Psalm 95:2

"Let us enter His presence with Thanksgiving" 

Psalm 95:2

This photo was taken in October, the day we went to a small pumpkin patch. I remember how special this day was because Clara was with us. The bright sun made it about impossible for her to open her eyes, but we did it. It felt so good to look and see all four of us together, just so great.  

Thanksgiving is tomorrow. I am trying real hard to embrace it with a heart full of gratitude, but Jason is working and we will have leave Clara with her nurse just for a short while so Madeline and myself can eat lunch with a house full of family. My decision to let Clara stay home, was one that was tough to make. I tried to talk my self into it, but with soo many people, not much room for her to play,  and with the cool damp weather I don't want to chance her getting sick. 

Maybe it's just the thought of having to leave her again at home, or with the recent diagnosis...my grateful heart just seems sad today.

I searched ahead to tomorrow's devotion from this month's "Journey" magazine looking for something to fill me up. 

It talked about having a "God has been GOOD Radar". 

Excerpt from magazine. page 39.

God wants his people to proclaim our thankfulness to him, not because He in anyway needs to hear it, but because we do. He knows this truth; Gratitude is like a set of new lenses. The more we wear it-the more we thank Him. The more we start to see His good hand in our lives. 

Difficult things will be present. We can't escape things in this fallen world. But even still practice thankfulness. Gratitude is not ignoring the pain of life; it's helping us to see God's goodness within it. 

God knows that gratitude is a "God has been good to me" radar. 

Let your thankfulness open your eyes to the reality of your life-God has done great things for you. 

Journey, November 2014

I want others to see my "God has been good to me" radar. Because despite it all he has been for us all. 

So....in thinking about it. I am thankful for all the obvious reasons, the same that everyone speaks of. But I am especially thankful for each new day, for the strength that God gives me to be where I am in it. I am thankful for the pumpkin patch, and for all the other moments we have had just the four of us.  In the reality of my life, I am thankful that God can reveal the beauty and treasure in those. 

Happy Thanksgiving.