Thankfulness

Ever feel that you are thankful in the way that this little Gnome is happy? That its fake. That underneath the surface you are pretty pissed that life has turned out this way? Yeah, me too. I have already repeated it to many of you who read this silly blog of ours, but I will say it again anyway.

Last week a friend of ours let us know that he has never met anyone who is anxious, worried, or fearful who is not ALSO confident about what is best for them or those they love.

In other words, if I know what is best for me and life isn't going as planned (which inevitably happens for all of us), I get worried, anxious, fearful - or in my case angry because things are going to hell. If I am confident that CHRIST knows what's best for me, and that HE is GOOD, then I will not worry, fear, or become angry over my circumstances, instead, I may even learn to be THANKFUL for them, because I believe that CHRIST works these circumstances into my life FOR me and not against me. Does that mean that I believe this? Not really, but I want to. Time to repent. Jesus, forgive my confidence and my pride, I believe I know what's best for me and consequently I am the angriest person I know. If you don't have mercy on me, I am going to wither away into a mean old man someday because I got a bad deck of cards. Please revive me with your righteousness and help me believe! Amy and I are growing more thankful, thanks to your prayers. Praises for Jesus:

• He makes a PRAYer out of a willful man like me
• He has given us a wonderful woman to watch over Brighton two days a week for less than it is worth to us.
• He has given us three times so far where Brighton has slept for 3-5 hours!
• He has lifted us up in our community, and MANY people have volunteered to help Amy and I get sleep or have a date night.
• He has made work hard so that I won't be overconfident in my abilities - and keep praying for help! (wow, that's hard to be thankful for)
• He has given us friends who need our prayers, which helps us know we are NOT alone, and in a community of people who also need Jesus.
• He has given Amy a job to work hard at in a place that needs a lot more weakness to fight the bootstrap army! (...pull yourself up by the bootstraps...army)
• Praise Jesus for being so darn beautiful in our messy, broken world