and that my mother in law goes with me!
-I'm thankful for the scriptures I have all over our homes.
-I'm thankful no one has told me to my face they think I'm crazy with all the scriptures painted and pinned up all over our home.
-I'm thankful for our garden, as small as it may be, and the desire I have to learn how to grow things. I look forward to enlarging it next year!
-I'm thankful that Mark goes to a preschool that teaches about Jesus!
-I'm thankful that Matthew has a solid foundation and is taking his Jesus to his school.
-I'm thankful that both the boys desire to learn the Word of God and memorize it. I'm praying that they hold to that for all their lives. (Ps 119:11)
-I'm so thankful for the sweet kisses and snotty noses and hugs and tickles and diapers to change. How empty my life would feel without my children. They are my world. I am thankful for each day God lends them to me.
-I'm thankful for the ability to stay home with my kids, even though things are tight and there doesn't ever seem to be enough money, God continues to provide for us and bless us day in and day out.
-I'm thankful for the things we take for granted until something breaks: working heat, running water, working washing machine, etc...
-I'm thankful for my camera to be able to capture all the moments of my kids' changing and growing up that I can possibly can. (I'm not thankful that Micah threw it on the floor the other day and it's in pieces right now--but I am thankful for duct tape!)
-I'm thankful for so much. God is so good.

God is so good.
God is so good.
God is so good.
He's so good to me.

Life is hard. Days can be long. There are many tasks to do each day. I told a friend recently in an email message that I am tired and worn... there are always socks to fold, phone calls and emails to return, dinner to make, a toilet to clean, etc... and I long for a day when I will be able to just sit at Jesus feet and sing praises to Him. This side of Heaven though, I'll be singing while I fold socks, pants and underwear. I'll be singing while I clean that toilet. I'll be singing as I do the dishes or make the dinner or drive to and from carpool.  I'm so thankful for the gift God gave me of the desire to sing. Nothing makes me happier than singing sweet praises to my Savoir... well, maybe besides hearing one of my children do that very thing. God is so good to His children. (Rom 8:28).  So we press on.  We fight the good fight. We make mistakes. We cry. We learn. We try again. We apologize. We hug.  We forgive. We sing. We pray. We keep going. I think of Dori in Finding Nemo a lot with her "just keep swimming. just keep swimming."  I mean seriously, what else have we to do, but just keep swimming?!

So I will keep swimming and keep being thankful.

The Joy of the Lord is my Strength

Does anyone know this old hymn, we sang it at church yesterday?

The joy of the Lord is your strength. (I love how it goes “The joy of the Lo-o-o-o-rd is your strength.” It’s fun to sing)

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

He heals the broken hearted and they cry no more.

He heals the broken hearted and they cry no more.

He heals the broken hearted and they cry no more.

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

He gives me living water and I thirst no more.

He gives me living water and I thirst no more.

He gives me living water and I thirst no more.

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

The Pastor's text:

Nehemiah 8:10-12

¹⁰ Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

¹¹ The Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be still, for this is a holy day. Do not grieve."

¹² Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.

Remembering that God does not owe me one thing, I also have to remember that the JOY of the LORD is my STRENGTH. Continuing in Pastor’s series this week was joy. Last week was love… I have been thinking about what he said last week about love… You can't have joy if you don't first have God's love within you. You can't be truly happy and full of joy without Jesus. ... You can't have peace if you don't have joy and love. ... and so on. It builds on each other. And it has to start with love.

Well, this week was joy. The points of the message were (1.) that we have an enemy of joy… the devil of course. He’s ready to steal and kill your joy. The devil hates who we are in Christ Jesus. No one can take you out of your Father’s hands, but he (the devil) can TRY to steal your joy, which will result in the loss of your strength. We need to keep our focus on HIM during our trials…

We sang “Blessed be Your Name” I love the line “You give and take away, you give and take away, my heart will CHOOOOOOSE to say, Lord blessed be your Name” It is a choice! And we can choose to wallow in our sorrows, or we can choose to say that it is hard and it is sad but the Lord is still good and His mercy reigns forever! We can CHOOSE to say Lord BLESSED BE YOUR NAME…

Back to joy… (2.) the example of joy…. Remember that in Isaiah 55 it says God’s ways are higher than your ways. Also remember in Psalms that it says the joy comes in the morning. God wants us to find our joy—in Him! In Nehemiah chapter 8, the scribe Ezra stood at the wall of Jerusalem and read the scrolls of the first five BOOKS of the Bible from morning until midday… and when he did so, the people gathered around, stood and listened ATTENTIVELY. Could we say that today? Could we listen attentively, while someone read from the scriptures for HOURS???? We get itchy after an hour long church service where we’re sitting most of the time…. You know what they did after he was done reading all that time? They were convicted and they wept be/c God was talking to them. And they were told NOT to weep or mourn, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Remember that GOD Is your strength and the only way to get to know MORE of HIM, is to be MORE in the WORD.

(3.) The entirety of Joy… remember that Satan is ready for you to lose your focus. He wants to pull at you until you are focusing on the bad, dwelling on the bad… But Phil 4:8 says Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. We’re supposed to be thinking on the Good things. Not the bad. We tend to dwell on the bad things but we’re called to “Seek first the kingdom of Heaven” and there is nothing BAD about that! Pastor asked “why is it that we let absolutely awful thoughts into our minds and hearts that have no focus on God and His goodness???” (I don’t know!,but I’m so guilty of this!) He also said that he doesn’t know how much we can control what pops into our minds, but we can control where the spotlight shines. … Pastor also gave us some strategies…

1. Memorize Scripture. This isn’t for little kids only. It’s our job to keep God’s word hidden in our hearts (Ps 119:11). It’s when we can pull out our scripture in dark times that can keep us focused on God and the good

2.Personalize Bible Passages. (I’d never heard this before… but it’s pretty neat)

Ex) God gave His only son so that Kate Hobbs will not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Ex) The LORD is near to Kate Hobbs who has a broken heart (Ps. 34:10)

Ex) Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid, for the LORD they God will not fail Kate, nor forsake Kate. (Deut 31:6)

3.Affirm God’s Goodness! God is GOOD and He does all things for good! Tell Him so! Tell yourself so! The joy of the Lord is your strength

During the alter call, I found my heart pounding as Pastor was praying. Where has my own joy gone? I'm letting it wallow away. I felt a tugging in my heart yesterday as though Jesus was tugging at me, saying come back to me. Find your joy, Kate... it's in me.

Thank you Jesus for being my joy. The strength of my joy!