Thankfulness and Counting Joy

I have come to find that no day is complete without counting the gifts God has blessed me with throughout the day. 

I have a planner I made and the front cover is the Joy Dare Missions.  In my planner, I have weekly sheets for menu planning..something I still need to get better at, but at the bottom I keep track of my blessings.  I tally them up, preferably throughout the week, sometimes I have to backtrack a few weeks.  Nothing helps me more through this difficult season of life than finding the gifts God is blessing me with beyond the "basics"...food, children, home, clothes, health... Training myself to keep looking deep and hard for the gifts all around me.  It also trains me to take my focus of the now and immediate and close to heart.  When I shift my focus, I can look forward and upward and train my eyes and heart to see things maybe a little more like my Heavenly Father sees them.

If you are struggling, I challenge you to jump in right where you are at and begin to count your gifts.

This week:

Gifts in the Challenge:  Learning in God how strong I can be with Him holding my hand.
Gifts in the Conflict:  Silence unexpected that is unnerving and disquieting...and then realizing, the same silence is an answered prayer, a gift from my Heavenly Father and then being able to exhale and rest in Him.
Gifts in Change:  So much change ~ We are creating new habits, better habits.  Learning to be more of who I am in God without worry and with more acceptance.  Changing thought patterns and speech patterns.
3 Gifts in Water:
Children who wisely choose to drink water over sugary drinks.
Evening at the lake learning to fish.
Peace found in listening to the waves gently reach out and touch the shore.