Thankful Thursday~To Know There's Work on Monday

My God, how gracious He has been! Mountain Man will have work to return to on Monday! Thanks be to God!

"Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."

~G. K. Chesterton

I am happy that, for now, we aren't facing unemployment, that we've been shaken up a bit and are moved to consider other options. And I am in wonder, for God has been so merciful to us, so merciful. May He keep us from ever ceasing to wonder at His mercies.

Thank you all so very much for your prayers. Thank you!

With love,

Trisha

Thankful Thursday~Even Piglet Noticed

Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, 

it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.

~A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

 

I'm thankful for moments like this when our children are helping one another. I'm grateful for the mothering instinct that God gives little girls.

 I'm thankful for children who enjoy food.

 I'm thankful to be part of a family of book lovers--right down to the littlest guy.

I'm thankful for children who love the outdoors and who always find amazing things to do with the resources He has provided.

 This is one of the most beautiful flower bouquets I've ever received. Why? Because they are from my sister, Catherine, whose husband recently died of cancer. But, it gets even better. I sent her this exact flower arrangement in remembrance of her wedding anniversary. She loved them so much and wanted me to be able to enjoy the same beauty, so she sent some to me. To know that we're both looking at the same flowers is a precious gift, a tying of the heartstrings across these many miles.

 And what better thing is there to do when on Daddy's lap than to look at a book?

Last, but not least, Grandma has arrived. :)

With love,
Trisha

Thankful Thursday~Precious in the Sight of the Lord

My sister's husband died last Friday. He's free from cancer's rampage on his body, and he knows a peace that he never knew while on this earth.

My heart is overwhelmed when I think of what it means for my sister to be a widow. But, oh, how the Lord has sustained her in the past week! I'm full of such joy when I hear her voice, because it reflects God's faithfulness and provision and mercy and grace. All of it.

There are many hard days ahead, including their anniversary, his birthday, and her son's birthday, all happening in the next several weeks, so we praise God for the truth that His grace is sufficient and His mercies are new every morning and that His dosing of affliction is perfect.

In the midst of the sadness of not having my brother-in-law with us, it is a gift of His grace to see His mercies abound.

1) That Pete knew the Lord.
2) The favor God has given Catherine in the sight of others.
3) The calm spirit He has given her and the ability to focus and do what needs to be done.
4) The tension He has relieved in certain relationships.
5) The joy of bearing one another's burdens and having in our hearts His truths to speak to those who are deep in the valley.
6) The prayers of brothers and sisters in Christ.

 "You see, when death (came)...it came by an 'arrow sharpened with love'....Every Christian ought to contemplate his own death along those same lines. It is not that death is now pleasant. Let us not pretend that it is. But the wonder of the Gospel is that grace has conquered and enlisted even the dreadful things of the curse to advance the Saviour's cause. Death is still rightly called 'the last enemy' (1 Cor. 15:26), but for the believer the last enemy has already been transformed thanks to the grace of our greatest Friend."
~Paul Wolfe, My God is True

With love,
Trisha

Thankful Thursday~The Celebration

I'm thankful to celebrate ONE again. I'm thankful that I've learned my limits, to know that frozen pizza and store bought cupcakes have their place, too, in the midst of homemade and handcrafted and that what our children remember most is the atmosphere. Is it joyful or stressed?

I'm thankful for children who love to celebrate and who rejoice in the little things, who say "thank you" around the dinner table. I'm thankful for homemade pancakes and a baby who loved his balloons more than his gifts.

I'm thankful for fields of wildflowers and the color yellow. I'm thankful for cameras and buttercream frosting smeared on the tip of Sarge's nose. I'm thankful for the birthday cards and packages and birthday wishes and for the people in our lives who take the time to show they love us.

I'm thankful for the unexpected circumstances yesterday that reminded me of God's sovereignty. I'm thankful He's transforming my thinking so that I view disappointments as opportunities instead of roadblocks.

 

I'm thankful that every day the Lord lets me taste and see that He is good.

With love,
Trisha

Thankful Thursday~Patterns of Mercy and Trumpets of Praise

In just over a week's time, I attended a wedding and then a funeral. The contrast was sobering, and yet beautiful, too, for God was glorified in both the new lives joined together and in the honoring of a saint who had run her race well. And as I move through days that are rich in the wonder and laughter of children, my sister cares for her husband in the quietness and heaviness of a home that smells of death.

As I watch little bodies grow and get stronger, she watches her strong husband, her protector and provider, get weaker. As I contemplate not growing weary in faithfully training up our children for His glory, she begs for grace to get through a day without falling apart.

A haunting awareness of the difference in our days clings to me, and I often swallow hard and pray for supernatural strength for my sister. For me, I ask for the grace to live fully present in each moment He's set before me, to be grateful for "normal" and "ordinary."

