Thankful Thursday

Thursdays seem to be sneaking up on me. I'm not actually sure where my weeks have been going. Time seems to be flying passed and I don't think that's a good thing. That means I'm not making the most of my days and not being grateful enough during the week. I've also found myself over romanticising things and places. Like these things and places will make me more grateful or slow my life down or be a better place for our nonexistent children to grow up and go to school or make my relationship with God a lot stronger. 

We've been talking about that in church, "my life would be better if..." Well, my life would be better if I lived in the kingdom of God now. That's the only "if" that can be applied. Because it is now.

Today has been kind of tough. Just a little. Due to certain situations at work,  I'm constantly under a microscope and  it's really exhausting. Just a lot of extra pressure that shouldn't be there and it's stressful. Then I find out that I've been working the wrong schedule. Not my fault, but still sucks. It's just one thing after another.

So after coming back from lunch to my student having a hard time and him telling me that he can't make good choices without me to finding out that I've been working the wrong schedule, mentally exhausted. 

And theeeeeeen Justin sends me this picture: 

 

So yeah, that hit me hard. Unbeknownst to Justin or that guy driving that truck, I really needed to see that. Also, Justin sent that earlier this morning and I didn't get a chance to read it until after all that. 

I hadn't even prayed. 

Well, I most certainly did afterwards.

I am so thankful that that guy put that on his truck and spreads the good news of the Lord to wherever he drives to. 

And that today, my husband happened to drive by him and take a picture and then send it to me. That guy is reaching so many more people than he can ever imagine.

Some other things I'm thankful for:

Cool morning air, especially when sleeping in the car before second service and while Justin plays first.

Gods beautiful earth, and watching the clouds go by, and thinking about how God made it and it was good.

A Saturday of reconnecting and silliness. My favorite times with Justin are when we're just hanging out and being silly.

Getting my tattoos finally finished! And the friends who hang out with me while Justin finished the inside of my elbow. Ouch!

Media fast, cuz who really needs Instagram?

When my student gets asked, "what'd you do over the weekend?" And he responds with "I went to a dance party.... It's a real thing, I went." Hilarious!

Or last week, he doesn't even say good morning to me, but rather asks me, "So coffee is just for adults right? Just water and juice for kids... No beer for kids right? Only adults. Just water and juice for kids." Hahahaha what the heck?!

Planting seeds and literally watching the grass grow, or watermelon or kale or tomatoes or pepper plants. I see the Lord so much in that. All we did was plant the seeds and water them and God does all the rest. He provides the sun and the cool evenings and everything that's required inside that little seed to make it sprout and is it silly that I think that's just absolutely beautiful? That looking outside at the grass that's growing outside and I get teary eyed thinking about how amazing our Lord is? Farming (of the urban sort in our case) can be an act of worship and is for me. 

Man, our Lord is so good.

What are you thankful for??

Love Chels

(Update: I definitely wrote this post Thursday, but for some reason I forget to publish until today [Friday]. Fail hahaha)

Thankful Thursday (On Friday)

Totally missed the boat on Thankful Thursday! My #angermanagement post was supposed to be the Thankful Thursday post, but just totally took a different direction hahha.

I am thankful for a lot this last week. Mostly for conviction, God really opening my eyes to the truth of the matter and helping me to adjust my attitude.

I'm thankful for Justin, who knew I was having some tough times and stressed me listening to the podcast. Not that the podcast was necessarily the answer to all, but that my husband saw the turmoil I was putting myself through and used the podcast to tell me to knock it off hahha.

I am thankful that there are parents that read and study their bibles with their children. How encouraging! 

Thankful for those students that we have that aren't good readers or don't like to read, but they'll read and can understand the words of the bible. That God says (in a student's words), I'm going to help you focus and understand. But not even just that, but when they don't understand, they ask.

For the coworkers that have become friends.

For friends that are encouraging and uplifting in the Lord.

For my student who today brought me strawberry wafers (even though they were completely crushed). He's quite the little turkey, but is also incredibly sweet.

I am thankful for the time that I got to spend relaxing and going out to dinner with Justin. We haven't done that in awhile and it was really nice getting to just sit down with him and reconnect.

And I'm thankful for our small group. I love those guys and the time we all get to spend together studying and talking about God's word. I'm especially thankful for the honesty and trust they we all share. 

It's amazing how a changed attitude can make a sucky week into a truly blessed one.

Happy Friday all!

