Thankful

I have been thinking about thankfulness alot lately. I think when November comes around it's tradition for me to start thinking about how thankful I am for the many blessings in my life. Throughout the 10 years Ivan and I have been married, thankfulness was not always my strong point I have to admit. There were alot of years that I focused solely on the things that I didn't have and how my life could be better. The Lord took me down a tough road to show me all that I had to be thankful for. 3 years ago I can remember picking up a book entitled "Surrender" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss to read for a small group I was in. I didn't know what was about to hit me when I opened that pretty little purple book. The first time I picked it up to read it I only got maybe 2 pages in and threw the book across the room and swore to never pick it up again. Can you tell I had a little bit of an issue????? Now I can laugh about it, but then I really struggled. Here is an excerpt from "Surrender" that I really love :

When it comes to uncertanties that keep us from sacrafice, surrender, and slavery to God, we, like Abraham, have "exceedingly great and precious promises" from God's Word-promises that powerfully counteract our deepest fears. If we trust those promises and the God who has made them, we will be given courage to make each sacrafice He asks of us. If we do not trust God's promises and, therefore, do not step out in faith and surrender, we will ultimately find ourselves in bodage to the very things we refuse to surrender. We will end up being controlled by that which we are seeking to keep within our own control.

You may be thinking what does that have to do with being thankful??? Well, for me it went hand in hand. I couldn't truely be thankful until I surrendered all of my wants and needs to the Lord. Not that I have perfected that ;) But 3 years has gone by since I first read that book and it has a profound affect on me still. I have learned to be thankful for all the small things in my life and for the big things. There will always be things in our lives that could be better and there will always be things that I think I "need" but ultimately God knows best. He wants the best for me!!!! That is one of his precious promises!!!!!! Not one day has gone by that I don't thank the Lord for my home, my husband, my kids, my cars, my church, my family, my friends. There will always be someone out there who has more than me and there will always be someone out there who has less than me. I am sooooo happy to be in a place where I am content with what the Lord has blessed me with. I don't ever want to repeat the road it took to get here but I am BLESSED!!!!!

"This is the day the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!"