And in the midst of all of this, God is great, and God is good. 

I'm thankful to the Lord for a pastor who faithfully reminds us of the Gospel every single week.

I'm thankful for the fine job Emma did in sewing her first drawstring bag. I'm thankful for little children who delight in play dough, who think it's one of God's greatest creations.  I'm thankful for the good works that God works in us, that He might be glorified.

I'm thankful for colorful flowers that brighten up desert landscapes, and for children who squeal with excitement when they get to water Vincas and Petunias. I'm thankful for a yard full of puddles and mud because that means God has given us RAIN! I'm thankful for breathtaking sunsets that leave me in awe of the Lord.

I'm thankful for big sisters who love babies and for babies who giggle at the silliest of things. I'm thankful for healthy children.

I'm thankful for conversations with my sister and for the ways this affliction has deepened her walk with the Lord.

I'm thankful for difficult relationships that push us to examine our hearts and remember all that Christ has done for us, to die to self and be clothed with compassion and humility. I'm thankful for friends who patiently love me when I'm hard to love.

I'm thankful for difficult people who push us to know what we believe and why and be bold enough to say so. I'm thankful that conflict teaches us how little we fear God and how much we fear man. I'm thankful God's grace is sufficient for it all.

"Fall upon your knees, break forth into a thankful triumph of praise; let your hearts be ten-stringed instruments, to sound forth the memorial of God's mercy. None so deep in debt to free grace as you, and none should be so high mounted upon the pinnacle of thanksgiving. Say as the sweet singer; 'I will extol thee, my God, O King; every day will I bless thee, and I will praise thy name for ever' (Psalm 145:1,2). Those who are patterns of mercy should be trumpets of praise."
~Thomas Watson, All Things for Good

With love,
Trisha

Thankful Thursday~Yet Today I Live

"Last night thousands of people entered eternity. Heart monitors flat-lined. Lungs ceased pulling in air. Brains that were once incredibly active went silent.

Yet today I live. Through the night my lungs continued to suck air, and my heart continued to push blood through my body. God gave me yet another day to serve Him, enjoy my family, watch a movie, drink coffee, play football, laugh with friends, and read a good book. I have one more day to prepare for eternity, one more day to store up treasures for that final day."

~Stephen Altrogge, The Greener Grass Conspiracy

******

Ok. So, I won't be using another day to play football or drink coffee, but I will use it to study God's Word and read it to my family, to cook and bake, to discipline little hearts and comfort them, to drink tea and eat chocolate, to look my children in the eyes...so soak up and delight in the "glory of the ordinary." Even in the midst of health and financial concerns, of uncertainty about what seems like so many things, I can rejoice in God's goodness and mercy, in the great wonder that He has redeemed me that I might glorify and enjoy Him forever. Truly, this makes for a beautiful life.

Thankful Thursday~How We Act Like Angels

Praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion.

 In prayer we act like men; in praise we act like angels.

~Thomas Watson

****

I'm thankful for milestones and ordinary moments. I'm thankful for children who delight in simple things, like feeding carrots to horses, or running outside. I'm thankful for a home full of books and booklovers. I'm thankful for good dental care, my faithful and hard-working Mountain Man, and Chariot wine. I'm thankful for Christian love that calls us to be forbearing and forgiving. I'm thankful for a Pastor who is wise and is deliberate in encouraging his flock. I'm thankful for late nights with older sons and early mornings in the Word. I'm thankful for those in my life who graciously honor the Lord in the midst of deep waters. I'm grateful for snail mail and good words, buttered popcorn, and "Mommy, I love you!" said many times a day.

I'm thankful I will never be done giving thanks to the Lord.

"In God we boast all the day long, and praise Thy name forever. Selah."

~Psalm 44:8

With love,

Trisha

Thankful Thursday~Like A Music Book

"The whole course and series of divine providence towards the saints is like a music-book, in every leaf whereof there is a song ready pricked for them to learn and sing to the praise of their God. No passage in their life of which they can say, 'In this I received no mercy for which I should bless God.'"
~William Gurnall

****

It's been an emotional week, and it's only Thursday! I'm thankful God has seen me through a dentist appointment to get fitted for a crown. Have I mentioned that I despise dental visits? My current dentist is a gem, though, and he makes the miserable tolerable.

I'm thankful for a delightful mother-daughter date with Emma.

I'm thankful for sweet moments like this...

I praise God for safe flights for my Beloved as he traveled to the east coast on business.

I'm thankful for Ella's declaration of joy in knowing her Daddy will be home tonight: "It doesn't seem like home without Daddy."

I'm thankful for the wildflowers that grow in our desert land and for the precious hands that bring me bouquets of them.

