Christmas Thanksgivings

One of the best things I've done this year is start a list of 1,000 things I'm thankful for.   Here are a few things from my list this month...

The smell of fresh cut Christmas trees

Christmas lights reflected in the window

Making gingerbread houses with friends

Drinking hot chocolate and watching "Elf" outside with the neighbors

A daddy/daughter dance date

A Baylor Heisman winner who gives credit to God

Moms who pray for their kids' teachers and then take them cookies

Having a cup of tea at the Jefferson Hotel while watching Audra sing

Watching Will and his friends sing Christmas carols at the Jingle Bell Run

Boys sleeping under the Christmas tree

Ice skating outside

Celebrating 18 years of marriage

722. A crisp, quiet morning

723. A cup of tea and my Bible

728. God's grace measured in proportion to my need

731. A shoulder to cry on

741. Un-rushed family dinners

744. Package deliveries

745. A date with my daughter

749. Reading a book by the fire

750. Flannel sheets

752. Someone saving me a seat 

753. A new friend who dreamed we were moving--and cried!

756. Christmas cards in the mail

758. Pumpkin bread ready to be delivered to the neighbors

760. Finding the perfect gift

761. Sharing the comfort I've received

768. Having tea in a friend's kitchen

770. Frosted sugar cookies

780. Newborn baby bundles

788. Seeing someone I know when I'm out Christmas shopping

791. Dinner by the fireplace

794. Arms full of Christmas goodies from friends at church

I have so many good things to be thankful for!  

But last week I put something on the list that wasn't so good, but I was trying to "Give thanks in all things."  

767. A broken retainer

I didn't feel like giving thanks for that, but I did out of obedience.  ("I don't know why, but thank you Lord for broken retainers.") 

 Somehow Will's retainer was on the floor and somehow Richard stepped on it.  We had just been to the orthodontist the day before.  I was not happy with how Will's teeth were looking and I did not want to spend $200 for a new retainer.  I was grumpy, grouchy, and not happy or thankful, but I gave thanks anyway.  Hmpff!  A couple of days later I took Will back to the orthodontist to get fitted for a new retainer.  I was getting my teeth cleaned on the other side of the building so I left him in the waiting area with a note for the doctor.  In the note I might possibly have mentioned that when I first saw Will after he got his braces off I thought he was wearing "those fake teeth you wear at Halloween," but I said it in a very nice way and I signed it "weary mother of three kids with braces".  After reading the note, the doctor came and found me and thanked me for writing it and telling him what I was thinking.  He assured me that this was only the first phase of Will's treatment and that his teeth would look better when it's all over (in a few years).  Then he said that he looked at the broken retainer  pieces I had included with the note and that it shouldn't have broken like that.  (You mean Richard should be able to step on them?)  He said this new retainer would be "on him".  Whoo-hoo!!!! 

  I gave thanks for a not-good thing and God changed it into a blessing.  Does that always happen?  Well, I don't always get free retainers, but I do think that if we thank God for the good things AND the bad things, we will always be blessed.

Merry CHRISTmas!!!!!

A letter to my friend...

Sometimes God wraps his gifts in unlikely packages.  Often they come wrapped as tiny, helpless babies.  His greatest gift was born in a stable.  No one could imagine how a tiny baby could change the world.  But that baby grew, and taught, and loved, and healed, and suffered, and died, and rose again.  Along the way, that tiny baby became a man who conquered sin and death and gave us hope for eternity.  He was truly God's greatest gift.


I received a gift from God in the form of a baby girl.  When she was born, I couldn't imagine how that tiny baby would change my life.  She grew, she laughed, she loved, she died.  Along the way, that tiny baby became a little girl who taught me how to trust God, how to love people, how to make the most of every day, how to suffer, how to be brave, and how to keep my focus on eternity.  She was a severe mercy, a blessing, and one of God's greatest gifts to me.


This week you have received a gift from God in the form of a baby boy.  As you look at him, you cannot yet see all the ways he will change your life.  He will grow.  He will laugh.  He will love.  Oh, how he will love!   He will teach you to trust God, to love people, to make the most of every day, to celebrate the little things (which are really the big things) and he will teach you how to be brave.  The world may say that he is not perfect.  God says that he is fearfully and wonderfully made.  You have been given a great gift that will take a lifetime to unwrap.  

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity

We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while, You hear each spoken need

Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near?

What if trials of this life

Are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear

We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love

As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

And all the while You hear each desperate plea

And long that we'd have faith to believe

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears?

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near?

And what if trials of this life

Are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win

We know the pain reminds this heart

That this is not our home

It's not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears?

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near?

What if my greatest disappointments

Or the aching of this life

Is the revealing of a greater thirst

This world can’t satisfy?

And what if trials of this life

The rain, the storms, the hardest nights

Are Your mercies in disguise?

(lyrics by Laura Story)