The other day, I was talking with my dear friend Ashley about certain things people do during the month of November (IE no-shave november, write a 50,000 word novel November, 30 days of thanks november, etc) and after our conversation, I was greatly encouraged to spend some time each day during the month of November and think about what I'm thankful for. Also, I would like to record those thoughts on my blog. Knowing how hard it is for me to find time to sit down at my computer every day, I doubt I will blog daily. But I hope to blog semi-daily and record my thoughts this month. :o)
So., here's the start to my "30 days of Thanks"
November 1st- On Sunday, I was so, so thankful that Andrew, Jasper, Brody, and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary of living in Georiga. What a blessing it has been to be here. We love it here and we're so thankful the Lord brought us down here. Not only did our sweet Savior bring us down here, but He has lavishly provided for us while we've been here; Andrew and I are so thankful and we had a sweet lunch with Mom and Dad Meade on Sunday to celebrate.
November 2nd- Monday, I was so thankful that Brody didn't cry at all during his nap or nighttime sleep. For the past week or two, he's been rather ardent in his crying and it hasn't been easy to live with. My theory is that he's weaning himself off of sucking his thumb, and he's had to learn how to fall asleep without sucking his thumb. He hasn't been sleeping well, due to the lack of thumb, so now he was over-tired, WAY over-tired, and he couldn't figure out to soothe himself. Which led to him being mad. On Monday, however, he slept perfectly. No crying, no whimpering, no screaming, nothing. And I was so thankful!
November 3rd- Tuesday, which is today, I've been so thankful for so many things. I can't possibly narrow it down to 1 thing. I was talking to dear Ash at lunch and told her my "thankful thing" for today was ladies bible study. LBS is such a treasure to my heart. I'm learning so much about my dear Savior and so much about the intricacies of the Bible and how so much foreshadowing happens in the Old Testament. I've also been learning so much about my awful, wicked sinful heart and how much God hates sin. I've been learning so much and I treasure it greatly so I thought for sure my "thankful thing" for today would be LBS!
But then, this afternoon, I just had the sweetest afternoon with the boys; they were so cute and such great little helpers at church and great little shoppers at Krogers and very patient while I was carrying in groceries and unloading them. They were so obedient when I gave them instructions and really joyful in their obedience and sharing well with each other and just so cute. My heart could barely handle how precious they were. So then I thought for sure my "thankful thing" for today would be God's precious gifts of Jasper and Brody.
But then during this evening, I was getting quite tired and the boys were still being precious but also quite energetic and Andrew's gone till 11:30 tonight and I feel as though I single parent quite often during this stage of life and today was turning out to be a rather long day of single parenting (I think the fact that it got pitch-black during supper dampened my mood tonight. We normally always go out to play outside after dinner but now we're kinda stuck inside) and I was getting rather tired. And this is what I'm most thankful for today. This, coming up, is my "thankful thing" for today.
I could feel myself getting cranky. I could feel the self-pity coming on. I could feel my impatience growing with the boys and the temptation to turn on an extra show for Jasper "just to get him out of my hair". I could feel all these ugly, wicked things growing in my heart, and the Holy Spirit stopped me dead in my tracks and started speaking truth to my heart. He started bringing precious Scripture to my mind and He set my eyes on Christ, the author and perfecter of my faith. The Holy Spirit got a hold of my heart, convicted me of my sin, reminded me that no temptation will ever overcome me, and by His grace turned me into the mom that He wanted me to be tonight. He helped me to speak of Christ and His plan of redemption to Jasper and Brody while we were building a mountain out of pillows. He helped me to joyfully help Jasper with his random project of building a "garden flag" in the pitch black outside, even though I was internally struggling with impatience. He helped me to be encouraging and patient and thankful with J and B as they joyfully "helped" me make dinner, which resulted in triple the cooking time and less-than-fantastic egg & ham sandwiches and a very sticky kitchen floor. He reminded me that the dinner-time spills didn't matter but their worried eyes gazing up at mine, to see how I was going to react, did. He helped me to respond kindly and with love when I needed to correct Jasper and discipline Brody before bedtime, even though I was facing real temptation to yell and tell them how inconvenient their disobedience was to my life. He helped me to put them to bed well and truly lovingly hug and kiss them goodnight and answer their questions and look for Jasper's flashlight and Brody's crab, even though there was real temptation to leave them to fend for themselves and curl up in a fetal position under my bed with a bag of Cheetos and watch Netflix for the next 14 years.
The Holy Spirit gave me grace. He gave me endurance and strength when I was weak. He gave me Scripture. He reminded me of the importance of J and B's hearts and the insignificance of a chaotic kitchen and sticky floors and a weird garden flag and a mountain of pillows on my living room. He is my ever-present help during times of trouble, and tonight was one of those.
So today, my "thankful thing" is definitely the Holy Spirit.
"And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it,' when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left." Isaiah 30:21
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