30 Days of Being Thankful - Days 2-4

I don't want to go all cliche here.  I think there is the obvious - "I'm thankful for my kids...dog...cat...family...friends...home...etc."... SO, here we go...

Day 2: I'm thankful for being self-employed!  Woot!  While it means more work, headaches, heartaches, and stress...it also allows for freedom to do things my way!  That, I love.  I love being able to spend days playing in and working with things I thoroughly enjoy.

Day 3: I'm thankful for genuine friends.  I can honestly say, I am not the kind of friend that makes phone calls to check in or anything of the sort, but if you need me - I'll be there.  I am blessed with friends that check on me...I'd honestly be in trouble if it weren't for them.  :)

Day 4: I'm thankful for my son's daddy.  He's a wonderful daddy and they are blessed to have each other.  While he may have missed the first several years of little man's life...he is there now and that's what matters.  I can tell me son adores him and that in itself makes my heart overflow.

Okay, that's it...day 5 will be here...tomorrow, maybe?? 

30 Days of Being Thankful - Day 1

First, let me begin by saying, I generally don't do this, but if there is something I have fully realized in this last year - I HAVE LOTS TO BE THANKFUL FOR!  Sometimes, I have had to remind myself of what I have to be thankful for, just so I wouldn't focus on the things that make me want to cry, kick, scream, and come unglued!

Second, the things I am thankful for will be in no particular order.  Mostly because I could just see me saying one sister before the other and oh. my. stars! ...you can just imagine.

Now then...

DAY 1:

I am thankful for Grace.  I'm pretty sure I could sum up all of the things I am thankful for with that one Word.  In some way it envelops everything I have and do and have done.  If it weren't for the Grace of God, I would not have made it through this last year, let alone this last week.  And, very likely, not even today.  My God is bigger, My God is greater, My God is higher than any other ... and boy-oh-boy, "thankful" is an understatement when it comes to the Grace he has provided for me.

I'd tell you what I've been through this last year - the mistakes I've made, the tears I've cried, the fights I've had, the "unglued" moments, etc. - I'd tell you, but none of it matters, because God's Grace has wiped it clean, He has given me a new slate and a new way to look at things...and He'll do it again tomorrow.

“Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

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Thinking Thoughts On Unglued (The Prisoners)

*To those just poking in, I am reading "Unglued" by Lysa TerKeurst as part of an online bible study group.  Many of my blogs are responses, thoughts, etc. to that book.  I highly recommend the book...especially if you ever come "unglued".*

 I was reading in chapter 3 (“The Prisoners”) where Lysa was talking about her mess of a closet, when I looked over at the pile on my bed.  Ha.  Just this morning I had picked up all of the clean clothes that my closet had vomited on my bedroom floor and threw them on my bed.  Just this morning I said to myself, “Self, when you get home, you will clean up this mess – or you don’t go to bed”.  Clever, right?  I thought so.  So, as I sat in my bed, with the pile of clean clothes next to me and even resting on my feet, reading…I looked over and laughed.  I related to Lysa more than words could properly express.  

So, I read on about “David” and how sources had said that “(Michelangelo) never left his David.  For more than two years he worked on and slept beside the six-ton slab of marble whose subject called to him from inside the unchiseled places”.  I looked over at my “David”, it definitely needed chiseled – to be honest, it still sits there, needing chiseling.  Thank heaven it is not a six-ton slab and honestly if it starts talking to me from the inside, I will just have to reach in and figure out which child I buried under there.  However, my “David” expands beyond my closet and bedroom, and overflows into my house, car, work, etc.  My “David” has wore me out, physically, mentally, and emotionally.  It has been my embarrassment and at times, I’ve defeated it, only for me to realize it still needs maintenance.

I am the single mother to three very active kids.  I also work full-time, in addition to dance classes, speech classes, church, etc.  It’s not easy to have a spotless house, it’s not easy to have a clean car, it’s not easy to have an organized desk, but it’s not impossible.  It may take time, but each day I can take a moment to chisel away at my mess – and in ALL areas of my life.  While I allow God to “chip away the stone that doesn’t look like” me, I also know that God has given me the ability to know what a child of God should look like and the ability to do something about the chaos in my life.   

This is the part where I set the book down, the part where I close the computer, the part where I send the kids outside to play basketball, and I get to chiseling.

A Quick Intro To Me

Aaaaiiiigh!  A new blog.  It's been a while since I've done this sort of thing.  Hopefully I can stay somewhat consistent and keep the blogs coming.  I suppose I'll start with a proper introduction...

I am a single momma to three kids.  Ages 3, 8, and 10.  Boy, girl, boy.  I work full-time and while I love my job, currently I feel like throwing my arms in the air and kicking and screaming about it. 

I've also recently found myself frustrated as a single mom, searching and so desperately wanting a group of women to be a part of...a group of women to interact with and talk about God!  HOWEVER, finding that when you have kids, can be quite the task.  I don't have a babysitter on hand at any given moment; I also don't have a break from the kids, until the Summer.  SO, I began an online search that led to a site called (in)courage.  I honestly can't tell you how I got there.  I know I was searching twitter, reading blogs from links on twitter, and boom! I was there.  The site was for me!  Well, it was for women, in general, but it was for me.

Apparently, I entered the site just in the nick of time.  I clicked on the "community" link, read about how they had started a new groups deal on facebook and you could join one or more groups that fit your life.  Options included singles, artists, bible studies, and more.  Could this be for real!?  YES!  I found a group of women, having a bible study...online...together...miles apart...reading the same book...discussing!!! 

Long story...a little bit shorter.  The book we are reading together (apart) is called "Unglued", it's by Lysa TerKeurst.  I ordered my book on Wednesday, was told I'd receive it in two weeks, but got it on Friday!  I began reading this morning and kept reading and reading and reading. 

I plan to post one more blog today about something I had read in the book...many of my blogs will likely have much to do with the book.  Hopefully, I will actually keep up with this bloggin' thing...again.  :)