Here comes the Son!

Today was so awesome!!  The sun was finally out and shining brightly in the sky, warming me up and making me so happy!  It has been sad, dark, gloomy and cold in Houston for what seemed to feel like weeks and weeks.  These last few weeks, I often wondered where Mr. Sun was.  Had he gone away?  Would that big, beautiful, yellow, wonderful Sun ever come back?  Would I ever see its warm face again?  I knew it was there.  I thought it was there.  Or was it?  Maybe all along it was a figment of my imagination?

When it’s dark and gloomy, your mind can start playing tricks on you.  Especially when it’s your life that’s dark and gloomy.  You might start to wonder where is my shining sun?  Where is Jesus?  Did He go away?  Would He ever come back?  Will I ever see His face again?  Maybe the devil is up to his tricks and it was all just a figment of my imagination?  Just like the sun, you know He was there.  At least you thought He was there.  But if He was there, then why are things in my life sad, dark, gloomy and cold?  Why are things so hard?  Why are all these struggles in my life?  Where is Jesus?

My friends, make a knot in your rope and hold on.  Jesus is there.  Just like the sun, He never left.  He may be hard to see.  There may be dark rainclouds in your life but keep believing.  Keep trusting.  The rain is going to stop and that majestic Son will return.  I promise you will see His face again – in all its glory.  He is coming back and in a big, beautiful, warm, loving way.

Something's burning...

So I haven’t posted anything in awhile.  Not sure why.  Maybe life has me too busy.  Maybe I didn’t have too much to say.  Could be because I was down in a hole and just focused on the four people in my casa.  I went through this patch where EVERYTHING I did was wrong, inaccurate, not right.  I’d go up when I should have gone down.  I’d go left when I should have gone right.  You say Black and I’d say White.  Awesome.  That does a lot for your self esteem.  So I kept in my hole and just tried to keep my little peoples wheels on their tracks, going day by day and not looking too much further past that. 

And it’s been summer.  We’ve been lazy.  Our favorite preacher retired.  We’ve skipped church.  Such a weird coincidence that when I start skipping church, I start feeling blue.  Devil creeping in perhaps??? 

The good news is that our new pastor arrived at the beginning of the month.  I think I’m going to like him.  His first sermon was on Calm and Chaos.  He talked about how sometimes God throws a little chaos our way amidst the calm, to stir things up and get us going in HIS direction.  We might not like it, it might make us uncomfortable, it might be scary but it’s divine chaos and part of His will. 

This past weekend, we were up at my parents’ farm.  We drove up Saturday morning, and as we pulled in, the air smelled of fire and we could see smoke billowing from the back pastures.  We pulled up to the house where my sweet Mom (whose bday is today! HBD MOM!) was all a twitter.  My dad was working in the back acres purposely setting his pastures ablaze.


I tried to settle my Mom down but honestly, I was a twitter about the pasture fires too.  In a bit, my dad came in, proudly grinning from ear to ear.  He was so pleased of the work he was accomplishing.  He could see the worry in our faces so he loaded all the women in the family in the golf cart and drove us out to show us, convince us that everything was under control.  In our eyes, it did not look under control.  From our perspective, things looked a little chaotic.  But my dad was persistent in his convincing.  Dad kept saying, “This is on purpose!  It’s going to be great.  I’ve got it handled.  I’m just  burning off the bad to allow the good to come up.” 

Well, the ladies didn’t get it, continued to panic and demanded to be taken back to the house.  (If you don’t know my family, we have quite a history of now-funny, then-not-so-funny stories of things going awry.  Because of said history, the ladies were headed back to the house to start hosing things down! J)  After a little time had passed, I went back out there to just make sure things were still “under control”.  They were and as usual, I was a panicked wreck for no good reason.


It did get me thinking though, about God and His divine chaos.  When my world is spinning out of control, when He’s molding and shaping me and putting me through the fires, can I hear Him talking to me?  Or am I so worked up and panicked and stressed that I can’t hear him whispering to me?  Am I missing His message?  Is He saying, “Courtney, relax.  Don’t be afraid.  Don’t panic.  Quit worrying.  I’m doing this on purpose!   I’ve got it handled”?

And while I’m panicking and freaking out, what does that say about my TRUST IN HIM? 