Oh! This weekend Justin and I are taking a 48 hour media break and a Sabbath. Just spending some time reconnecting with other and with God. You guys should try it too!

Love, Chels

Thankful Thursday

This morning didn't start off so great. And by started off, I mean, as soon as I got to work. 745am. 

Long story short, I was yelled at because this person wanted me to do something I'm not supposed to do and I told them no. I may have been a little short with my response, but this happens all the time. And I don't like being put in situations where the person knows the answer to the question is no, but still asks anyways. So aggravating! 

Rather than being like, well I thought I'd try anyways hahha. Or just not ask the question, I was yelled at. And as soon as they stopped yelling, I got up and walked away. Literally. Out of the room.

I know that I work my butt off everyday, and go way out of my to be nice and I know that I didn't deserve that. 

How can I be thankful for this?

It sure is easy to be thankful when things are good! Or when you see a beautiful sunset or the breeze comes after it's been a freakin million degrees the last few days (obviously I way over exaggerated this and yes, I know that there's some place that's even hotter) or a moment to relax... 

But how about those tough things? Be it feelings of hopelessness or despair or you just got yelled at or you just can't seem to catch a breath...  

What's that phrase? Sometimes God calms the storm and sometimes He let's the storm rage and calms the child...

This morning, the "storm" raged. And I was calm (mostly, I may have made a couple comments that were unnecessary). But rather than yelling back or being mean, I got up and removed myself from the situation. 

Being thankful requires that in a tough time you take a moment to look back through a situation. I am thankful that I was able to stay calm and professional and that Lord provided me a way out. 

"And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." 1 Corinthians 10:13

If you would have put me in that same situation a few years ago, my reaction would have been sadly different. The difference between then and now, I can rejoice in the Lord!

Because first Jesus says to love God with all your heart and soul and understanding and then to love your neighbor as yourself. Those are the greatest commandments.

How can I be thankful? Because I can rejoice in the Lord! Because He loves me and wants to comfort me. Because with Him I'm not alone. Because in Him I'll find rest. 

It's amazing how when you know and feel these things, how stuff rolls off your back that much easier and ya don't take it personally. And how much easier it is to be thankful!

I know that there's harder things that people go through, loss of a loved one, depression, anxiety, nothing going your way... But all the answers can be found in the Lord. 

 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7

And know that these feelings aren't what the Lord has planned for you, be thankful for that! And that His plans are far better than any of your plans or dreams!

Anyways, so this last week and today I am thankful for:

-Seeing a friend get baptized! So proud of him!

-How it reminded me of the feeling of how I was on fire for the Lord when I got baptized and how that's such an amazing feeling and that I need to get back to that

-The youth group kids and their kindness and love

-Helping a friend with branding for her product and hanging out with her and her little baby boy (babies seriously are the sweetest and their laugh! Oh how it's contagious!)

-Rest when I needed it

-Sick days

-A coworker that's now a friend and loves God and that we can share each other's burdens, encourage each other and rejoice together! I tell you, this is a really wonderful thing

-Time, even though I definitely don't manage it well enough but did seem to edit almost all of the wedding photos from a couple weekends ago

-Love. I was editing the wedding photos and watching a tv show the other day and the couple gets married and they share their vows (and even though it's not real), all of that made me think about my husband and the love that we share and how our wedding was just perfect (minus the crying the whole day part. I was just so happy!!! I still am though! I could get teary-eyed just thinking about it. Sighh.)

Today was good, well, yes. Yes it was. Not to mention it was so much cooler today! Hope that lasts hahha. 

Thankful Thursday

This used to be called "The Little Things" but I figured all those little things that make me happy, are also the things that I'm thankful for -- and why not take what was just a little list and take it too a little bit of a deeper level. Not only that, but I'm really trying to honor God in all that I do. And blogging is another thing, that I do.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

-I am thankful for husband that loves me and a God that loves me even more.

-I am thankful that I'm able to pray, speak the Word of God and worship with the Lord out loud and thankful that there's men and women who fight for me to be able to keep that right.

-I am thankful for all the selfless people who gave their lives on 9/11 to save others and the people who came from far places to help search for missing people and clean up the debris.

-I am thankful that the Lord put that on their hearts.

-I am thankful for the family and friends I've been able to spend my 25 years of life with.

Dear Lord,
Thank you for all those things and so so much more. Help me Lord to be and stay grateful and forgive me for the things that I take advantage of.