Full of Thanks!!

Thankful!  So thankful.  Did you know it's impossible to be Thankful and Miserable at the very same time?  Seriously.  Think about it.  If you are Thankful..at least for that 2 or 3 seconds you choose to be Thankful for something, miserable has to take a back seat.  Did you know that you are the only one that gets to decide if you are Thankful or not?  It's totally your choice.  Quite frankly, if I knew I had a choice between miserable and Thankful...I'd choose thankful any day of the week!!


I'm just so thankful to God, that He nudges us, reminds us, and gives us the ability to be thankful!
My daughter and I went for a walk the other night...and something happened.  I found myself being overwhelmed with thankfulness.  As we were walking, and mind you this is before dinner, and we were hungry! We began to smell some of the most beautiful aromas!   As we passed one house, we could tell that they were grilling out.   Oh, the wonderful smell of something cooking on the grill.   How pleasant that was as we passed by.  For a moment I did consider knocking on the door and inviting ourselves to dinner! :)  We continued walking, and before long  I smelled another wonderful aroma!  It was definitely someone who had just ordered from the local Italian Restaurant.  The smell of the spices, and the marinara, and even imagining the cheese....Beautiful!  We continued walking and then another wonderful smell...we both looked at each other and at the same time said..."Someone's doing laundry!"  The smell of fresh laundry, of the fabric softener was so clear in the air and so nice....it almost inspired us to do laundry when we got back to the house......almost. :)  As I inhaled the wonderful smells, I looked up at the sky, and we saw the most beautiful clouds in the sky, with the most beautiful colors of the setting sun reflecting off of the clouds.  I could feel the crisp fall evening air, and the slight breeze blowing around us.
I'm telling you something happened.  I suddenly was so thankful that I could smell.  What a privilege to smell such wonderful aromas!  I was so thankful that I could see!  I could see the leaves turning, and the beautiful clouds and sunsets!  Then I was just so thankful for Fall, and the cool evenings.  Then I was reminded what an incredible blessing it is to be able to walk!  I thought of how many times I couldn't walk as far, and I thought of people too old to walk, or those in the hospital who would love to get up and walk around.  I was thankful we had a home to walk back to, and food to make for dinner.  I was just simply overwhelmed with thankfulness to God for things I rarely take the time to thank Him for.

It was a wonderful night!  I must tell you too, that during that time of thankfulness, I could feel God so near!  I wasn't thinking of stresses in my life.  For those beautiful moments, I was simply thankful enjoying the precious gifts I've been given and enjoying time with God and my daughter.


Thankful!  Have you tried it lately?  It's wonderful!

Time to Rearrange some things!

Everything Fits!

The Power of Rearranging!

Today I cried out to God to rearrange me.  It has become so apparent that many things in my life are just out of order.   I am continually reminded that I have in me all that I need, however sometimes it just doesn't seem to work. Sometimes even though there are a lot of good things going on, I just have not seemed to be able to manage everything.  

I love tangible examples, so here goes.... I have this little make-up case that someone along the way handed down to me.  I keep the same basics in that case every day.

Don't judge me by my make-up variety! :)

Above you will see how nicely my makeup bag closes.  Nice and neat, compact, everything inside.  That's how it's supposed to be!  However, I cannot tell you how many times I have been so frustrated, because I can't get the dumb bag to snap shut! I'm in a hurry, and end up just having to drop it into my purse without snapping it, and then later all of the contents end up dumping out in my purse!  Fun.  So why is it that this happens when I know good and well that everything will easily fit into this bag and this bag will easily snap shut with everything in it?  Answer:  It's all in the arrangement of things!  There's a basic arrangement of these items, that truly does make it easy to close this bag.  However, even though each time I have the exact same items, how I arrange them changes everything.  Truth be told, I'm not arranging them at all.  I'm simply tossing them in haphazardly.  When I take the time to simply create order, and actually arrange them properly, everything goes smoothly, no stress, no pressure, just everything nice and tidy and secure in the bag.