Sunday's sermon was about New Beginnings.  We are gearing up for the new school year. A time where I’m re-doing, re-organizing and re-working.  New things tend to make me nervous.  I fear unknowns. And this year might be scary.  There might chaos too.  But it sounds like it’s the perfect time for me to RE-LAX, RE-NEW and RE-ALIGN myself with God and His plans for me.  After all, it’s His plan, not mine.  He’s doing it all on purpose.  I may not “get” the chaos but God does.  Maybe it’s a lesson for me to worry less with all the extras and just keep my focus on HIM.  God’s got it handled.  And He has promised that He will take care of the bad so that all the GOOD can come through. 

Thank you, Lord.  I’m so grateful. 

5/22/13 To Do List

I watched the news this morning while I made my “to-do” list.  While I was jotting down, “pick up teacher gifts” and “get kids registered for summer camps”, I thought of the precious children lost in Oklahoma and wondered what their parents had on their “to-do” list the day that awful storm rolled into town and forever changed their lives.

5/22/13 TO DO LIST

1.       Pick up Teacher Gifts

2.       Get kids registered for summer camps

3.       Pick a flower

4.       Feel the breeze

5.       Hug your mother

6.       Kiss your babies

7.       Tell your hubby he’s the greatest

8.       Love on your dad

9.       Call your sister

10.   Lunch with friends

11.   Pet the dog

12.   Drink some lemonade.  Spike it you need too!

13.   Wish upon a shooting star

14.   Pray

15.   Walk on the beach

16.   Dance under the stars

17.   Catch fireflies

18.   Turn up the radio and sing out loud

19.   Cuddle with your little ones

20.   Relax in a hammock

21.   Read your bible

22.   Love

23.   Hope

24.   Forgive

25.   Appreciate

26.   Ride your bike

27.   Enjoy the beauty of the American flag

28.   Have a picnic

29.   Slow down

30.   Help the helpless

31.   Count your blessings

32.   Enjoy these precious moments.  They could be forever changed in just the blink of an eye.

God bless Oklahoma.  God bless us all.

Xxx

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I’ve been down in the dumps lately and I think I know why.  You see my life has been really busy lately with volunteer commitments, work deadlines and kiddo activities.  And when my life starts getting busy and a little hairy, I let a few things slip.  Sometimes it’s the important things that slip – like friends, family members, GOD.

So I got busy and when I wasn’t running here, there and yonder trying to get it all accomplished, I decided to sleep in a little later instead of spending my one-on-one time with my coffee and my Bible.  Big Mistake!  You see while I was busy, while I was distracted, the devil was not.  The red-horned, awful thing was very focused on bringing me down.  And he succeeded!  While I was preoccupied, I started thinking bad things about myself.   That jerk sat on my shoulder and whispered ugly words into my ear.  He had me believing that the “friends” I had really weren’t friends at all.  He had me believing that I wasn’t good enough.  He had me counting other people’s blessings instead of my own. 

And the thing was I knew this was happening.  I could feel it happening but I wasn’t sure what to do about it.  I was busy, remember? 

The evil, little creep kept finding holes in my armor, holes in my heart to bring me further down.  And when the jerk was bringing me down with his awful mind games, I started losing patience with my friends, with my family members, with my kiddos, with the bank teller, with the traffic light, with it all.  I became angry, aggressive and irritated.  I was in a hurry 24/7.  Oh and that devil was smiling and was so happy about all this anger!

Like I said, I could feel the enemy near me, beside me and around me.  I could feel him perched on my shoulder waiting for him to attack.  I was so distracted with all my busyness, yet I could still feel his presence.

And then I figured it out.  Things flourish where you’ve got your attention.  The garden grows where it’s watered.  I got mad this time – really mad and really angry-- at the one person who could do something about it!  ME! 

I was the one who was paying attention and giving notice to what the devil was saying!  What in the world?  You see, I was tired and cranky and distracted with busyness and the evil creep saw that as the perfect opportunity and he seized upon it. 

Thankfully, I slowed down a bit and took a time-out of my rush-rush-rush schedule and said “ENOUGH”!  I told the devil to step away. 

