30 Days Of Gratitude Day 30

Well here we are on day 30. It has gone by so fast! I am grateful that I took the time to do this project. It has been a challenge which I have not been 100% successful at and yet I have managed to do all 30 posts.
Doing this has made me determined to take more time to count my blessings. I am going to commit to doing a gratitude post once a week; whether I post anything else or not I will do this at least.
I have heard of studies that show the multitude of benefits to doing some sort of gratitude journal and know that my personal experience has born out what I have heard. I have been less depressed, more quick to see the positive in things and even more patient while I have been doing this.
Thank You God for the discipline of doing this gratitude project. May I continue to count my blessings and give You the glory.

29 Days Of Gratitude Day 29

Today I am grateful for hymns. I love the richness of the old hymns; much of the time taken right from Scripture. Don't misunderstand I am not against modern praise and worship music at all. I love all music and believe it is a gift of God. But I hate to see us lose so much history; there has already been too much of that in the past. I don't appreciate our hymns being left out of worship services just because they are old. To some they may be old but to me they are timeless. Check this out Amazing Grace was written by John Newton in 1779, How Great Thou Art by Carl Gustav Boberg written in 1885, Holy, Holy, Holy by Reginald Heiber written in 1826, and Peace Like A Rive by Horacio Spafford, written in 1873. I could go on but I think I've got my point across. If you have never heard these hymns you can find them on YouTube and I suggest you do so.
Thank You God for the hymns that speak so well of Your faithfulness to us and give us such rich history.

30 Days Of Gratitude Day 28

I am grateful for television and movies. I know there is a lot of junk out there but that's true of everything in life really. One has to take the bad with the good and, hopefully, use wisdom to know the difference and not let the bad overtake the good. I have learned so much watching television and movies and used them to teach my children a lot as well. I used the bad to teach them what not to do; but mostly I used it to teach them about how to, and not to relate to other people and that every story has something we can learn from it. My daughter jokes that I ruined movies for her because she always has to think, "what is the lesson here". We can rail and rant and rave about how awful entertainment has gotten or we can choose to use our remotes to change the channel or turn it off and we can use our brains to help us use what we do watch to improve our lives and the lives our children and grandchildren and other children whose lives we influence.
Thank you God for television and movies; for the countless hours of entertainment they have given me as well being tools I can use to learn and teach others.

30 Days Of Gratitude Day 27

I am grateful for prayer. There is nothing more amazing than the ability to commune with the Creator of everything by just talking to Him. No mumbo jumbo chanting required, no great ceremony to call Him up; He is just there, always there. The only requirement to have this communion with God is to believe He is real and accept His sacrifice through the blood of His Son Jesus. Now don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that not everyone can pray. Anyone can pray to God and He will hear you. But to have this conversation, this communion, with Him one must have accepted His Gift. I am ashamed to admit I have gone years without taking advantage of this wonderful blessing of communion with my God. I recently got back on track and though I may not spend as much time as I should with Him I do make sure and pray daily and read some of the Bible every day now. Over the last 3 weeks my son and I have prayed together every day except the days I was gone to Missouri( he stayed home) and it has been such a blessing; it has improved our relationship significantly. If you are reading this and want to know more about prayer please contact me; I would love to talk to you about it.
Thank You God for the blessing of prayer. May I never again stray from daily communion with You.

30 Days Of Gratitude Day 26

I am really behind here! Whew; the last few days have just flown by. I kept meaning to sit down and write but just didn't get to it. I thought about it so much I thought I actually did it because I was surprised to see how far behind I got. Deep sigh
I am grateful for my Aunt Mary; she is actually my Great Aunt. She is 85 years old and is still aware and active. She has slowed down some due to high blood pressure damaging her heart; an inherited problem that has fell many of her family early in life. She used to be a nurse practitioner and worked for many many years in a clinic in Denver, Colorado. She also did a lot of crafts, she did ceramics and made candles and crocheted and even learned to do oil painting. She was always doing something and she is also a dog lover. I really liked to visit her because she always had at least 2 dogs and always had something for me to do. I am very proud of her for her years of service as a nurse. She was a big help to me when I lived in Denver and was going to Medical Assistant school. She even let me borrow money and loaned me furniture when my roommate decided to get married and moved out on me halfway through school and left me with the full rent and no way to pay for our rented furniture.
Aunt Mary has been a part of my life ever since my dad remarried when I was 15. Even though we are not really family; my dad divorced the woman when I was about 23, she has never treated me as anything but family. I know we won't have her around for too many more years and I am happy that I was able to see her on my trip to Missouri as she has moved there just recently.
Thank You God for Aunt Mary; I am so glad she is doing well. Please bless her and keep her.

30 Days Of Gratitude Day 25

I am thankful for chocolate. I hope that's not too lame because it is true. I love chocolate; I can't conceive of not liking chocolate. When I meet someone who doesn't like chocolate it's like said they don't like to breathe. I'm just like "oh, um okay". Today we discovered; thanks to my daughter'sharp eye, that our previous home town has a chocolate shop. It has been there over a year, so it was there before I moved away but I had no idea. THere has been a huge effort over the last few years to revitalize the downtown are and there have been a lot of new businesses open as a result. The Chocolate Works is one of them. I insisted we go in and, of my goodness. I think Heaven must be somewhat like it. The smell was enough to make one gain 2 pounds. I wanted one of everything!
According to one website I looked at on the history of chocolate says cocoa beans used to be used as currency. Also it says that originally the only way it was consumed was as a drink. When chocolate first make ti to Spain it was only used a medicine, sounds righ to me.
In the 1850s, Englishman Joseph Fry changed life by adding more cocoa butter, rather than hot water, to cocoa powder and sugar. The world’s first solid chocolate was born.
In 1875, Daniel Peter and Henri Nestle added condensed milk to solid chocolate, creating a milk chocolate bar.
In 1879, Swiss chap Rudolphe Lindt invented the conch, a machine that rotated and mixed chocolate to a perfectly smooth consistency.
You can read more here
Thank You God for chocloate and for giving these men the inspiration to make what has become what we consume today.

30 Days Of Gratitude Day 24

I Thesselonians Chapter 5 says in part

Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus

God has been, finally, getting this through my head this year. I am so thankful for His Word and the blessings He has given me through obedience to it. Of course today I am thankful for time with my family. I, of course, miss those who are not here for one reason or another; but so grateful to have this time with my mom, brothers and daughter and her little family. I remember too many times we have been apart and feel so blessed to be able to take this little vacation "home". My kids grew up here from the time they were preteens so Missouri is more home to them than anything else. While we have made new home in Georgia Missouri will always hold a special place in our hearts.
thank You God for this time with family; please bless those we cannot be with and thank You too for Your Word and the lessons You are teaching me.