Today I am grateful that my high-functioning autistic child is in a public school where he is treated kindly.
I am glad that the majority of the teachers at his school actually have the gift of teaching.
Many of the kids hug their teachers and that tells me that the teacher is liked/loved.
Do we live in the best school district? No, we don't. But seeing this video puts things into perspective for me. I'd rather have my child in a school district that has a strict NO BULLYING policy than a school district that is recognized. Our school may fail in other ways, but one thing I know for sure that when any report about bullying is made action is taken immediately.
I can't imagine a world without music.
Music has influenced me in so many ways. Music helps me to convey my feelings in ways I could not have imagined. I've made friends with those having similar tastes in music and I have had the most fun dancing to music. Music is my car companion and I especially love driving with the windows down on a lovely day blasting some really good tunes. Yes, I am the crazy person next to you on the road singing to herself.
Music has helped me through my worst times when I thought no one else could understand me. To hear a song that makes you feel you are not alone in the world is simply remarkable.
Sometimes just hearing a certain song can elevate my mood or put things into perspective.
Sometimes a song can poke a memory and it brings a smile to my face.
Music transcends languages and makes people feel connected.
Music is truly a gift and I am so grateful for it.
I am really trying to follow those words right now. I don't know if this fits into the Gratitude Challenge. I'm feeling out of sorts today. Friday I was annoyed by some teens who live in my neighborhood. They had just gotten off the bus and were loitering on the road. Cars in the next lane were driving at 40-45mph so I got in the lane behind them because I didn't want them to get hurt. I assumed they were going to move to the sidewalk. But they refused to get on the sidewalk. I honked a friendly honk and the response I got was that MORE kids got on the road and started flipping me off. I decided to go around them and honked steadily as I went past them. Of course, as I am doing this some other driver is trying to illegally go around me by going over into the wrong side of the road to get past me. I was just so furious. I was so furious that I did an extremely stupid thing. I followed him. He stopped his truck and rolled down the window. I asked him "Didn't you see those kids?" He said "No." I never understand people who drive like maniacs in non-emergency situations. And those kids...argghhhh! I seriously want to move out of this neighborhood even though I just posted I was thankful for my home.
Someone on Pinterest annoyed me even more with a comment about Christians under a very scandalous picture that was posted. The bad thing about Pinterest is that when you first join you do not know how it works so they guide you by asking you if you would like to follow people you don't know. In your ignorance you say yes. I have not been bothered by anything anyone has posted until recently when Halloween came around. A girl posted a graphic pic that was not sexual, just gross. So I decided to unfollow the girl. But before I hit the "unfollow" button I looked at the comments out of curiosity and now I wish I had not. So now I'm fighting the desire to post a comment but I know it would be all for naught.
Lord, I need help in being quick to let go and forgive. Please grant me wisdom and peace so that I may not do irrational and crazy things like I did. I am thankful for Your word, but I really need help in implementing it especially when I'm so offended.
Today I am grateful for words of wisdom because I know it is better to obey God's word than to follow my irrational emotions. I just wish I had better self control.
GOD'S WORD® Translation Better to get angry slowly than to be a hero. Better to be even-tempered than to capture a city. ~ Proverbs 16:32
And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
My brother, John, youth pastor at Abundant Life Church, recently went on a mission trip to Juarez, Mexico. He and 11 others selflessly gave up a week of their lives to build a house for a family and work with a local orphanage. Every year his church will find a family to build a house for in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Mexico. Most of the houses in these neighborhoods have dirt floors, no running water, and no electricity.
When Abundant Life Church builds a house the family does not pay 1 penny. The church builds a house with concrete floors and provides an electrical outlet and paint for the house.
There are hardly any men in the neighborhood. Most of them have left to find jobs and sadly some have never been heard from again. The women, children, and grandparents are left behind to fend for themselves. My brother said the worst part of the trip is when it's time to leave and the children are clinging to them and begging them to stay. It is truly heartbreaking.
The new house is the one the man is standing on the roof and the old house is the blue in the background. The sheds attached to the new house is storage and the outhouse.
The out house. This is just a deep hole in the ground.
Fences are made with tires and whatever pieces of wood that can be found.
Many dogs are roaming freely everywhere but there are hardly any cats to be seen.
Video
Matthew 7:24-27
New International Version (NIV)
The Wise and Foolish Builders
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Please feel free to join Brenda's Gratitude Challenge and share your thoughts.
If I was the kind of person who wore t-shirts with quotes I would wear this.
I am so thankful for my wonderful husband who loves me so much.
I am so grateful that he puts up with my OCD, ADD, and just plain ole anal retentiveness. Yes, being married to me is hard work. I think my husband might be one of the few men on earth who can put up with me and my crazy shenanigans and the mess I make from scrapbooking.