Thankfully, when I finally slowed down enough, I remembered that my God is amazing in every way.  He is so much bigger and stronger and more powerful than that teeny, tiny, little bitty, awful, evil devil could ever hope to be.  The God I know whispers warm, affectionate words into my ear every minute of the day.  I just need to slow down and take a second to hear Him.  My God sends me love notes each and every morning in the form of a beautiful sunrise or in my babies’ smiles if I just slow down and take a minute to notice.  My God is always telling me that I’m way better than “good enough”.  My God made me and celebrates how wonderful I am each and everyday.  While I can sometimes see a few things I’d like to fix, my God sees a perfect person and wants me to see and appreciate His amazing creation. 

When things finally slowed down (a little at least), I decided the best thing to do to keep the devil away would be to dive back into my “coffee and bible” routine.  And guess what happened?  The more bible time I had, the more the holes in my heart started filling back up.  Instead of viewing the cup as half empty, the cup again started appearing as entirely full.  When I slow down and take a few minutes to focus back on my blessings (instead of paying attention to others’ blessings), I can see again that my cup is truly abundantly overflows! 

While I know the devil continues to say his ugly words to me, I make the choice of who I want to listen to.  Thanks to my early morning bible time, I've kicked the the jerk to the curb.  His awful words have become muffled, faint, hardly audible whispers that I can't hear at all anymore.  Like a train whose horn sounds so soft when it’s far away, I can hear my God quietly talking to me again.  And I'm watering the heck out of that garden.  As the train’s horn gets louder and louder the closer it gets, it’s the same with God.  First it’s a whisper, then the more time you spend with Him, His love and His voice become a little louder and a little louder until at last He is as close as close can be and with a deafening, thunderous, wonderful shout, He yells, “Precious child!  You are mine!”

If you are hearing someone, something talking negatively to you, recognize that that's the devil talking to you.  Please don’t give that awful thing a second of your attention.  Instead, seek ye first the kingdom of God and all good things shall be handed unto you.  I know this.  I read about it this morning over coffee.

I See You, Mr. Robinson :)

Last night, on the last night of 2012, I went to a wedding.  It was a special wedding and an amazing event.  I knew it would be incredible even if it were just a random date on the calendar.  The two getting married are a precious, young, Godly couple from super-fun, super-great families who raised them right.  And I packed kleenex.  I knew I would cry at the wedding.  I always cry at weddings.  But this crying was different.

I cried in the parking lot before I ever entered the church.  I cried in the pew before the music even started, before the first attendant ever made it down the aisle.  And I wasn't alone.  The grown man next to me was also crying.  And the woman two rows up across from me.  And many others were too.  You see, just a few short months ago, this precious bride lost her dad.  Her larger-than-life dad.  Her adventuresome, life-loving, fun-loving, wonderful dad.

I cried in the car and I was mad that Tom wasn't there.  Although I've always given God thanks for allowing me to know sweet Tom, last night, I was a little mad at God for taking my friend away.  Tom needed to be at that church.  He needed to walk his daughter down the aisle.  He needed to sit with precious wife and smile with pride as his little girl said her vows.  He needed to shed a happy tear on the front row on this special day.  Both of Tom's kids are engaged.  I was mad that God couldn't have given Tom just a little more time to witness these special occasions.  

But because I know that our days on this Earth are numbered and we are not promised a certain number of days, I cried in the car.  

After a bit, I pulled myself together, held my hubby's hand and we found a seat in the church.  And you know what?  I saw Tom last night.  I saw him shed a tear as his pride and joy said her vows.  He was perched right on that cross.  I heard Tom last night.  I heard him in the music.  I heard him singing "darling, stand by me.  ohhhh. stand by me," as his darling, strong, amazing wife walked down the aisle to be seated.  I felt him in that church.  He was there.  I looked around and felt his presence -- he was in every one of us there.  He was in all of our hearts and all of our tears.  

I saw Tom at the reception.  At all the fun being had.  He was there in every detail.  He was there at the first dance.  He was there in all the smiles and in all the laughs.   And Tom saw every detail too.  He smiled as his precious daughter beamed, laughed and kissed her new husband under a white balloon drop.  I saw him smile at me when I saw his blue tie wrapped around his daughter's bouquet for "something blue".  Tom was right in the middle of all the fun as the band played "Celebrate Good Times".  I saw him photo bomb a zillion pics flashing that wide smile and always giving his "Hookem Horns" sign.  Tom passed out noisemakers, glow necklaces and 2013 glasses last night.  Tom was definitely there at the candy table, complete with all of his favorite candies, including candy cigarettes.  Tom was there alright.  In every single way.

