Category Archives: Endless_Gifts

What I Have Learned Through Gratitude.

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It has been 10 months since my friend, better known as a “Farmer’s wife dealing with lots of dirt”, introduced me to the idea of keeping a gratitude journal; and I am thankful for her life (and she knows it, and I love her!)

Today I was pondering over this journey and all that I have learned trying to do the impossible, “count” the endless gifts which we have received from our Heavenly Father, (our family list is reaching #1400, and my personal one #636) and there is one lesson that I want to share with you.

As I take the journals (mine and our family journal) and read through them; I think of all these moments which did not just disappear. All these gratitude moments in which we, consciously, stopped to jot down with a grateful heart  blessings flowing from his hand to us. These moments are recorded. These gifts won’t be forgotten. We wrote them down, one by one; we lived through them. We are grateful.


God’s people did the same; they wrote down and remembered all the times God rescued them from their enemies; they kept records on how the Lord had delivered them with out-stretched arm from the evil nations; they wrote on how the Lord had been merciful to them over and over again in spite of their disobedient and rebellious heart. It was written, and they took time to read over those records and their faith grew, and their hope was renewed.


When I see how his love has sustained us through all these past months, I cannot doubt His faithfulness today, or tomorrow. He never changes. He is immutable, and that is a doctrine which I love to bring in the kitchen.  


Looking back with a grateful heart helps me pray “Lord, just as you have delivered me in the past, you  sustain me today, and you will tomorrow; because YOU NEVER CHANGE”

Paul wrote to the Corinthians about this:

“He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. ” 2 Corinthians 1: 10



Keeping a gratitude journal helps us in those times where our heart faints and we see no hope, and our soul seems to forget, to remember the mighty deeds of our God in our everyday life. We can turn the pages and count one by one, again, all those “little gifts” which have made up our life. And you remind yourself in Whom you have trusted all these days; and how He never changes…and you will find yourself smiling and giving thanks, again…


 You may ask, “but why do you mind publishing part of your list?”


This is one of the reasons why:

“My soul makes its boast in the LORD;
   let the humble hear and be glad.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
   and let us exalt his name together! “
Psalm 34: 2-3



I want to make known the deeds of the Lord, because I want to stir up your heart, so you may magnify the LORD with me,  and we may exalt His name together!



#615- 636


Thank you, Lord, for the city in which we live and how you are teaching us to live with a content heart in it.

Thank you for fresh fruit.

Flowers on the table.

Green grass.

Traffic, which means more time to talk.

Late conversations.

Planning a trip.

Tired feet.

Headaches which help us see how easily we worry.

Books that help us learn about prayer.

Family conversations.

Bubbles and girls.


Boys, paintball guns and lots of dirt on happy faces.

Clean towels.

Big cookies which did not turn out as the photo… lots of laughs.

Time to ponder over the gratitude journals.

Watercolors and ink.

Self-dominion to wake up early to pray.

A prayer guide which has helped me to stay focused when I am tired. 

Sharing the Gospel over the table.

My children’s music.

Thank you, Lord, because YOU Never change!


What are you grateful for today? 
Let me hear and be glad; let our hearts magnify the Lord together!

Yes, I will Open the Box

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My young lady and my little girl, both come to me; we are chatting on my bed. It is 9:30 PM. I am already in my pj’s, but they insist (I have found lots of excuses not do it for about a year…the box is not easy to reach); they want me to open the box where I keep my wedding dress.

And I recall deep in my heart what I have learned (and I am still learning) about saying yes, and I stand, my husband smiles; I say “yes”,  and open the box.

Why is it so hard to say “yes” to so many simple things that will turn a moment  into something magical?

We laugh as they try my dress, (the one I used in the civil ceremony before our Religious wedding), and one that Grandma wore when she was a teenager. We tried the shoes, we laughed.

And then, I had to say “yes” once more. This time it was easier. I realized that saying “Yes”, has “magical” effects. It brings laughs, and creates memories. They asked me to try on my wedding dress! I knew I would not fit in it, and my Beloved was there! But I said “Yes”, and we laughed, and I loved it!