Honey, I LOVE YOU! Thank you for always being my best supporter, my best friend, and teaching me how to relax and enjoy life. You are a great daddy and an example of being a man after God's own heart. Thank you for your hard work so that I can stay home and be with the children and still finding the energy to do activities with us. It's been an exciting adventure every step of the way in our last 24 years together.
I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. - Song of Solomon 6:3
Please stop by Garden of Learning to join the challenge
or to read what others are also thankful for in their lives.
Don't ever say to yourself, "I have nothing to wear."
This picture snaps my perspective back into the right place. I'm going to hang this in my closet as a reminder for those times when I get close to tears because I feel like I look like the Michelin Man in my clothes. This is what I need to tell myself, "Umm, excuse me self but you look like the Michelin Man because you have food to eat. And it's not JUST food - it's darn good food. And you have several outfits to chose from and shoes to match. So stop complaining and start praising God."
Oh my goodness, the things we feel upset over because it's not up to our standards. How many people would love to trade places with any of us in America? We are blessed with so much and yet we still feel the desire for more. If you battle shopaholism like me, this picture is the one to commit to memory.
We've been invited to a free dinner with Pastors Jimmy and Karen Evans at the Hilton Hotel. I promise that I will NOT fret about how I look or what to wear. Instead I am going to dress with peace and thankfulness in my heart because I am so blessed that I have choices. Blessed that I can drive to a store and buy food and clothing. I don't have to grow food or sew my own clothes or beg for anything. Most importantly, I will be lifting up prayers for those less fortunate around the world.
I am meeting today's challenge with the gratitude of the basic necessities: food, clothing, and shoes.
Matthew 6:25-30
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?26Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?27 And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?28And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,29yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.30 But if God so clothes thegrass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!
Click on the link to join the Gratitude Challenge.
Yesterday I gave myself time to blog hop without feeling guilty. While checking out the other blogs I came across Brenda's Gratitude Challenge at Garden of Learning. This really got me thinking of all the people and things for which I'm grateful. November is the time of year that most people give pause in their life to think about the things for which they are thankful. I'm usually thankful each day but there are days when I get so caught up in my problems that I give in to despair. I know that God is moved by our faith and not our self pity. Right now my hubby and I are going through some personal problems and I think if I have a thankful state of mind it will be much easier to have faith. The doom-n-gloom attitude that I fall easily into doesn't produce a lot faith.
Today is Day 2 of the challenge and as usual I'm a day behind. So I'm going to post 2 things in order to catch up.
#1 of Gratitude Challenge
First and foremost, I am most grateful to God for sending, Jesus, His only son, to earth and sacrificing him so that I may have eternal life. You know the scene in "Titanic" when Rose refers to Jack and says "he saved my life in more ways than one." Well, that's what God has done for me. Not only has my soul been saved but also my life, my marriage, my relationships, and my thoughts. I may not look like it now but in my teens let's just say no one knew whether or not I was going to heaven or hell. I believed in Jesus, but I was under the pharisee-type of thinking where we earned our way into heaven - we had to do good to get good. Growing up a certain religion I was taught about the fiery damnation of hell and continuously aware of breaking some of the 10 commandments. In fact, when someone is constantly telling you (at home) that you are going to hell it certainly doesn't make you stop what you are doing. In fact, it makes you shrug your shoulders and say "Well, I'm going to hell anyway...." and continue being bad. This is deeply personal but I'm going to share that I also had a lot of suicidal thoughts and life felt hopeless and bleak. But God is so good and merciful He patiently waited on me to open the door of my heart to allow Him into my life.
This leads me to #2 of the Gratitude Challenge. I am thankful for God's undeserved favor and grace!!! As a believer I am no longer under the law. I don't have to do good things to earn God's love and I can't do anything that would make Him not love me anymore. He wants to bless us and He wants a relationship with us. Even though I still make mistakes and fail miserably He doesn't cast me out. I've had to train myself not to hide from Him when I miss the mark. It's really the time to run to Him. After all the years of being conditioned with wrong ideas of God it is so wonderful when one grasps the true knowledge of God's favor and grace. An example of God's grace is a child. When our children do something that hurts themselves, do we punish them or do we scoop them up into our arms to console them? We pick them up and try to soothe away the hurt. Why? Because we love them and we want to help them. Then we teach our children how to avoid getting hurt again. That's how God is with us. He's not looking to punish us. And the wonderful thing is that no matter how many times we fail the test God allows us to take the test over and over again. We don't even have that kind of patience with our own children. In fact, God loves us more than we love our own children and that's a lot of love! GOD IS TOTALLY AWESOME! !