And what I discovered last night is that God was there too.  God is there.  God is our Father.  Not one we can physically feel, touch or see but He is with us in every detail too.  He is our biggest cheerleader and our biggest fan.  He is rooting for us.  He is so happy for us.  He is laughing with us and celebrating in our joy.  He is beaming with pride on our big days.  

When I was a kid, I didn't always understand why my Earthly dad did the things he did.  I was too little to see the plan.  It's the same way with my Heavenly Father.  It's silly for me to even try to figure it out.  I'm too little to see such an incredible plan.  Our loving God has a bigger plan.  A massive plan.  A wonderful plan.  And even on our darkest days, God hurts for us.  Even if it's part of His wonderful, divine plan, God is upstairs, hurtling and aching because His precious children are hurting and aching.

So I started the night crying tears of sadness and I ended my night crying tears of joy.  We're hurting but we're healing.  Thank you, God, for granting me this precious friendship that I have with the Robinson family.  Thank you for allowing me to know Tom Robinson.  Thank you for the love and the joy and the laughter that I witnessed last night.  I saw Tom there.  I saw You there too.

Amen

Thinking about Christmas.

I get pretty sentimental around Christmas time.  Actually I'm pretty sentimental all year long but I get extra, extra sentimental during the holidays.

I start thinking about my life and all the incredible things I've been blessed with.  I begin thinking of those who have passed on before me and are waiting for me up in Heaven.  While I want to spend as much time as I possibly can here on Earth, there is a part of me that is eager to get up to Heaven so that I can be with those precious people again.

I think about my Earthly relationships here with friends and family.  Amazing, generous, loving parents.  Incredible in-laws.  A wonderful husband.  Two children who bring incredible joy each and every day.  A fantastic sister.  An amazing brother-in-law.  And precious, dear friends.

I also love this time of year because I get to bring out all the Nativity sets that I've been collecting over the years.  I set them up all around my house.  Now they are for decorating but when my kiddos were younger, they would play with all the pieces.  I fondly remember precious Robby staging a million army men around the stable and then heard him yelling, "DON'T SHOOT THE BABY!"   What a sweet memory. :)

Each time I'm setting up these nativity sets, I begin thinking about all the different characters and the important roles they all played.  The angel, Gabriel, whom God sent to Mary to tell her that she would become pregnant with God's precious son, Jesus.  

Then there's sweet Mary.  She heard this news and was throughly shaken.  Can you imagine?  You knew in your heart that you had never been "inappropriate" with anyone and now you are going to be pregnant with a baby?  Pregnant with God's baby?  I don't know about you but throughly shaken would have probably been an understatement for me.  This virgin Mary would give birth to a beautiful miracle.  A perfect boy who would be sin-free his entire life.  Given to us to show us how to walk perfectly in love with one another.  After a little assurance, Mary said, "I am the Lord's maid and I am ready to serve."  Amazing.  I'm not sure I would be quite that brave.  I'd be so worried about what my friends and/or my family had to say about this "miraculous" impregnation.  Who would believe me?  But brave Mary didn't care.  She was ready to do whatever God instructed her to do.

And Joseph.  Wow.  What a stand up guy.  The Bible says that Joseph was ready to marry Mary, a pregnant girl who he had not had relations with, so that she would not be disgraced.   Again, what were his friends saying about his decision?  I'm imagining, "Dude!  What are you thinking?!"

And I'm thinking of this journey that the two of them made in the dark, in the middle of the night, RIDING A DONKEY!  When I went into labor, I did a bunch of complaining.  I complained about the air temperature in the car.  I complained about the way my husband was driving. "You're driving too fast.  Now you're driving too slow.  You picked the bumpiest road in Houston on purpose.  Did you call ahead and tell them that we wanted a private room?  NOW YOU'RE YELLING AT ME AND I'M ABOUT TO HAVE YOUR BABY!!!!"  Precious hubby doesn't call it complaining.  He calls it %#^&ing.  Rhymes with itching.  So I wonder if Mary, after traveling all that way, ever lost her cool or complained about the circumstance, her "ride" or her dark, dingy, smelly accommodations.  She was in a barn for goodness sake!  Did Joseph ever fuss back saying, "Listen lady I'm trying my best!  I'm not even the baby's daddy!"