I'm finding that this is the way it is in life.  I have asked God to rearrange me.  I've got a good variety of things that I know fit within His purpose and plan for my life, and yet sometimes, I just feel like I'm falling out all over the place.  The house is a wreck, I hate for anyone to look inside the car, I'm behind on some bills, I have ridiculous hair because I've had to do it myself, and I'm not moving forward on some goals because I'm constantly trying to play "catch up" with everything that's been "falling" all over the place.  This is not an orderly life, arranged properly so that everything fits.  Now I know life is messy and not always will everything fit.  Don't go too deep on me. :)   I just know that now is the time for me to put some things in order, and because that is not a "natural" gift of mine, I have elicited some "supernatural" help. :) 

 I have two different organizations calling for prayer and fasting.  How wonderful to be challenged to do this at the exact same time by both of these organizations that are completely separate from one another.   I'm going to be asking God for some wisdom and receiving His help in the accurate arranging of my life.  I know that He is already answering my prayer and rearranging things in my life, so that I will be more effective while experiencing more peace and rest.  That sounds good to me.  I don't have a final outcome to share with you, just a challenge to you. If you've just been haphazardly tossing some things into your bag of life, and if you constantly have to keep cleaning up the mess....join me in the challenge of purposefully choosing with wisdom the accurate arrangement of things.   His Supernatural help is just as available to you as it is to me. ....to be continued.....   

Road Trip - Part 1

Road Trip.........If you only knew all of the "faith" that went into leaving Virginia on this road trip.  At this point (since the journey is almost over) I don't mind telling you, the last time I left Virginia, I was dealing with some issues that had me in an ER in Ohio, and that when we left Virginia, the only money we had for this trip was $150 given to us by two different women of God. 

Let me start from the very beginning...You see in January my friend invited me to her company party.  I was so needing a miracle that I began to look at this party as an opportunity to see who I might meet....who would either be able to bless me, or connect me to someone who could bless me...while I was getting ready for this party, God literally showed me how I was all about me and how I needed to be blessed and who could bless me.
Rather shocked to find out that I was all about me :), I sincerely repented..., but then I became righteously angry and  I immediately said, "God I hate Poverty!"  I became very aware that it was my "lack" that made me look for who could bless me...surely if God says "Give and it will be given unto you good measure, pressed down and shaken together, will God cause men to give to you."  Well I knew God's promise was true, so I was looking for who God would use to give to me what I just couldn't do for myself as a single mom.
Can I just tell you now, that you will never ever succeed at life, if all you think about is you.  The sad thing is sometimes you don't even realize that you've stopped thinking of others and only think about you.  It's a major revelation to yourself, when you realize it.  Anyway, when I said "God I hate Poverty!!!"  He said, well  what if money was no problem?  What would you be doing differently tonight?"  and I answered, "Well instead of going to see who might be a blessing to me, if all of my needs were met and I had excess, then I would be going tonight to see who I might be able to bless."  I literally felt God say, "If you truly believe that Poverty is broken off of your life, even before you see it, then you need to start behaving as if it has already happened."  Well from that moment on, I became very excited about this party and went to see who I could be a blessing to in some way.
Would you believe that when we arrived at the party, we were looking for a table and found one that had one lady seated there.  As we approached she lifted her head and we saw that she had been crying....we also noticed that she was from our church.  She shared that she had been praying, her father had been admitted to ICU and death was certain.  She prayed no one would sit with her until she could get herself together, and as she lifted her head from prayer, there we were.  I was able to share comfort with her regarding loss I had experienced, and revelation I had from going through that, that encouraged her.  We were laughing by the end of the night, but before the night ended, God sent 4 other people to our table, who all were there by His appointment. God used my friend and I to encourage, challenge, comfort, and befriend those around us.
I had learned that I could go and be a blessing, even without money, and that Poverty was broken off of my life.  It starts in the mind....then it will manifest in the natural.  We are half way there now! :)
I say all of that, to explain why I decided to take this trip....I knew I needed to spend some time with my daughter.  We needed to get away, and we both had a desire to bless people all along the way on this trip. I felt so strongly to take this trip that I did this completely in faith...natural wisdom would say don't go if you don't have the money to go....but I knew what I was hearing....Go.  You'll never know the challenge that this was to my faith and my "common sense", but I also can tell you now, that with all we have experienced...I know I heard Him correctly.   Tomorrow I will post a few of the AMAZING things that God has allowed us to be a part of on this trip....I cannot wait to share them with you...
If you've read this, and will also read tomorrow's post, please comment below or send me a message by facebook.