Count Your Many Blessings

Name them one by one, Count your many blessings see what God has done...

That was one line of one of my favorite hymns growing up.  I am so blessed, and I know as do many of us, I take those blessings for granted sometimes.  This day, Christmas day, I want to reflect on all the blessings that I have, and some of those that I've lost so as not to take anymore for granted.

This year for Christmas, instead of getting my babies a bunch of toys and things that would eventually wear and tear, I decided to give them the gift of giving.  Together Jakob, Kayleigh and I created homemade Christmas cards and took them to our local nursing home to pass out to all the residents.  Each time one of my children handed out a card and told the recipient "Merry Christmas", I felt God's spirit in my heart swell up.  Not from pride, but from love.  I was so happy that my children were not only participating, but fussing about who got to hand out the next card.  Each person that got a card stopped what they were doing, and if their hands still worked, opened the card and read it right then. 

Many of the residents of the home no longer have relatives to visit them.  Some are all alone in the world.  I got to share my children with some very weary, loving people.  To see my children and interact with them made them smile.  The whole building got a card (even a few of the workers) and it might have cost a whopping 3 dollars in construction paper. 

Christmas isn't about what you spend, it isn't even about you or your kids.  Christmas is about God's son.  Jesus' life was giving.  He gave of his time, and he gave his life.  Make next Christmas about giving of something besides extravagant toys.  Show your children the true meaning of Christmas.  They won't forget it and neither will you.

God Bless Friends

I have been blessed to share parts of other people’s lives with them, sometimes for months, sometimes for years.  Many people have said they were my friends, but few I actually would call friends.  There are a few who will always be in my heart and have been a very influential part of my life.

My teenage friend, was my soul sister.  This young lady taught me things about life that I had never thought of learning.  She was my voice of reason and my angel.  Unlike some smarter than I in the Bible, I ignored my angel and she went away.  I followed the wide path, and she the more narrow.  I miss her terribly and wish if I could change one part of my teenage years, it would be that I would have told her how much I loved her. 

I have had many “friends” since her, but none that can compare.  None that truly cared for me just for me.  Not for what I could give them or do for them, just for me.  I thank God for the small window of time I got to have her in my life and want to say (if she reads this), that I am sorry I didn’t listen.

Now some friends you share time and space with and some you simply share time with.  Another friend is a man that I will most likely never physically meet.  Through “social networking” we met.  Completely different backgrounds, completely different people.  I just feel a kinship with him.  Like the awesome brother or uncle or…I don’t know just awesome.  He has a beautiful wife and a beautiful family and his words of kindness have brightened many of my days.  He is wise and a devoted father and husband.  I know we are destined to be friends a long time for no other reason then that his wife and I share the same favorite movie.

God places people in your life for a reason.  There is nothing in your world that is coincidence.  Take note of your surroundings, be thankful for the people in your life. 

God bless you both.

A Blog to Be Inspired By

Sometimes God places someone in your life completely unexpectedly.  Seemingly random, seemingly meaningless.  And then in awhile, you say “Ahhhh I gotcha now God”.  Today was one of those days for me. 
This morning I started off by working on my Experiencing God homework and this is the last week.  Day 3 of week 12 talks about your children and how they are yours for reason.  That each step you take with them should be led by God.  Never looked at it like that before.  Never thought of it like that before. 
When I first started this blog, I went up to the button at the top that says next blog, clicked it, and read over the blog I was brought to.  One of those “seemingly random” blogs was “The Daily Poop :)”.  Cute title huh?  Anyway, an anonymous poster wrote her a nasty comment about the upcoming child she is carrying, saying that she shouldn’t be having another when she is not in a financial place to do so and that she has children with special needs already.  Her response to that really spoke to my soul.  I believe that God placed her blog on my radar for this very important day. 
Sandy, I thank God for you. 

http://blessedfam.blogspot.com/

Use it or Lose it

Sometimes we go through life and we miss tons of opportunities that we don’t even recognize.  Today I think I actually saw one and took it.  Here’s the story:
This week (albeit the shortest school week ever) is my daughters week to be star student.  During this week the child gets to bring in photos of themselves and family, mementos and a special toy.  My sweet angel has a dolphin on her dresser and it is a cute statue, except for the broken fin.  She wanted to take it and me, wanting to protect her from ridicule, said no at first.  But then I remembered where she had gotten it from.  Here in Kentucky there is a special home in Casey County called the Galilean Home.  This is a very special place that was founded by a husband and wife (Sandy and Jerry Tucker).  Since they first felt God’s calling for this ministry, they have adopted hundreds of children from all over the world.  They take no federal funding and every penny they have is donated or earned from one of the businesses on or around the property.  One of these is the store where Kayleigh got this dolphin with the broken fin.  Sandy passed away and so now it is Jerry and his MANY children that run the home.  They have adopted children who without them would have perished in their home land.  Boys and girls with limbs blown off from hidden land mines, and many children with developmental delays have been adopted.  There is also a ministry called “Born Free” where the Tuckers take in babies that are born in prison or babies that have mothers in prison and take care of them (free of charge) until the mom gets out or the child turns 18.  Isn’t that awesome?  That is God’s love.
So without a mini lightening bolt from God, reminding me of a way I could help my daughter be witness of God’s love, an opportunity could have been lost.  I wrote a letter for her teacher to read to tell why she bought this dolphin already broken and where it came from.
God gives us opportunities to share His love daily, we just have to be aware of our lives enough to see them.  Below is a link to the Galilean Home website.  Please check it out.

http://www.galileanhome.org/