Thanksgiving 2010 has come and gone. All of the leftovers are in the refrigerator ready to be enjoyed all weekend:) I do love the leftovers! This has been a different Thanksgiving for us because we are home but we aren't home. We have been blessed with the privilege of enjoying a friend's lake house. It has been incredible to wake up to the view of the lake, watch the girls have fun on the jet ski, wake-boarding, and sleeping out on the porch in their awesome bed-swings and of course watch the gorgeous sun-sets at night. The weather has been splendid. Mark has been sick this week but he has been great to let us still enjoy being here on the lake. I love him so much because it is definately not fun to be sick and then to not be in your own home.....I am thankful he is such an awesome husband and a great daddy, he is always thinking of his girls.
This week has been great to read outside listening to the water and feeling the breeze that comes off the lake. I love being close to the water, I always feel a deeper, uninterrupted conversation with God because I think Jesus liked to be close to water too. All throughout the gospels we read about conversations Jesus had near water.....He taught people on a hillside by the water, Jesus found His disciples by the water, He walked on the water, He calmed the storm on the water and he cooked fish for His disciples on the sea shore and one of my favorite conversations was with the woman at the well in John 4. I have so much to be thankful for!
Here are a few of the many things I am thankful for.....
1. My ever deepening relationship with Christ.....I am not the same woman that I was 1yr ago, a month ago or even last week. I am not completely there yet but I am a woman on a journey of learning who I am in Christ. We are finishing a 40 Day journey as a church- Life's Healing Choices, Freedom from your Hurts, Habits and Hang-ups and it has been life-changing for me. I feel like I am waking up into this new woman but it also saddens me because I think of all the years wasted in what I thought my life in Christ was supposed to be about. My life has been on auto-pilot for so long that I am finally discovering what it really means to renew my mind daily as it says in Romans 12:1-2-"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
I am admitting that I am not God and that so many times in my life I have tried to be in control. I cared more about my performance and outward appearance than I did about truly "being ready to give an answer for the hope that is within me." 1 Peter 3:15. God is not here to worship me, to mold Himself into somthing that will help me fulfill my level of comfort. Part of the problem is I want spirituality to be more close than real. I settled for the patterns of the world or even my view of spirituality. My life is a mess, I am spiritually poor and completely unmanageable without Him. The truths I have learned in this study will help me establish new habits of daily and annual evaluation time with God. To continue to maintain growth physically, emotionally, relatioanlly & spiritually.
2 Corinthians 13:5-9 (MSG) - "Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don't drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. I hope the test won't show that we have failed. But if it comes to that, we'd rather the test showed our failure than yours. We're rooting for the truth to win out in you. We couldn't possibly do otherwise.
We don't just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you. We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives."
2. Mark....God definately knew what He was doing when He chose you to be my life partner. For the past 21 years you have loved me and believed in me and have inspired me to be a better person. To be the woman that God designed me to be. We have grown together and I wouldn't trade one day of our journey together. I love that you are my man and I love waking up every morning next to you, I love our traveling adventures, convertable rides, walks on the beach, ice-cream, chocolate and drinking hot black coffee together (just the way God created it:-) I love you and I am thankful to be your wife:)
3. Emily and Katie...I truly am thankful that of all the mommies in the world God chose me to be your mommy. Both of you are amazing young ladies with an incredible future ahead of you. I am so proud of both of you! You have added so much joy and love to my world. You girls are so far ahead of where I was at you age and I am honored that you invite me in to your lives and are willing to partner together for our growth as women. I love you Emily and I love you Katie:)
4. Our families.....I am thankful for my mom & dad and for all that they invested in my life over the years. They taught me about Jesus and His faithfulness and instilled a servants heart in me. I'm also thankful for my brothers and their families, even though we do not see each other very often I love you all. I am also thankful for Mark's mom & dad because with out them I wouldn't have Mark. Thank you. Also, I am thankful for Mark's brother and sister and their families and pray the Lord's richest blessings over their homes. I will try to stay better connected on facebook:)
5. Our Hope Family......wow, where do I even begin. I am so thankful to celebrate our 2yr anniversary this weekend with the birth of Church of Hope. So many of you have loved our family as part of your own. You have loved on our girls, prayed for us, baked delicious goodies for us, invited us into your homes, guided us in the right direction for some of our home repairs, shared Gator tickets with us, allowed us to enjoy the many blessings God has blessed you with. But even more than that I am so thankful to be apart of the story of Hope. Watching a group of people yield their lives to something greater than themselves and be apart a movement in Ocala that is truly partnering with people to discover Hope in Christ....they are not just talking about it or memorizing a cool logo.....Hope is making it real. Church of Hope is a special place, it is not a perfect place but it is a place filled with people who are discovering what it really means to follow after Christ free from religion.....our chains are gone we are singing of His amazing Grace......He is our Hope!
I am thankful that God is God and I am not. I am thankful that He loves me unconditionally and that I do not have to be pefect just humble. He is writing the story of my life.....I can't wait to see what this next year holds as I continue to sty connected to Him and trust Him each step of the way.
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