Being Thankful

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 4:8-9)

"Since, then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:1-4)

Sometimes when we're in a funk we like to host a little pity party for ourselves. I know I'm guilty of this. We compare our lives to our friends' lives or worse, to some imaginary, impossible ideal. We focus on everything wrong in our lives, but we're blind to the good. We forget:

That we even have family and friends.
That we don't have to live in fear for our lives every moment of every day.
That there are millions of people in third world countries around the globe who would kill for our enormous leftover portions from the Olive Garden.
That we don't have to constantly worry about contracting deadly diseases from the water we drink, the food we eat, and the things we do daily.
That we even have opportunities to pursue and obtain safe and legal forms of work and that we're not forced to turn to drug trafficking or prostitution to make a living and support our families.

And those are just some of the basics. How spoiled and selfish we can be! We complain and feel sorry for ourselves while we dwell in luxury! We have so much to be thankful for; if only we could focus on those things! So today I am going to remind myself of all of the things I have to be thankful for and I encourage everyone else to do the same!

Today I'm Thankful For:

• My life, that God has given me another day and more opportunities to bring him glory!
• My family who loves me, supports me, teaches me, and encourages me!
• All of my friends! They are such blessings! For so long I have prayed for some more friends who live near me; God answered my prayers!
• My new small group which I love! Another answered prayer!
• Jesus Christ: His goodness, sacrifice, love, provision, and mercy and the fact that He chose me to be a child of God!
• Some recent opportunities that I've been given to serve! Yet another answered prayer!
• The good food and clean water that I have been blessed with!
• The home that I have!
• The car that I will be buying soon for law school, which my family is helping me get!
• My freedom, both as a person and as a woman!
• My good health!
• The education that I was lucky enough to receive!
• The opportunity to even pursue law school and a career in law!
• That no matter where I go and no matter what happens to me in life, God has promised that He's always with me...and God never breaks His promises!

Wow! I am reminded of how good God has been to me, how little I deserve such goodness, and how much there is to be thankful and joyful about!

Christmas Magic

Why is Christmas so magical? Is it the weather? Is it the breaks from school or work? (Though breaks do always produce a little bit of magic!) Is it the smells: evergreen, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla? Or maybe it’s the sounds, the music, the plays, and the movies? Or the sights, the colorful lights, the shimmery snow falling softly in the night sky?

Or maybe it's none of those things. Maybe what really makes Christmas magical is that it’s the time of year when everyone suddenly remembers what’s really important in life. We’re kind and forgiving towards family and friends (even when they've hurt us) because “it’s Christmas” and we want to keep the peace. We buy gifts for needy children just to see their faces light up with smiles for one day (despite the fact that for the other eleven months of the year, we refuse to give their families anything because they’re all “lazy Welfare abusers”). We donate extra money to charities so that starving families in our communities can actually have a nice meal one night. We bake cookies, brownies, and pie for everyone at work or school (whether we like them or not). We volunteer. We host parties. We sing. Some of us actually go to church for once. We smile and glow because for one month of the year, we actually make an effort to bring joy to others…and we realize that we enjoy doing so.

Joy and giving. Those two words can pretty much describe all of the special things we do every Christmas season. But why do joy and giving have to be confined mostly to December? What if we treated every month like it were December? What if we celebrated every single day as if it were Christmas?

What if we should?

Sometimes we reserve our joy for the Christmas season only. And other times we don't feel any joy at all...ever. Sometimes life is just tough and all of our days are stressful, sad, and difficult--especially Christmas. But as Christians, we've been given hope and a new life in Jesus! We should rejoice and be glad every day because of what He has done, shouldn't we?

"Be joyful always." --1 Thessalonians 5:16

"My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you--I, whom you have redeemed."

--Psalm 71:23

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."

--Matthew 13:44

The last verse makes me think of the end of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, when Scrooge is suddenly filled with a new joy and runs around town wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, giving away food and turkeys to needy families for dinner. What if that were how all Christians acted every day: dancing, singing, and running around town sharing the joy that Christ has given us with everyone? This is what I think we should all aim and pray for! What a different sort of place the world would be!

So with that thought, I'd like to wish everyone who reads this a very Merry Christmas! My prayers will be with you all! "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13) Peace, God Bless, and Happy Holidays!

Mirror Talk

As someone who has always struggled with confidence and self-esteem, I wrote up this challenge. Every morning, at the start of your day, try standing in front of a mirror and speaking these reminders to yourself:

• I am a child of The Most High God!
• I have been made in the image and likeness of God, who is beautiful and the definition of love.
• I have been fearfully and wonderfully made.
• God, the Creator of the universe, created me and declared all of his creation (including me!) to be VERY GOOD.
• God knows EVERYTHING about me, the good and the ugly, but He sill loves me!
• He loves me so much, that He died for me, in order to have a relationship with me!
• I am not my own; I was bought at a price: Christ's sacrifice.
• My real beauty comes from my inner self, from Christ in me, not from my hairstyles, my clothes, or my jewelry.
• Today, I will CHOOSE to believe and trust God's love for me and aim to please only Him! I will choose NOT to submit to the world's standards and chase after its approval.
• Today, I will remember that I am a child of God who is dearly loved. I will clothe myself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
• Today, I know that I can do all things through Christ, who loves me, strengthens me, guides me, and is with me always!

Some Bible verses that I used as references:

John 1:12-13, Genesis 1:26-27, Psalm 27:4, 1 John 4:15-18, Psalm 139:13-14, Genesis 1:31, Psalm 139:1, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, John 3:16, Romans 5:8, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Romans 12:2, Colossians 2:20, Galatians 1:10, 1 Peter 3:3-5, Colossians 3:12, Philippians 4:13, John 16:13

Generosity

“For God so loved the world that he gave….” ~John 3:16

Generosity is something that I have been wrestling with for the past few days. After recognizing this theme in two books I recently read, in an email I received this morning, and at church earlier, I think it’s time to take responsibility for my lack of it.

I have been selfish with what God has given me; we all too often are. During small group time at church today, I was given a challenge for the next week about generosity: to think about what God has given me an abundance of and to do something “generous” to give some of it away. A small step it may be, but for those of us who selfishly hoard what God has given us, it’s a start in the right direction. So I challenge all the other selfish hoarders like myself to join me and take this little step in living out our faith this week.

I haven’t quite decided what I’ll do yet. But I’ll start with a small bit of generosity by sharing with you all some interesting articles from World Vision ACT:S that I came across today. Check these links out:

6 Things to Know at 20-Something

6 Tips: Find a Cultural Experience

ACT:S Summer Adventure Bucket List