Then we find the shepherds.  Out in the fields in the middle of nowhere.  Pitch black, dark night.  Then all of a sudden with an incredible blaze.  The brightest light.  God' angel appears.  These were some of the bravest men who fought lions and bears with a staff and a slingshot.  And they were terrified.  But the angel said to them "Do not be afraid,"  and they gave the shepherds the amazing news of Christ's birth.  Then, as if that one angel wasn't enough to scare the dickens out of the poor shepherds, God sent a CHOIR of angel to sing of the good news.  Can you imagine?  If I was out in a pasture in the middle of nowhere and this heavenly host of angels sang to me, I'd have to wonder if I was sick or seeing things.  But the shepherds were so excited to see the baby Jesus and spread the news of his birth that they went running to Bethlehem.

The Wise Men of the East saw a star and went to worship this newborn King.  They were "scholars" and were considered the brightest of the bright.  Clearly they knew this was a big, amazing deal.  When Herod heard these scholars were going to see the baby Jesus, he was terrified.  The smartest people he knew were going to travel miles and miles and miles to worship a baby King!  Herod was scared!  He asked the Wise Men to report back to him so that Herod could have the exact location of the baby.  The Wise Men agreed.  They took symbolic presents to honor the new baby.   God however appeared to the men in a dream and they decided to take another route home in order to avoid Herod.

So with all these characters in our story, can you imagine how it would have turned out if just one character didn't do his/her part?  If one person said No?  

What an amazing gift God gave to us on the first Christmas.  A beautiful baby boy.  Made perfect to walk in an imperfect world so that we all could be saved from sin.  So how can we ever repay God or give Him an equally amazing gift?

The only thing God wants is YOU.  He wants you.  You.  YOU.  He wants your whole heart.  He wants you to make good choices.  He wants you to ask for forgiveness when you've gone astray.  He wants you to give forgiveness to others.  God wants you to love and show love.  He wants you to pray, to trust, to be an example of Christ's love.  God wants you to show grace and give grace just as He gives grace to you.

Do this this Christmas but try to do it each and every day throughout the year too.  Christmas all year long.  :)

Merry Christmas, friends and Happy Birthday to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Sopping Wet

Yesterday was such a fun day at Bible Study.  Our Moms and daughters met up at the Dollar Store to find goodies to go into shoeboxes that we were making for Operation Christmas Child.  It was a great afternoon filled with laughter and love. 

Once we assembled our boxes, we shared a quick lesson on showing God’s love, mercy and grace to others.  To everyone.  To our teachers, our mailman, the homeless guy on the street and even our parents and siblings.  Everyone, no matter what their social status or position, wants respect.

We talked about the children who were going to receive these boxes.  Some may be orphaned.  All of the recipients would be underprivileged and live in far different circumstances than we do.  They most likely won’t be waking up in a comfy bed with a solid roof over their house.  They most likely won’t be going into their kitchen to a stocked refrigerator.  They probably have to share their single toothbrush with other members of their family.  In tough circumstances like these, it is probably easy for these precious children to feel worthless and of little value.

Truth is that you don’t have to live in an orphanage or in an underprivileged environment to feel worthless.  Sadly, there are many people living in beautiful homes with beautiful things surrounding them.  They are successful in many aspects of their lives but they are feeling insignificant and useless.

If you are reading this and you are feeling this way, here is what I want to tell you.  You are already chosen by God!  He has adopted you and has put your picture in His wallet.  He is so, so proud of you and loves you and wants to have a deep relationship with you.  And because God is King and Ruler of all, this makes us princes and princesses!

We are children of the King and because we are now royalty, we need to act as such.  As President John F. Kennedy said, “With privilege comes responsibility.” And it states in Luke 12:48, “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return.”  So what do we need to do?  If we’re children of the King, then we truly believe that, then we need to act with others in mind.  We’ll need to act this way day-in, day-out.  Act church, at school, at the car wash, at home and all places in between. 

And I’m thinking it’s not going to be easy to do everyday.  We are going to slip and fall sometimes (Prince Harry).  We are going to stray, follow the wrong path and might not always do the right thing.

