In *Everything* Give Thanks!

I Thessalonians 5:18

In *everything* give thanks: for this the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Today I may get a little long winded with this post, but it something that I have to remember to remind myself constantly, and something that God has blessed me because I have given thanks to him.

So, I will tell a little story. :) To make an extra long story short with too many details to bore you with, my husband and I finished up our last college credits after we married about six months into our marriage.

We sold our little home, and moved back into a college dorm with no air conditioning. When we did this I was four months pregnant. This was fine at the time. I wasn't overly huge, and the weather was nice. But as the months progressed closer to the summer, and as my belly grew, the heat became uncomfortable. As graduation neared, and temperatures sored into the low to mid 90's it became *very* uncomfortable. The mornings were not too bad, as I was in class where there was air conditioning. :)

However, the afternoons were pretty bad. So I got this wicked idea in my head to ask the Lord to have someone take pity on me, and have them offer me a cool place to stay (like their home) while they were at work. That way, I could do my homework in comfort and relax. My legs were beginning to swell from the heat in the last stages of pregnancy, and it was just plain hot in my dorm. So I prayed, then I hung around in the afternoon hoping someone would ask me how I felt, and I could tell them all my woes, and hopefully they would take pity and offer me a room.

I was pretty disappointed that no one did so. Discouraged, I went up to my hot room. As I was sitting on my bed with only the bare necessities on me, in front of my fans, after I had taken a cold shower; I *decided* that instead of dwelling on the uncomfortable, I could be thankful for what I did have.

So I began to thank the Lord for the cold running water, for in some countries you have to walk a long distance and carry the water. Then I thanked the Lord for the fans that were blowing on me, because I could have no electricity for fans to work!

I fell asleep, and forgot all about my prayer that the Lord would have someone take pity on me. One day, when the heat was especially bad, I stayed in a school building and sat in a comfortable chair, and tried to take a nap.

A teacher walked by and asked how I was doing, and I said fine. She asked me how my feet were (because they were really swollen) and I said that they were fine. Then she asked me if I would like to have a dorm room that had air conditioning. A few students had left during the semester, and there were rooms available. I said Of course! So I went and choose a room that had really cold air.

As I got in that nice and cold room, I realized that I had given God Thanks despite my circumstances, and He probably took pleasure in that. He probably won't do that every time we are in a tough circumstance. After all, there are more problems people face than not having air conditioning. But it showed me that God does care about our comfort and all the "little" things in our lives. I didn't complain about my circumstances, and He blessed me in a way more above than I could think. Instead of staying in someones house and having to leave, I could sleep overnight in a cold room!

So this Thanksgiving remember to give God Thanks for everything, including your tough circumstances. As I have progressed into our marriage, there have been much more "important" things come up, besides having air conditioning. And I must admit that I haven't responded to each situation as I did above. I wish I could say that I have; because it is so freeing when I do!

With that said, I would like to list some things that I am Thankful for.

#1. That Jesus died on the cross and took my sins and placed them on himself. I should of died, but He did instead because He loved me. The only way that I could pay for my own sins is death. I have sinned against a Holy God, and he cannot let me into Heaven because of this sin of mine. His justice wouldn't allow it, even though God is compassionate and does not want me to go to Hell, his perfect justice demanded it. God would not be God. I broke the law, I must pay for my crime.

But God had a plan. He is a loving God. He doesn't want us to go to Hell. Just as much as God is a God of pure justice, He is a God of pure love. So He sent His Son, Jesus Christ (God himself) and placed our sins upon Jesus. Jesus died instead of me. God's Justice was satisfied in behalf of my sin. I do not have to work for my salvation. I do not have to be good enough. All I must do, is agree with God, that I have sinned against Him, and trust that Jesus has made the complete payment for my sin. Jesus has paid for my crime. I don't have to go to Hell! Jesus will credit his righteousness to me if I just believe and bet my eternal soul that that is true! What a wonderful God!!!!!

#2. I am thankful for my husband. Here he and I before we began our courtship at the Christmas banquet at our college.

I was pretty young when I got married. I was two months from turning 20. Marriage is a big decision is life. I was pretty picky about men. My husband was the first one that I "dated", the first one I gave my heart to, and the first one I kissed on our wedding day.

But as I sit and think about our marriage in hinds sight, I am soooooo grateful for such a wonderful husband. He isn't perfect; neither am I. But of all the guys out there that do what they can to "catch" a girl, and then turn out to be crazy lunatics afterwards, I am very blessed indeed! ;)

This Thanksgiving I am especially thankful for him. I am going through a tough time with various issues, and he has been there right beside me. He has been the "strong" one in the family. He listens to me with an understanding heart, and tries to make me feel better by bringing me my favorite flavor of ice cream. :)

God knew what he was doing when I choose this man and allowed me to marry him. My husband has caused me to grow in more ways than I could of imagined. He is my best friend, and I cannot imagine life not being married to him. Being married is tough work for sure! But it is a good work. I love and respect my husband so much!!! Look at what he did for me on his day off.

He cleaned my van from top to bottom! He took the seats out, and vacuumed the floors, he took upholstery cleaner and cleaned the seats. He got all the sticky juice spills out of the cup holders. He worked on the van for about six hours!! If anyone knows my husband well, they know that cleaning isn't one of his specialties; although he has many other great ones.

Yet he did it, and I didn't even ask! When Sweetie saw it she said, "Our van is clean! I have never seen such a clean van in my life! I just can't believe my eyes!" That shows you how bad our van was. I tried to clean it as much as I could, but with three children, it is quite difficult. So anyway, I am thankful for such a wonderful husband!

#3. This will be my last thing I write about what I am thankful for. There is so much more to list, but this entry has gotten way too long. I am thankful for my children. They bring so much into our lives, that I can't begin to write about it here. That was one of the main reasons I started this blog; so I could write about my adventures with them.

I am going to post their baby pictures, because this is how I received them from the Lord; as babies. :)

This is Sweetie I don't have any new born photos on the computer. She was about six or seven months here. This is Bean
Here is Little Tiny Boy.

I told you that today was going to be a little long winded. If you have read this far, be sure to stop by Kelli's and see what other's are writing about Thanksgiving.(If you have the time after reading mine!) Just click on the "Giving Thanks" button at the beginning of my entry. Have a wonderful Day! :)