I'm thankful for my sister, who is watching her husband suffer from the horrible effects of colon cancer. I'm thankful she's crying out to God, not surrendering to bitterness, and is keeping a teachable heart.

I'm thankful for the kindness of God is exposing our sin and the sins of our children, for not leaving us "there," but rather faithfully refining us and making us more like Christ.

I'm thankful for friends and family who love me especially at those moments when I am so unloveable and who are quick to forgive me when I sin against them.

With love,

Trisha

Thankful Thursday-20 Days from Now

To be silent over God's mercies is to incur the guilt of ingratitude; it is to act as basely as the nine lepers, who after they had been cured of their leprosy, returned not to give thanks unto the healing Lord. To forget to praise God is to refuse to benefit ourselves; for praise, like prayer, is one great means of promoting the growth of spiritual life.

~C. H. Spurgeon

                                                                              ****

20 days.

In that short time, God-willing, I'll have the joy of seeing my Mama walk through those airport gates, and she'll be delighted to see Elijah and hold him for the first time.

What a gift.

While we wait, life goes on, busy and full, reminding us of God's endless mercies and affirming the comforting truth that this world is not our home.

Ink's recovery from his wisdom teeth went so well--no complications at all. When I took him for his check-up, the surgeon was even surprised (and pleased) that the holes had already closed up.

We walked out of the office only to discover our van battery was dead. Thankfully, AAA was there in less than 10 minutes and replaced the battery, and we were soon on our way. I praise God for CONVENIENCE. Those few extra dollars I paid to have the mechanic take care of everything right there were more than worth it!

 I'm thankful our children love to have Sarge as their Bible study companion.

 I'm thankful for the reminder from a dear friend that less than perfect, i.e. blurry, shots are worth keeping when they capture moments like this.

 I'm thankful for mashed bananas and rice cereal and high chairs.

 I'm thankful to open the refrigerator and see the lunch Ink prepared the night before to take to work. It shouts "responsibility" to me, and it's a blessing to watch our young men be men.

 I'm thankful for children who love to watch Daddy eat on those night when he gets home extra late, and who can't resist the impulse to mooch.

 I'm thankful for new dining chairs and little men who want to be like the big men.

 I'm thankful for twin mugs, one for me and one for Tami. They're not theologically correct, perhaps, but maybe God will have me singing praises to Him while dancing in a chocolate fountain.

 I'm thankful for pink roses from Tami.

I'm thankful for notes like this, sweet graces, that humble me and remind me again what a great mercy it is that God made me a mother, trusting this wretched sinner with discipling tender souls for His glory. Oh, how I fail over and over to be like Jesus to our children, and yet, they extend me such grace and are the hands and feet of Christ to me.

I'm thankful that a most precious houseguest arrives tonight, and that for the first time, I'll get to hug a Pliego.

I'm thankful for Paul Tripp's book Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands. You really should read this one. Like, right now. :)

With love,
Trisha

Thankful Thursday-This is My Purpose

God has blessed me in amazing ways this week. He's stretching me and refining me and moving me to choose to do what honors him regardless of my feelings. The blessing in all of that is that eventually the feelings do come...but often the obedience must come first. 

I'm especially grateful to those who took the time to let me know they're praying for me. I can tell, and I thank you over and over! I received a precious e-mail this past week from a woman I've never heard from before but who reads here. Her kind words were such a gift from the LORD, and I praise Him for the perfect ways He moves the body of Christ to encourage one another.

I've been waiting for years for the Extreme Home Makeover crew to show up at our door. You know, "Well, Poff Family, a neighbor tipped us off to the fact that you might be able to use a bit more room for that delightful family of yours." But, since the show has been canceled, I guess we'll have to settle for doing some things ourselves. 

So, crazy woman that I am, I decided to start painting our kitchen cabinets. It's a SLOW process, but it's coming along. Guess what the name of the paint is? SUGAR  and CREAM. I know. It's perfect for me.

And tomorrow we start the insane task of installing laminate wood flooring in a couple of rooms. The difficult part is figuring out where to put two rooms' worth of stuff while putting flooring down. One truly doesn't know the weight of her book collection until she has to move it from here to there and back again. :)

I praise God for the work He's doing in me and for His infinite patience.

I'm thankful for the snow He gave us this week. How greatly we needed the moisture!

I'm thankful for the joy of gathering with ladies from my church for prayer and for the way the Lord knits our hearts together during these special times.

I'm thankful for Luke's first attempt at soap carving...a lovely heart that he gave to me.

I'm thankful for sweet birthday celebrations and good books and happy faces.

I'm thankful God made me to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever.

"It is not worth while to live for any other purpose than to declare the works of God, for His honour and the encouragement of others to serve Him and trust in Him."
~Matthew Henry

With love,
Trisha