Winter. A time for the earth to rest before blooming in spring.
A time to bundle in fuzzy socks and favorite sweatshirts.
Sipping coffee. Or hot chocolate. Or both.
The glow of a fire, or the hum of a space heater nearby.
Indoor fun, board games, movies, crafts.
Paper snowflakes and maybe real ones, too.
Comfort foods and soups and stews.
Cold and gray and dead outside.
Inside, warm and cozy and waiting for spring.
God, how I’m thankful for winter, that every season has it’s purpose, that we have to go through winter to get to spring, but that spring comes after. Thank you for being a faithful God.

Thankful Thursday can be found at Grace Alone.

{Photo Credit: National Geographic}

You may or may not regularly participate in Thankful Thursday at Grace Alone, but seeing as how we’re celebrating the biggest thing to be thankful for tomorrow, I encourage you to stop and think a moment and thank God for his wonders and blessings. And if you feel like it, schedule a post in advance for Christmas Day. Tomorrow, spend time with your family, and then when you come back on Friday, browse around and read everyone’s thankful posts.

Have a VERY merry Christmas, y’all!!

I’ve got a lot to be thankful for, it’s just that everything I’ve tried to write so far has sounded insincere or cheezy. Truth is, I’ve got a lot to be thankful for.

It’s hard to put it all into words. But sometimes, we don’t have to. Sometimes we can just praise God and thank Him. Just for being God. Just for doing what he does. Sometimes, we can just lift our faces to God and smile.

Thank you God, for the blessings you’ve given, the trials you’ve allowed, the successes you’ve brought, the growth you’ve given. Thank you God, for all that you are and all that you do.

Amber

Thankful Thursday is hosted by Grace Alone.

Approaching the holidays, it’s easy to slip out of contentment and into discontent when we see the advertisements telling us what we need and what we should have, displaying all the sparklies and the pretties and the “Oh neats!”

I’m guilty of giving in to these thoughts on occasion. OOh, I’d like this and this and THIS for Christmas this year!” The list grows so long that suddenly, I’m thinking about all the thing I don’t have, have to do without and can’t get.

Truth is, if I could be content without those things before Christmas, I can be content…without those things.

Maybe some of them are even on the “need” list and not the “want” list. But we’ll get to the needs as we get to them. In the mean time, I can thank God for everything I DO have, so that I’m not complaining about what I DON’T.

I have an awful lot to be thankful for!

Thankful Thursday is hosted by Grace Alone.

I’ve been in a funk all week. Not a serious funk. Just a little bit of an unmotivated, imbalanced, life is crazy kind of funk. The problem with that is that you’re (I’m) just looking at the negative stuff.

I’m seeing the messy house, the disobedient children, the inability to concentrate and focus and get things done. Everything just feels “wonky.”

But I read something inspiring late last night (which was good because yesterday evening was particularly bad) so I’m throwing off the funk and donning a positive attitude. For starters, I’m going to take a close look at all the things I have to be thankful for today:

• Nice weather
• A new day, a fresh start
• A husband who loves me
• 3 great children
• The opportunity and ability to serve my family
• Being able to stay home with my kids
• Homemade goodies in the fridge
• Fresh coffee
• Gift-shopping for Little Prince’s 3rd Bday tomorrow.
• Family & Friends
• Great music
• My Savior and my faith
• The hope of a new day and fresh start tomorrow

How can you have a funky day when you start off like that??

God bless you today!

Thankful Thursday is hosted by Grace Alone (formerly known as Sting My Heart!).

Middle children get a bad rap for being difficult, and well, mine has been challenging from day one, even before she was a “middle.” Though sweet, she has always been especially stubborn, especially independent and prone to temper tantrums and meltdowns.

But I love her so much!

I am so thankful that God has blessed her with a mind of her own, an independent nature and a tenacity to take a stand for what she believes in. Right now she might be taking a stand for extra dessert (and losing) but imagine what she might accomplish with that later in life!

I’m so thankful that God has used raising her to teach me many things as well.

1. To see the blessings in everything that makes her difficult right now.
2. To impress me with the importance of training her up in the way she should go.
3. To teach me patience and gentleness and persistence.
4. To show me more about God’s nature. (I imagine I am often like a difficult child, too.)

God is so good! All the time.

Thankful Thursday hosted by Sting My Heart.