Thankful for Friends

What an amazing group of friends and family we have! Friends who help us along the way...listen to us "vent", pick us up when we are down, share a tear, wipe our tears, offer a hug, give words of encouragement...laugh with us, share a coffee... praying for us silently... share a song that speaks to the heart at just the right time...



Thank you.  Thank you, our friends and family. We love you so much! You are God's treasure and ours too.

I am almost done with my book by Ann Voskamp. It's hard to read 3 books at the same time! And I have called it the wrong title this whole time... it's One Thousand Gifts, not A Thousand Gifts.  Didn't notice?  Good. :)  I read this portion last night, and it just goes to show that God is in the details of our lives.  He speaks in such a way, as if, I am his only child.  He cares so much, that he speaks through the words I read just before drifting off to sleep. Words - words that I needed reminding of that only he could deliver at 10:30pm through a book that he put in my hands to read. 

The words are this:
(Background - she has been talking about her kids, and two of them were running through the house and broke a glass cabinet door in the living room).  God holds us in the untamed moments too.  I breathe deep, look at them. I remember: Lament is a cry of belief in a good God, a God who has His ear to our hearts, a  God who transfigures the ugly into beauty. 

Holding my head in my  hands, I ask in honest before God and children and my daily mess: 'Can we really expect joy all the time?'

I know it well after a day smattered with rowdiness and worn a bit ragged with bickering, that I may feel disappointed and the despair may flood high, but to give thanks is an action and rejoice is a verb and these are not mere pulsing emotions. While I may not always feel joy, God asks me to give thanks in all things, because he knows that the feeling of joy begins in the action of thanksgiving.

True saints know that the place where all the joy comes from is far deeper than that of feelings; joy comes from the place of the very presence of God. Joy is God and God is joy and joy doesn't negate all other emotions - joy transcends all other emotions.

We continue our daily record of thanks.  E-man has his list on the chalk board that we write each day, Will and I are writing ours down on these cute little printables from Ann.

Blessings to you, thank you friends. You are on my daily list of thanks.