Entertainment

So Monday nights have become my "tv nights". It's the one night where from 8:00pm-11:00pm I take a break from whatever I am doing and watch three shows I love. How I Met Your Mother, 24, and Damages. Sometimes you just need a break and Mondays are my indulgence. (There's others too, but these three shows are some of the best!) So tonight I wanted to just say that one of the blesses I have in my life has to be entertainment. There are just those times when I need to "not think" and need to escape into someone else's life and world. Some time just to laugh and enjoy. So that's my blessing tonight :)

Rest

This entry is for yesterday, one of the blessings I experienced yesterday was rest. Rest from a busy weekend and past week where circumstances caused me to question and seek answers. It's so nice to have a day when I can just take a break and sleep and "escape" from reality some.

Free Will

I am thankful for free will and the freedom to choose what to do. While I believe that there are absolute truths and a right way to live I am also aware that God has given us a choice. While, I don't always make the right choices and sometimes ignore what I know in my heart is the right answer or move to make I am thankful that I serve a God who knows that I am not perfect. While his forgiveness does not excuse my sin it does make it possible for me to be made right with him. There are times when I just want God to intervene and tell me what to do or fix the problems in front of me, but that would be taking away our free will and choices. God gives us free will so that we can have a relationship with him and converse with him. It really is an amazing thing to think about-- that God loves us so much that he wants to be in a relationship with us even though he knows we will not be the perfect friend and may make some major mistakes down the road. Actually he even takes it farther by promising us to walk through our mistakes with us and see us through to a brighter tomorrow. So today I am thankful for free will because it's through my imperfections and choices and circumstances that I've come to really know and rely on God. Oswald Chambers wrote that it is through our circumstances that God talks to us, and I would have to agree.

Family

Tonight family weighed heavily on me. I am truly grateful and blessed to have a wonderful immediate and extended family. I spent the day with my mom and grandmother and tomorrow (or rather later today since I'm writing this at 1am) I have a memorial to go to for uncle who passed away unexpectedly. There are too many reasons to list why I am thankful for my family right now and maybe later I will try to, but tonight I am thankful for each member of my family.

Even though there are still some very uncertain and potentially big challenges that I might have to face, I have to say that today was a good day and God's faithfulness endures. Today was a good day and I can honestly say that I did not feel stressed out about the things that I can't control and the "what might happens" and I was and am blessed to be able to spend great enjoyable days with my members of my family. Again, all of the the joy I am able to experience is only made possible by our God who loves and not only walks alongside us each day but carries us when we need to be help. I believe he also sends people, like our families, to support us and help us and to serve as a reminder that God is with us. It is my prayer tonight that I don't forget this and take the blessing of family for granted.

Peace

The first thought that comes to my mind is that I'm just thankful to have made it through another day. Today's blessing for me is God's peace. It's knowing that no matter what the future brings that I can have peace about it and not waste my time worrying about it because in God I find peace. It is in his presence and in a relationship with him that I can find rest.

One of my struggles I deal with is "not knowing"-- not know what could happen, not knowing enough to make an educated decision, not knowing enough to prevent something detrimental from happen or to put in motion the things for something good to happen. Over the last year especially I have wrested with giving up control to God and what that means in a real and tangible way. It's easy to say "I'm giving my burdens over to God" but if I still worry about the outcomes and future I don't think it's really giving them up. While, I will may never be able to give the things that cause me to worry or cause anxiety in my life over to God completely and never think about them again, I am learning how to have peace about situations that are out of my control by giving them over to our great Lord. I also think that when we "give things up to God" that are troubling us means we are supposed to never think about them again and go about our lives as if they don't exist or nothing has happened. Rather, I believe when we give up those things it's allowing God to enter into the situation and walk alongside us and take away the doubts and alleviate our fears.

My closest friends will know that my last couple of years have been filled with challenges, tragedies, victories and defeats, joyous occasions of celebrations, and that if I had somethings to do over I would probably choose some things to change. However, as I reflect over the last few years I can honestly say I love my life and I have been truly blessed by our Lord and by those around me. While it hasn't always been the easiest road or most certain and easiest to navigate (and for someone who likes to be in control, uncertainty can be hell), it has been filled with love and countless blessings. So today I can say with absolute certainty that I have been blessed to know God's peace in times of uncertainty and when that it is what gives me hope for tomorrow.

Grace and Forgiveness

So today and really yesterday's blessing is God's grace and forgiveness when it is extremely undeserved. It is only by the grace of God and Christ's sacrifice that we can even come before the Lord and ask for help and believe that God is listening and sharing in our prayers. It is only by his grace and forgiveness that I can even begin have hope for the future.

Each day it seems I can turn on the news or pick up a news paper or even log on to Twitter or Facebook and have a reason to feel hopeless. There's an earthquake in Hati, war torn countries, and any number of other problems. With all the talk about a hope for a brighter tomorrow and need for change surrounding us today, I've recently been reminded that real hope only comes from God and the only reason we can even begin to hope and partake in his blessings is through his love for us and the grace and forgiveness he extends to us because of his love.

A Blessing A Day

Each day I'm going to start recording a blessing from the day for the next year. There are any number of things to complain, worry, or wish we could change everyday. I find myself sometimes feeling overwhelmed with the things I cannot change and at times to the point of letting these sometimes big but often little things weigh me down through out the day.

The other day something happened and I found myself somewhere I haven't been for awhile-- literally on my knees before the Lord in prayer. As I was praying and asking God for strength, wisdom, and his protection and basically dwelling on the bad and troublesome things in my life I was reminded about how many blessings and great things God has done for me and around me.

A number of my friends have blogs and while I like reading and catching up on their lives through theirs, I've never really been a "blogger". I started this blog to just share some of the blessings in my life and give me more of a reason to remember and record God's blessings each day.