Everyone knows that I’m a country music lover.  Always have been, always will be.  My kids laugh at me because it doesn’t matter if it’s a song or a commercial; I’m singing it loud and proud.  It really stinks for them since I’m not a very good singer.  But I sure act like I am a GREAT singer.  And it really stinks for them if their friends are around.  “MOM, THAT’S SO EMBARRASSING!”  Truly, if I could be anything in the world, I’d be a country music singer.  On the stage in fancy clothes, big hair just belting it out. 

On the radio these days is a song called “Hard To Love” that Lee Brice sings.  It’s very catchy and I find myself singing along to it every time it’s on. 

I am insensitive I have a tendency to pay more attention to the things that
I need.
Sometimes I drink too much; sometimes I test your trust, sometimes I dunno
Why you're staying with me?

I'm hard to love, hard to love, I don't make it easy, I couldn't do it if I
Stood where you stood
I'm hard to love, hard to love, you say that you need me, I don't deserve
It but I love that you love me. good

I am a short fuse, I am a wrecking ball crashing into your heart like I do
You're like a Sunday morning full of grace and full of Jesus I wish that I
Could be more like you.

from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/l/lee_brice/hard_to_love.html ]
I'm hard to love, hard to love, I don't make it easy, I couldn't do it if I
Stood where you stood,
I'm hard to love, hard to love, you say that you need me, I don't deserve
It but I love that you love me. Good
Love me good

Girl you've given me a million second chances and I don't ever wanna take
You for granted, I'm just a man, I'm just a man

Hard to love, hard to love, oh I don't make it easy and I couldn't do it if
I stood where you stood.
I'm hard to love, hard to love and you say that you need me, I don't
Deserve it but I love that you love me. good. (x2)

You love me good.

So it’s another typical country song, right?  A guy talking to a girl about love and second chances and how this girl loves him good.  But I sometimes sing that song to God.  I mess up all the time.  I say things I shouldn’t.  I screw up and don’t treat people the right way sometimes.  But the cool thing is that I may be “hard to love” but God continues to love me. 

We are going to screw up but the important thing to remember is that our God, our precious Father, our sweet Dad, loves us so very much.  All we have to do is come home.  If we just turn around and walk back His direction, God is there throwing a party in Heaven and welcoming us back, just as the father did with the Prodigal Son. 

So since we’re royalty and are daughters and sons of the King of all Kings, it’s our job to lift people up, show them love, treat them with kindness and respect and show them God’s love.  How are we going to do that?  Philippians 4:8 tells us to focus on all things good, honest, lovely, just and pure.  We need to seek God in all circumstances.  We need to acknowledge God in all ways. 

Picture yourself as a sponge and God’s Holy Spirit is the water.  Without God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we are all dried up.  We are hard.  We are rough around the edges, brittle and tough. 

But what happens when God’s Holy Spirit is poured into us?  What happens if we go to God daily and turn to Him on a consistent and regular basis?  Our dry sponge begins to expand.  We slowly begin to fill up with all things good.  Things that are lovely, just, pure and praiseworthy.  We come bendable and flexible.  We can adjust and deal with all circumstances and situations.  When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that sweet Jesus poured into us, we begin to radiate goodness, love and joy.  We can give hope to others. 

And when our sponge has reached its maximum capacity and is full, it begins to overflow and the water overflows out of it.  Whatever happens to be next to the sponge gets soaked with water.  So if we are full of God’s love and His beauty, whatever we encounter will get soaked with God’s love too!  When we radiate all things good to all we meet, we are pouring God’s love into their sponge.  And the cycle continues.  When their sponge is full, they pass on God’s love to the next person.

Romans 5:5 says, “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us.” 

This sponge example makes me think of the CocaCola commercial, “I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony…”  I have always loved that commercial because I just think of what a beautiful day it would be if the whole world was truly in harmony.

Please Lord, I ask you to start with me.  Start with me and help me to spread Your sweet love to all those I meet.  Help me to behave in such a way that others will want to know You because of me.  Lord, pour Your Holy Spirit on me and let Your love flood over.  Let everyone’s sponges soak up Your goodness.  Help all of us seek You in every situation.  Help us to thank You for all the good things in our lives and also for the things we may not understand.  Lord, we might not know why we’re walking down the road You have us on but You know.  You drew the map and You know the Plan. 

I'm hard to love and I don't make it easy but I'm so, so grateful that You love me good.

Praise be to Your glorious name.

xoxoxo