 
A third “yes” awaited; she loves photography and has never taken pictures of newly wed. This was her chance. She asked for the kiss… and we said “yes”.

600. Thank you for the power of “yes”.

601. Thank you, Lord, because I don’t fit in that dress, I have been Mom four times, and that is a gift.

602. Lasting covenants.

603. Marriage vows.

604. Two girls dreaming.

605.  Holding hands in the night.

606. Learning to pray.

607. Friends from afar, and long distance calls, and messages in FB.

608. Telly.

609. Cheesecake for him.

610. Swings.

611. Beautiful moments to build a relationship stronger.

612. The book that challenges Mom- Daughter conversations.

613. Memories built in the kitchen.

614. Trials that build our faith.

“Remember, O My Soul,
  It is thy duty and privilege to rejoice in God:
  He requires it of thee for all his favours of grace.
  Rejoice then in the giver and His goodness,
  Be happy in Him, O my heart, and in nothing but God,
           for whatever a man trusts in, 
          from that he expects happiness”


                          From the Valley of Vision

From the archives:
On Being a Wife
One + One = One
His Music and My Song

Gratitude Monday -Borrowed Words-

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Words are a gift from God. Words have roots and meanings, words heal or bring death, words are powerful, and yet, sometimes, seem to be weak. 
Through words we have walked into covenants, with words we have started our families; a simple “yes” turned my life into somehing beautiful. 
Words are like a stair, one by one we climb steps until we find the exact one, the one we are looking for to reach that place we long to go.
Today, my gratitude list today (# 581- 599) is with borrowed words, words that I found in my prayer corner, words that seem to say what I could not say better. Words with a meaning, words, that I have made my own, words that I have prayed:

“Now unto thee, O heavenly Father, be all praise and glory that by day Thou dost richly fill my life with various blessings:

A home to share, kindred love, and friends to cherish;
A place to fill and a work to do;
A green world to live in, blue skies above me, and pure air to breathe;
Healthy exercise and simple pleasures;
My race’s long history to remember and its great men to follow;
Good books to read and many arts and crafts to delight in;
So much that is worth knowing and the skill and science to know it;
Those high thoughts that sometimes fill my mind and come I not know whence;
Many happy days, and that inward calm that Thou givest me in days of gloom;
The peace, passing understanding, that comes from thine indwelling in my soul;
The faith that looks through death and the hope of a larger life beyond the grave.

I thank Thee, O Lord God, that though with liberal hand Thou hast at all times showered Thy blessings upon our human kind, yet in Jesus Christ Thou hast done greater things for us than ever didst before;

Making home sweeter and friends dearer;
Turning sorrow into gladness and pain into the soul’s victory;
Robbing death its sting;
Robbing sin its power;
Making peace more peaceful and and joy more joyful and
   faith and hope more secure. Amen”

*Words borrowed from A Diary of Private Prayer, by John Baillie.

>Gratitude and Contentment

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>Contentment is a virtue that I need to cultivate in my heart.

Contentment starts when I come to the Lord, to my Shepherd and He satisfies my whole being.

Contentment comes when I don’t desire anything else but Him.

Contentment.

Gratefulness.

Contentment.

Longing.
 
More?

As I search my heart I must admit, that I am far from there. I still long for worldly things, for the present glory, for  myself, for more, always a little bit more. More love from my husband, more attention, more from my children, more…always a little bit more…

A grateful attitude will sure help me fight this battle. When I stop and see how much I have that I do not deserve, I fall to my knees and praise my Lord, the fountain of all blessings, but the temptations around are real; the devil tempted my Jesus offering him “more”. Jesus knew he didn’t need more, He had it all.

Contentment and Gratitude hold hands together, they meet; and I pray that these virtues find a place to abide in me.

Let my song be one that says:

“Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:25- 26



So my Gratitude List continues….

186. 

 

I will be reading this week a small book entitled The Art of Divine Contentment, by Thomas Watson (c. 1620- 1686); may I invite you to come and join me as I learn about this virtue ?

Let the Word be heard and the Holy Spirit be our Teacher.

Abiding in Him,

The first part of my comments are here, The School of Contentment -part one-

Monergism Books